| parrthenon@cs.com 2005-05-30, 8:32 pm |
| TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT
Statement from GM Larry Evans
Dear Larry,
To the best of my recollection here are the answers to your questions.
1. Ken Whyld told me what Keres said when we met in London in 1988. I
cherish the copy of the Oxford Companion that he inscribed to me on
that occasion. Since Keres died in 1975, Ken had no qualms about
discussing it freely. Apparently he already told other researchers and
he didn't ask me to keep it under my hat.
I didn't quote Whyld in my October 1996 article on The Tragedy of Paul
Keres for the simple reason that I forgot about it. I was juggling many
pieces of information and my focus was on the five Keres-Botvinnik
games.
2. I didn't know about Botvinnik's admission about Stalin when I wrote
my article in 1996 and I don't remember whether or not you told me. As
you know, I get a stack of mail from chess people around the world.
Shortly after my article ran in Chess Life I heard from someone in
Holland telling me what Botvinnik said, but he didn't cite any source.
I don't know if any of this matters, but that's what happened.
-- Larry Evans
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