Site review - World Chess Network

The last review on my list of chess history sites is for...

Chess History - World Chess Network
http://www.worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessHistory/chessHistory.php

...The page announces, 'The World Chess Network is proud to present a
monograph of chess history articles entitled "The World Chess
Championship and Champions: 1747-2000" by celebrated chess journalist
Larry Parr. Larry Parr is a former editor of Chess Life and he has
received more individual awards from the Chess Journalists of America
than any other chess writer in its history. These exclusive articles
provide fascinating details and inside information about the World
Chess Championship.'

Worldchessnetwork.com offers a lot more than chess history. Primarily
a site to play online chess, its home page says, 'The World Chess
Network is designed for players from novice to Grandmaster. You can
play free chess, earn a rating, access your personal game history,
view games from around the world and more.'

The worldchessnetwork domain is registered to Master Games
International of Pipe Creek, Texas. The administrative, technical,
and billing contacts are all assigned to Marty Hirsch of San Rafael,
California, who is listed with the acronym MGI and an email address
starting with 'mchesspro'. I searched the Web and discovered that
Hirsch is the developer of MChess Pro, which won the 13th World
Microcomputer Chess Championship at Paderborn, Germany, in 1995...

13th WMCCC: The Winners
http://www.uni-paderborn.de/S-HP/IPCC/WMCCC.html

...There is a concise description of MChess and its developer at...

Authors page
http://www.rebel.nl/authors.htm

...along with background information on other participants at the
Odyssey 2001 computer chess tournament, won by Shredder. MChess 8,
rated 2450, finished 12-14 out of 26, drawing with Shredder in the
last round.

---

You might have wondered about the start year of 1747 for the world
chess champions. Under the 'Introduction' link on the World Chess
Network's Chess History page, Parr tells us that 'we extend the world
championship line back to the mid-18th century and Andre Philidor,
thereby adding seven champions to the 14 commonly or officially
recognized from Steinitz to the present-day kingpins.' The 'Concept'
link expands on this opinion ('An argument for extending the title of
world chess champion back beyond Wilhelm Steinitz'), explaining that
the date 1747 was chosen because in that year 'Philidor triumphed
easily over Phillip Stamma (+8-1=1)'.

The bulk of Parr's material is under the 'Kings of Chess'
link : 'Detailed biographies and selected games of 21 champions of
the chess world from Andre Philidor to Alexander Khalifma'. No,
that's not a copy & paste error on my part; Khalifman lost his 'n'.
The 21 champions are:-
- Philidor, Deschapelles, la Bourdonnais, St. Amant, Staunton,
Anderssen, and Morphy;
- the 13 generally accepted champions from Steinitz through Kasparov;
and
- Khalifman.

The 'World Title Matches and Tournaments' link lists 56 events which
Parr considers to be the 'world title canon'. There are a few
controversies on the canonical list. Deschapelles is missing, while
the 1909 Lasker - Janowski, 1974 Karpov - Korchnoi, and 1992 Fischer -
Spassky matches are all included. I've never known of anyone (except
Fischer) who really believed that Fischer - Spassky II was a world
title match.

Parr offers another controversy in the 'Concept' link. 'Why, for
example, would not Zukertort figure as co-champion with Steinitz
after his triumph at London in 1883? [...] The conventional wisdom is
that Zukertort was never world champion and that Steinitz became the
first world champion in 1886. We think that there is enough minority
authority to buck the conventional wisdom about 1886, but we quake at
being the first to include Zukertort among the world champions. The
giggle factor is too daunting.' I've studied Zukertort's games and
annotations from the 1883 London tournament, and I wouldn't giggle.
Zukertort finished three points ahead of second place Steinitz, even
though he collapsed at the end of the tournament, losing his last two
games to tail-enders.

The 2000 Kramnik - Kasparov Braingames match and the 2000 Anand -
Shirov FIDE knockout match are both on the list of events, although
Kramnik and Anand are missing from the '21-Player Salute'. This
should perhaps be called the 17-player salute; the salutes to
Fischer, Karpov ('Yevgenyevich KARPOV'; 'Anatoly' has wandered off
with Khalifman's 'n'), Kasparov, and Khalifman are all missing.
Another anomaly is the order of the champions in a sidebar which
links to the salutes. The list runs chronologically from Morphy
through Smyslov, backtracks to Deschapelles and La Bourdonnais,
resumes with Tal through Spassky, and then finishes with Philidor,
Saint-Amant, Staunton, and Anderssen. I can find no logic to this
order.

