Caveat Fischer - Spassky

'Not another post about the 1972 Fischer - Spassky match', I can hear you groaning. Yes, I'm afraid it is, the third out of the last four posts in this ongoing series about Top eBay Chess Items by Price, where the previous 'Match of the Century' post was 1972 Fischer - Spassky Poster. Along with the auction I'm featuring here, there was even a second lot of miscellaneous items from the match on my short list. That auction went for $600.

The current auction was titled '1972 World Chess Champions Bobby Fischer Boris Spassky in Reykjavik'. The description said,

21 tickets from the World Chess Championship 1972 in Reykjavik. 40 covers and some are of the same sort. One of three chess clocks used in the match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky

This lot sold for US $3500 after 33 bids from 10 bidders. The 21 tickets and 40 covers would probably have trouble fetching three figures on their own, so the main object of attention was the clock, pictured below.

One of the bidders asked,

I was hoping you might enlighten me on how you acquired the clock and tickets etc.? Is there any full-proof this clock was indeed one of the official clocks of the World Championship series?

and was told,

I am selling these items for a good friend of my mother. These items belonged to her husband that passed away. He was working at the tournament where the world chess championship 1972 was held in Reykjavik. His name was [KOK]. That is where the clock was acquired.

What caught my attention was the color of the wood used in the clock. I have a similar clock that I received for my birthday many years ago and the entire clock is made from wood pieces that are all close in color. The clock in the photo clearly shows a darker wood on the four edges of the clock frame, where my clock has a light color, like the wood surrounding the clock faces in the photo.

I did a Google image search on 'fischer spassky 1972' and couldn't find a single example of a photo showing a clock with two colors for the wood. This, of course, proves nothing in itself, but someone plunked down $3500 on an item that can't be verified.

Moscow 1925

Moscow 1925 Chess Tournament - Capablanca (17:45) • 'English - Spanish short video about the 1925 chess tournament held in Moscow.'

'With mixture of original photos and videos, and clips from the Cuban - Soviet film about Capablanca.' • For more about the film, see Capablanca (1986) [nytimes.com] or Capablanca (1987) [imdb.com].

Only in Our Dreams

The headline said, 'World chess agrees new TV deal with BBC', followed by this story...

WORLD CHESS and the BBC have agreed a three-year contract that ensures the sport's major events will be on terrestrial television until at least 2017.

The BBC will be host broadcaster of the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters until the end of the 2016-17 season under the terms of the new agreement.

The three major events on the calendar will be broadcast on television, online and via the BBC iPlayer, with the corporation committing to over 260 hours of coverage.

"This is wonderful news for the many millions of chess fans throughout the UK who love watching the sport on the BBC," World Chess chairman Gimme Gravy said.

"Last year's World Championship was watched by 28.5 million people which proves what a wide appeal there is for chess.

"The World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters are among the highlights of the sporting calendar so it's terrific that they will remain on terrestrial television."

Director of BBC Sport Ima Honcho added: "The World Chess Championships are an important part of our sports rights portfolio and we're delighted to be continuing our coverage of these three major tournaments."

The news was also welcomed by players, with world number one and UK Champion Chuck Mate adding: "Everyone's first memories of chess are watching the big events on the BBC, so it's great for the players and fans to know that those tournaments will be on terrestrial TV for at least the next four years."

...For the real story, see World snooker agrees new TV deal with BBC (Independent.ie). At what point did you realize the story was a spoof? At 'World Championship was watched by 28.5 million people'?

'Preparing Today's Live Stream'

Macauley Peterson and Lawrence Trent

From Round 8 - Commentary @ london2013.fide.com.

'Wonderboy' 2000-2001

Let's take a checkpoint. First I created an up-to-date PGN file of Magnus Carlsen games (see Carlsen TMER Index). Then I added basic data about the events in which the games were played (see Carlsen TMER TWIC Refs through Carlsen TMER 2001-2003). This I released as a standalone page, Magnus Carlsen's Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record (2000-).

That's not a bad process to create an overview of a player's career, but it does have a drawback -- the events are identified from the PGN games, but the games are undoubtedly drawn from an incomplete record of the player's events. The next step is to gather information about missing events by investigating other sources. I started with 'Wonderboy' by Simen Agdestein, the Norwegian GM who was Carlsen's trainer during the years when the young star advanced from master level to grandmaster level. The following table lists the events covered by GM Agdestein in the first three chapters of his book.

This is an improvement over my existing standalone page, which has only one event listed in 2000. For my next post in this series, I'll continue with chapter four.

(TMER = Tournament, Match, and Exhibition Record)

'Black Is OK' - 12 Discussion Points

After Adorjan on the Keres Attack, my post on GM Adorjan's first 'Black Is OK' book, let's return to the second and third books, which I discussed in Adorjan's 'Presumption of Innocence'. In the version that can be found online -- Black Is OK, or the presumption of innocence in the Game of Chess -- Adorjan presents many arguments in support of his thesis. I selected an even dozen quotes for further discussion.

1. I presume - in the spirit of the presumption of innocence - that the position is equal. It is White who has to prove that he can get an advantage. [...] Starting the game should not be mistaken for taking the initiative!
2. Qualified players will mostly come up with the same reply as a great number of world champions or chess thinkers since Lasker: the logical outcome of the game is a draw.
3. If one of the players wins the game, his opponent has certainly made some mistake.
4. Portisch said something to the effect that he had tried almost all openings and defences during his long chess career, and found that about two-thirds of these were disadvantageous for BLACK. So there is the remaining one-third, and all BLACK has to do is play these openings and defences, and then he has nothing to fear.
5. People do not win too often with the BLACK pieces because they do not even want to, and that’s why White has a psychological advantage.
6. It is simply impossible to claim that BLACK stands no chance whatsoever.
7. You cannot launch an attack without exposing some weaknesses in your own position.
8. [A] common argument is that White starts the game, and thus he determines the course of the battle and the character of the position. [Adorjan disagrees.]
9. The extra tempo can have some significance only if the position acquires a symmetric character.
10. White’s only advantage is that he can avoid sharp play in any opening, exchange the pieces off, and if he does it well, he will have his draw.
11. If both players make good moves, they will inevitably reach an equal position.
12. A chess game is never in perfect equilibrium, except for obviously drawn positions. [...] Once BLACK has equalised, he is already better.

There is lots of material there for further discussion, but first I'll take time out for the the eighth round of the 2013 Candidates Tournament in London.

Musée de Cluny

'In courtyard at Musée de Cluny.'

Giant Chess © Flickr user yobgorf under Creative Commons.

Wikipedia: Musée national du Moyen Âge • 'The Musée national du Moyen Âge, formerly Musée de Cluny, officially known as the Musée national du Moyen Âge - Thermes et hôtel de Cluny, is a museum in Paris, France.'