Chess politics - defamation of character

Author

defamation of character

parrthenon@cs.com

2006-08-02, 10:26 pm

MEMORY PLAYS TRICKS

We received this message about Havana 1952. Quesada did die a few
days later, apparently after beating Prins, and their game wasn't
adjourned. "Memory plays tricks," said GM Evans.

FROM LAWRENCE TOTARO, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

When Edward Winter mentions "our" or "we" in his Chess Nuts, who is he
talking about? Whose collection? He owns over 1,000 original
photographs but doesn't have one of himself. Hmmm.....I e-mailed him 14
times and received one response: "Please remove this e-mail address
from the distribution of such messages Thank you E." Well, that's
all the individual verification I have of this "Edward Winter," so
the burden of proof is on those who consider the "world's greatest
chess historian" to be bone fide.

DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER

In the January-February 1987 issue of the magazine Chess Notes
(page 6; C.N. 1312) they quoted without comment a passage from page 175
of Evans' book Modern Chess Brilliancies:

'... At Havana 1952, one of my first great international tournaments, I
learned at first hand the full meaning of Tartakower's dictum that "you
can't win by resigning". The Dutch master Prins was a piece down
against one of the Cuban lesser lights, Quesada; his position was
obviously hopeless, but he insisted on adjourning the game. When I
asked Prins why he didn't resign immediately, he replied that anything
can happen. Sure enough, his opponent obliged the next day by dying of
a heart attack. Such drastic solutions to the problem of saving a lost
game do not readily present themselves. Nor does such a stubborn
attitude endear a master to his colleagues.'

Lodewijk Prins accused GM Larry Evans in Chess Notes (March-April 1987,
page 49; C.N. 1385) of "almost defamation of character". Almost
defamation of character?? I don't think Prins understands what
defamation of character really is. According to the website Dancing
with Lawyers http://www.dancingwithlawyers.com/freeinfo/libel.shtml
there is a small section defining what defamation IS not:

What defamation is not.

Generally, a statement made about an undefinable group of people or
organizations cannot be defamation. Take, "Real estate agents are
crooks." It's defamatory enough, but there is no identifiable victim.

"Most of the agents at Smith Real Estate Company are crooks" is getting
dicier, but it is still hard to define the victim.

"Smith Real Estate Company is a crooked company." Wham! You have a
victim: Smith Real Estate Company.

If Ludo believes the statement, "nor does such a stubborn attitude
endear a master to his colleagues" is defamation of character, then he
needs to check the above examples. "Nor does such a stubborn attitude
endear a master to his colleague" is too universal and not precise
enough to become defamation of character. By the way, who is "his"
colleague?

Defamation is: written or spoken injury to a person or organization's
reputation. The statement made by GM Larry Evans was not even close to
defamation of character!

Also, from the business position for defamation of character, if a
statement is made and declines the sales of a company, the business can
sue for damages. Take for example: "People who purchase Paul Mitchell
products can get lice." If verified that there has been a decline,
Paul Mitchell can sue. Defaming is to "bring down" a famous character
or organization. I think the only people of "almost" defaming a
character, were Prins and Winter. But this would not fit the definition
of defamation of character in the business world because there is no
evidence to support a decline in sales for GM Larry Evans! But a
decline in credibility, no doubt the two above mentioned gentlemen did
exactly that! And by the way, if it wasn't for Edward Winter mentioning
this event in his Chess Notes, I am sure Ludo would have never heard
about the annotations pertaining to the event.

-- Lawrence Totaro 2006

ChessBase HTML output(58618) Evans,L - Prins,L [E45]
Havana Havana (4), 1952

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Nge2 Ba6 6.a3 Be7 7.Nf4 Nc6 8.Be2
0-0 9.0-0 Bd6 10.b4 Bxf4 11.exf4 Ne7 12.Be3 Bb7 13.Bd3 d6 14.Qc2 a5
15.Rad1 axb4 16.axb4 Nc6 17.Qb2 d5 18.b5 Na5 19.c5 bxc5 20.dxc5 Qb8
21.Bd4 c6 22.Be5 Qd8 23.Rfe1 Ne8 24.Re3 cxb5 25.Nxb5 Nc6 26.Bc3 Ba6
27.Qc2 g6 28.g3 Nc7 29.Nd4 Nxd4 30.Bxd4 Bxd3 31.Qxd3 Ra4 32.Be5 Ne8
33.c6 Qc8 34.Rc1 f6 35.Bb2 Rf7 36.Qb5 Rfa7 37.Rb3 R4a5 38.Qb7 Qc7
39.Qb8 Qxb8 40.Rxb8 Ra8 41.c7 1-0