But these are all nitpicks. Parr's essays on the 17 champions are
possibly the best to be found on the Web for these players. The four
pages on Spassky offer 75 (or so) paragraphs, 12 games, and 6 photos.
The essay is filled with career details, anecdotes ('We were like
bishops of opposite color', he said after his 1961 divorce), and
observations ('The art in Spassky's elegant chess conceptions seemed
to be complemented by the artfulness of his elegant life. We chess
people admired Spassky for having integrated personality with
lifestyle, a rare accomplishment among our number. This cool,
classical European intellectual led a cool, classical life.').

Along with the 17 essays are a series called 'The Chess Beat' and
two 'Archived Articles'. Chess Beat 4, dated 1 December 2001, is a
series of three essays bearing the titles 'The Uneasy Art of
Resigning a Lost Position', 'The Most Famous Resignations Ever',
and 'Representative Resignations'. The first title is available to
the general public, while the others are available to World Chess
Network Gold Members ('Your first month of Gold Membership is only
$4.95'). Chess Beats 1-3 follow the same model, offering the first
article free and the rest to subscribers. Since I'm not a subscriber,
I can't comment on the Gold service, which offers much more than just
Chess Beat.

The first of the two archived articles, titled 'The Circus that Led
to the Match', was written by Parr and discusses the many twists &
turns which preceded the Kramnik - Kasparov match. While reading this
article I had a feeling of deja vu until I realized that it contains
many phrases also found on two of my own pages...

World Chess Championship : 1998-99 World Chess Council
http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9899gkix.htm

World Chess Championship : 2000 Braingames
http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/a0a1gkix.htm

...for example...

MW : 'In an interview with Europe Echecs, Kramnik agreed with Shirov
that Kasparov had an obligation to contest the promised match with
Shirov. [...] He also said his loss to Shirov in the WCC qualifying
match was 'an accident'

LP : 'Shirov soundly beat Kramnik, 5 ½ - 3 ½ (+2 -0 =7), a result
that the latter later dismissed as an "accident". [...] Moreover,
Kramnik himself told Europe Echecs that Kasparov had an obligation to
play a match with Shirov.'

...No credit is given, so I'll grant Parr the benefit of the doubt
and assume that we both worked independently from the same sources.
While working on this review, I also found an unattributed extract of
another of my pages at...

Noveno Campeonato Mundial de Programas
http://www.ajedrez-de-estilo.com.ar/ade/notas/bollin04.htm

...which copies a couple of tables from a 1999 version of...

World Chess Championship - Computer Chess
http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-comp.htm

...Unlike the copy, my own page has since been brought up to date.
What can I say except, 'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'!
Parr is, of course, a professional writer and his style is more
polished than mine.

The second archived article, titled 'My View on the Time Controls,
was written by Dato Tan Chin Nam. It starts, 'As the individual who
might be called the architect of the very first proposal for FIDE to
rate rapid chess games, I feel a duty to state my position on time
controls rather than, as has been my normal practice, to avoid what
are usually futile battles.' Elsewhere on the Web, Parr describes
Dato Tan as 'my boss' and 'a billionaire'. If you're not a newcomer
to chess on the Web, you probably realize that my phrase 'elsewhere
on the Web' means Usenet, where Parr has long been one of the most
prolific contributors.

---

As his introduction on the World Chess Network states, Parr was
editor of the USCF's Chess Life from January 1985 to March 1988 ('An
Editor's Good-Bye : It's Been Just Great To Serve All Of You'). His
service coincided with the period from KKI (the 1984-85 Kasparov -
Karpov match) through KKIV (the 1987 match), a period of significant
political turbulence in the chess world.

This period saw the start of Kasparov's accusations that FIDE
President Campomanes favored Karpov in KKI and the subsequent KK
matches. This led to the formation, in turn, of Kasparov's GMA, PCA,
and WCC; to the replacement of Campomanes by Ilyumzhinov; and
ultimately to the multiple world champions that we have today.

In January 1988, while Parr was still editor, a Chess Life article
written by former USCF President Tim Redman (1981-1984) appeared
under the title 'Mafia Una Sumus; FIDEGATE revisited: has a Cabal of
Journalists Misled the Public?'. It started, 'This article arose from
an increasing perception that Chess Life was biased in its coverage
of FIDE matters, and that, as a result of this bias, USCF members
were being given a distorted picture of a significant part of
international chess activity'. An accompanying photo caption
asked, 'Are [IM Jonathan] Tisdall [of Chess Life and Reuters] and [IM
David] Goodman [of the Associated Press], along with CL editor Larry
Parr and London Times correspondent Raymond Keene, members of a press
conspiracy "to get" Florencio Campomanes and Anatoly Karpov?'

A second article, titled 'America's FIDE Delegate Calls for New CL
Writers', was an interview by Redman of Don Schultz, the U.S.
delegate to FIDE. Schultz said, 'There was a definite conscious
effort to help Keene/Lucena win the [FIDE] election [against
incumbent Campomanes]. It was engineered in the press before the
election and for a considerable time afterward. The group is made up
of Levy, Keene, Eric Schiller, Jonathan Tisdall, Larry Parr, David
Goodman, Kevin O'Connell, and Kasparov.' Parr was removed as editor a
few months later, apparently for having backed the losing team. To
the victor go the spoils.

---

Larry Parr knows a lot about chess history and about recent chess
politics. He's rubbed shoulders and crossed swords with many of the
most influential people in the chess world. An opinionated thinker,
an excellent writer, and a savvy Internet user, he's posted a
tremendous amount of work to the Usenet rec.games.chess newsgroups.
His posts, many of which are standalone original essays, can be
accessed via...

Google Advanced Groups Search
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search

...by entering his email address in the search box on 'Author'. The
email address 75227.3707@... covers the period from
January 1995 to April 2000, while a second email address
parrthenon@... covers more recent posts. The earliest post I found
was...

MSGID:3ef0fl$ji4$1@...
Subject: Re: BOBBY FISCHER ? / Date: 1995-01-04
'Is Bobby Fischer A Criminal? By GM Larry Evans and Larry Parr (This
editorial won a CJA award after it appeared in the Fort Lauderdale
Sun Sentinel, December 27, 1992.)'

[Technical note - to retrieve specific Usenet articles:-
1) copy the string of characters I've given after 'MSGID:', and
2) paste them into the search box on 'Message ID' in the Google
Advanced Groups Search
***
For example, pasting Message ID
3ef0fl$ji4$1@...
will retrieve the article by Evans and Parr on Fischer.]

...If you're at all interested in chess politics, you'll find a
wealth of information by browsing Parr's posts. To find posts on
specific topics, use the Google search boxes under 'Find messages'.
For example, the name 'Kirsan Ilyumzhinov' in 'Find messages with any
of the words' will retrieve Parr's posts which mention the current
FIDE President. The first was...

MSGID:494nof$raq$2@...
Subject: New FIDE President / Date: 1995/11/24
'CAMPO OUT; KALMYK IN
In the early morning hours of November 24, Kirsan Ilyumzginov, the
president of the Kalmyk Republic and a member of the Russian
parliament, was elected president of FIDE until the end of 1996. The
General Assembly by 95-3 also passed a U.S. inspired motion to hold
four new elections next year. [...]'

...This was followed a few days later by...

MSGID:498vt4$n86$1@...
Subject: Re: New FIDE President Date: 1995/11/26
'WHO IS KIRSAN ILYUMZGINOV?
The question of the FIDE hour has become: Who is Kirsan Ilyumzginov,
the new FIDE president? Indeed, a further question is what
constitutes a correct transliteration into English of his name?
Ilyumzginov, Ilyumjinov, or the Russo-centric spelling Ilyumzhinov?
[...]'

...Ilyumzhinov escaped Parr's critical insight for almost two years
until he posted a copy of a curious story from the Boston Globe...

MSGID:eO27jEhy8GA.207@...
Subject: FIDE Follies / Date: 1997/09/25
'Youthful 'Doubles' Take Over In Russian State; Leadership Left To
Understudies As Probe Begins; By David Filipov, Globe Staff'

...This was soon followed by...

MSGID:#$PvRqr38GA.233@...
Subject: Poor Kirsan! / Date: 1997/10/22
'I think that I can guess why the Boston Globe has been expending a
bit of energy on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. My explanation is that the man
is a cheap, vicious little dictator-crook. A cutrate Mussolini. He
says outrageous things (calling himself "democratic khan"), bans
newspapers, demonstrations, political parties, etc. He proudly rules
without a parliament or constitution -- as we understand these
things. [...]'

...Parr's venom was fully released following the murder of Larisa
Yudina...

MSGID:#j0mAdFm9GA.99@...
Subject: Karpov and Kirsan / Date: 1998/06/15
'Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of FIDE, differs from Florencio
Campomanes to this extent: Campo was a fifth-rate grifter who treated
us like fifth-rate victims; Ilyumzhinov is a real-life thug, who
eliminates people when they inconvenience him. Real blood, real grief.