ChessBase HTML output(58703) Quesada - Prins,L [C55]
Havana Havana (13), 1952

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.0-0 d6 5.Ng5 d5 6.exd5 Na5 7.Bb5+ c6
8.dxc6 bxc6 9.Be2 h6 10.Nf3 e4 11.Ne1 Bd6 12.d3 Qc7 13.dxe4 Nxe4 14.Bd3
Nc5 15.b4 Nxd3 16.Nxd3 Nc4 17.Re1+ Be6 18.g3 0-0-0 19.Qf3 Qd7 20.Nc3
Rhe8 21.b5 Bg4 22.bxc6 Bxf3 23.cxd7+ Kxd7 24.Bf4 Na3 25.Bxd6 Kxd6
26.Rxe8 Rxe8 27.Ne1 Bg4 28.f3 Be6 29.Rd1+ Kc7 30.Kf2 Rb8 31.Rd4 Rb2
32.Ra4 Nxc2 33.Nd3 Rb7 34.Nc5 Rb4 35.Na6+ 1-0

parrthenon@cs.com

2006-08-02, 10:27 pm

WINTER RAGES AGAINST HIS BETTERS

"Prins was a bit of a stuffed shirt, but I liked him," Larry Evans once
told me. "He stayed at my place when he visited New York shortly after
I captured my first U.S. Championship in 1951. We won a consultation
game against Reshevsky and Horowitz later that year. Prins, Gligoric
and I shared an apartment in Havana during the international tournament
held there in 1952."

White: PRINS AND EVANS
Black: RESHEVSKY AND HOROWITZ
Sicilian Defense, New York 1951

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 f3 e5 6 Nb3 d5 7 Bg5 Be6 8 exd5
Qxd5 9 Nc3 Bb4 10 Bd2 Qd8 11 Bb5+ Nc6 12 Qe2 0-0 13 Bxc6 bxc6 14 0-0-0
Qc7 15 Ne4 a5?! 16 Nxf6+ gxf6 17 Qf2 Rfd8 18 Bh6 Kh8 19 Nc5 Rg8 20 Qh4
Rg6 21 Nxe6 fxe6 22 Rd3 Be7 23 Rhd1 f5 24 Qh5 Rd8 25 Rxd8+ Bxd8 26 g4
f4 27 Bf8 Bf6 28 Bc5 e4 29 fxe4 f3 30 Bd6 Qb6 31 Be5 Qe3+ 32 Kb1 Qxe4
33 Bxf6+ Rxf6 34 Qe8+ Kg7 35 Rd7+ 1-0

Taylor Kingston

2006-08-02, 10:27 pm

parrthenon@cs.com wrote:

quote:

> FROM LAWRENCE TOTARO, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
> Lodewijk Prins accused GM Larry Evans in Chess Notes (March-April 1987,
> page 49; C.N. 1385) of "almost defamation of character". Almost
> defamation of character?? I don't think Prins understands what
> defamation of character really is.

This is a matter you would have to take up with Mr. Prins, who (if
memory serves) passed on not long ago. His main point was not that
Evans had committed any crime. Evans said Prins was overly stubborn in
drawing out the game to an adjournment, which in fact Prins had not
done. Prins resented both the factual error and the "stubborn" charge,
pointing out that many great players were noted for long resistance in
bad positions.

quote:

> Defamation is: written or spoken injury to a person or organization's
> reputation. The statement made by GM Larry Evans was not even close to
> defamation of character!

You are perhaps right; as I said, that came from Prins, and I don't
have the legal background to argue either way. Winter, who generally
presents correspondence in full without alteration, was obliged to
present it.
As far as the defamation issue is concerned, Evans misunderstood
Prins completely, and ended up sounding silly denying a charge no one
had made. I present below the relevant passages from the whole
Evans/Prins/Winter exchange, in chronological order:

Evans, in "Modern Chess Brilliancies," referring to the game between
Prins and Quesada at Havana 1952:

"Sure enough, his opponent [Quesada] obliged the next day by dying of
a heart attack. Such drastic solutions to the problem of saving a lost
game do not readily present themselves. Nor does such a stubborn
attitude endear a master to his colleagues."

Prins, in 1987:

In fact I resigned after Quesada's 35th move, as confirmed in the
Bulletin by Jack Spence (number 39, published 1959/60, in a series of
limited editions), where the times read 1h.10 min. for White, 1h.59
min. for Black.
2) Mr Quesada played at least three more games, among which draws
with Pomar and Tor=E1n, thus casting doubt on Evans' claim of his
dying "the next day".
3) Evans' allegation about "drastic solutions to the problems of
saving a lost game" would seem to be a mere fabrication. Besides,
Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, to name a few, used to put up perfectly
legitimate resistance when a piece down, or more.
4) Which stamps Evans' "nor does such a stubborn attitude endear
a master to his colleagues" almost as defamation of character.

Evans, in reply to Prins:

"But you are unscrupulous to deduce that I am defaming the character
of Capa, Alekhine and Euwe merely because I made the perfectly banal
observation that dragging out hopeless positions does 'not endear a
master to his colleagues'."

Winter, in reply to Evans:

"Nobody has suggested that Larry Evans was 'defaming the character of
Capa, Alekhine and Euwe'; Mr Prins simply pointed out that even those
three world champions had played on - legitimately - when behind on
material. Mr Evans' inability to read plain English is remarkable."

Winter, quoting Prins:

"As Prins wrote to us subsequently, Evans' standpoint was
'extraordinarily silly.'"