'As readers know, Larisa Yudina, a journalist operating the only
opposition paper in Kalmykia (it was actually printed outside
Ilyumzhinov's fiefdom) was murdered a few days ago. One of three
suspects detained was an associate of Ilyumzhinov, whom Yudina had
accused of corruption. [...]'

...Some other examples of Parr's political commentary...

MSGID:3efb6s$ltm$1@...
Subject: Brutal Fide Election / Date: 1995-01-04
'Excerpts from Fide delegate Fanueil Adams' official report; Fide
Conference: Moscow 8-15 December 1994

'Fide statutes require that candidate teams declare 6 months before
the General Assembly (GA) meeting. Teams headed by Makopolis, Durao
and Kouatly entered on schedule, campaigning with varying degrees of
energy. As election time approached the loss of the Greek subsidy was
revealed, leaving Makropolis in a weak position. Durao, a nice man,
had insufficient support. A walkover by Kouatly appeared likely. What
were factors that led Campomanes and the Russian Chess Federation to
mount their brutal takeover?'

MSGID:3eqiof$ssr$1@...
Subject: Next Fide Delegate / Date: 1995-01-08
'Redman is another American who is visibly cowed by Campo and his
cohorts. Further, he is a longtime supporter of a supine American
posture in Fide; he wrote a series of articles in the January 1988
Chess Life endorsing what is now recognized as a discredited policy
of America going along to get along.'

...'Who IS Larry Parr?'...

MSGID:81b8jo$ob$1@...
Subject: Re: Who IS Larry Parr? / Date: 1999/11/22
'My past writings include four well-received chess books. With Arnold
Denker, I co-authored "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories"
which won the American Chess Foundation's and USCF's Cramer Award for
best chess book of 1996. I also won more individual writing awards
from the Chess Journalists of America than any other dabbler in chess
journalism. I would note that in many instances the judges who handed
out these awards were known to be hostile to my dissident chess
political positions.

'However, my main product has not been in chess. In the real world
I'm much better known for what I have written about the former Soviet
Union. From 1988 to 1992 I edited "Glasnost News & Review" a policy
publication that had among its 12,000 or so readers about 400 members
of the U.S. Congress. Among other writers, we published Nobel Peace
laureate Andrei Sakharov, former U.S. envoy to the United Nations
Jeane Kirkpatrick, and a certain former mayor of Moscow named Boris
Yeltsin. Another writer who appeared in GN&R was the murdered Galina
Starovoitova, who joined Larisa Yudina in the martyrology of freedom.'

MSGID:890ubi$ami$2@...
Subject: A Fond Farewell / Date: 2000/02/23
'I have accepted a position as in-house, online book critic for a
chain of bookstores in return for a percentage of the Net sales. I
shall be writing under the name of "Parrnassus." Oh, I know, I
know! Forgive me, those of you who still offer up prayers and
sacrifices to Apollo. To quote president Clinton, "I feel your pain."

'I am also currently writing a vast amount of material for an online
chess venture that has further cut down my available time for the
precious and playfully pungent putrefaction of r.g.c.p.'

...And what about the current FIDE world champion?...

MSGID:20020208002246.25745.00000097@...
Subject: Re: A Call To Arms! / Date: 2002-02-07
'Anatoly Karpov held a disputed and diminished title, while Khalifman
and Ponomariov cannot be said to hold a title at all when viewed by
what the wider world judges. Kasparov was the champion in the eyes of
the wider world until he was defeated by Kramnik.'

MSGID:20020208080235.12758.00000108@...
Subject: Re: A Call To Arms! / Date: 2002-02-08
'Only a few dozen FIDE politicians and a few hundred of their
supporters regarded Khalifman as world champion and imagine that
Ruslan Ponomariov is a world champion. Their goal is to destroy the
greatest promotional vehicle in the history of chess -- the
traditional title match -- in order to prevent the world champion
from becoming a competing center of power against FIDE.'

...The shrill tone of this is in such sharp contrast to the World
Chess Network material that I'm not completely certain that it's been
written by the same person?! Then again, who else would have the guts
to write this?

Bye for now,
Mark Weeks

---

[The bookmarks for the sites reviewed in this newsletter may be found
at...

The Chess History discussion group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chesshistory/

...where you are invited to join and contribute. The list archive is
at...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chess_History/messages

...and contains copies of previous reviews. To subscribe:-
- by email, send a message to
Chess_History-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, -or-
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All subscriptions are confirmed with a verification message.]