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Home > Archive > Chess politics > August 2006 > Keene's questions
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| parrthenon@cs.com 2006-08-02, 10:41 pm |
| KEENE IS BAFFLED
<Who are the ratbackers? I get very confused by these brain dead
zombies. Remind me again who they are.> -- Raymond Keene
GM Ray Keene asked the questions listed below to a
friend of his in America. I would add these annotations:
1. Neil Brennen originally came here announcing himself
as the historian of the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation.
You may imagine how I greeted this pompous entrance.
2. Greg Kennedy's enmity toward grandmasters derives, by
his own account, from being buried alive in Indiana.
He told us that he coulda been a contendah if he lived
elsewhere. He used to quote from comic books until he
realized that others read Plutarch in their youth.
Keene: 1. Who is the nutty professor?
Answer: Louis Blair
Keene: 2. Who is Neil Brennen?
Answer: The Historian (a sobriquet given him
by Parr years ago which annoyed him but Brennen
now adopts it as one of his screen names).
Keene: 3. Who is Randy Bauer?
Answer: A former budget director for the state of Iowa
Keene: 4. Who is Taylor Kingston?
Answer: A book reviewer who is Edward Winter's clone in America
Keene: 5. Whom did I miss?
Answer: You missed Help Bot who is Greg Kennedy, a hater
of grandmasters such as Fischer, Kasparov, Evans, Keene, etc.
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| The Historian 2006-08-02, 10:41 pm |
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parrthenon@cs.com wrote:
quote:
> KEENE IS BAFFLED
>
> <Who are the ratbackers? I get very confused by these brain dead
> zombies. Remind me again who they are.> -- Raymond Keene
>
> GM Ray Keene asked the questions listed below to a
> friend of his in America. I would add these annotations:
>
> 1. Neil Brennen originally came here announcing himself
> as the historian of the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation.
> You may imagine how I greeted this pompous entrance.
Why imagine it, Larry? The curious reader could search for it. After
half a decade, the question why a chess historian frightens so many
people here remains unanswered.
(snip)
quote:
> Keene: 2. Who is Neil Brennen?
>
> Answer: The Historian (a sobriquet given him
> by Parr years ago which annoyed him but Brennen
> now adopts it as one of his screen names).
And now the sobriquet annoys Parr.
"For those of you not aware of his pet name, he was branded "The
Historian" in on-line discussions as a term of derision. Of course,
Neil immediately assumed this title and proudly posted over that name
in future postings, rather rubbing his opponents' noses in their own
terminology. Since then his friends have happily been referring to Neil
as "The Historian"." - J. Franklin Campbell
"Were all the trappings of my success as The Historian going to
disappear - the international fame, the lucrative publishing contracts,
the personal trolls on chess newsgroups - were they all going away?
Would my glamorous career as The Historian dwindle to that harsh fate
suffered by former Chess Life editors - forever posting flames on
rec.games.chess.politics?"
http://correspondencechess.com/camp...les/a050401.htm
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| The Historian 2006-08-02, 10:41 pm |
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parrthenon@cs.com wrote:
quote:
> KEENE IS BAFFLED
>
> <Who are the ratbackers? I get very confused by these brain dead
> zombies. Remind me again who they are.> -- Raymond Keene
>
> GM Ray Keene asked the questions listed below to a
> friend of his in America. I would add these annotations:
>
> 1. Neil Brennen originally came here announcing himself
> as the historian of the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation.
> You may imagine how I greeted this pompous entrance.
Why imagine it, Larry? The curious reader could search for it. After
half a decade, the question why a chess historian frightens so many
people here remains unanswered.
(snip)
quote:
> Keene: 2. Who is Neil Brennen?
>
> Answer: The Historian (a sobriquet given him
> by Parr years ago which annoyed him but Brennen
> now adopts it as one of his screen names).
And now the sobriquet annoys Parr.
"For those of you not aware of his pet name, he was branded "The
Historian" in on-line discussions as a term of derision. Of course,
Neil immediately assumed this title and proudly posted over that name
in future postings, rather rubbing his opponents' noses in their own
terminology. Since then his friends have happily been referring to Neil
as "The Historian"." - J. Franklin Campbell
"Were all the trappings of my success as The Historian going to
disappear - the international fame, the lucrative publishing contracts,
the personal trolls on chess newsgroups - were they all going away?
Would my glamorous career as The Historian dwindle to that harsh fate
suffered by former Chess Life editors - forever posting flames on
rec.games.chess.politics?"
http://correspondencechess.com/camp...les/a050401.htm
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| parrthenon@cs.com 2006-08-02, 10:41 pm |
| THE HISTORIAN
J. Franklin Campbell rewrites rgcp history just
a bit. Neil Brennen did not "immediately" assume the
title of "The Historian." One of the stellar threads
in the history of this forum centered on the meaning
and usage of the word "The" in caps. The fact is that
Mr. Brennen fought against the capitalized "The" for a long while.
The truth is that Mr. Brennen only later eased
himself into the title after an easing of
international tensions between Pennsylvania and
Malaysia. There was even a posting in which he
conceded that he was unwise to join rgcp by
spouting a credential such as historian of the PSCF.
I was amazed that it took Mr. Brennen so long
to realize there were worst things than being called
"The Historian," even given the irony and reeking
sarcasm. After all, I recorded a similar situation
in my "Viktors Pupols: American Master" which in
part dealt with the feud between the Pacific Northwest
masters, Vik Pupols and Jim McCormick. As I related:
"But although the reader will detect a definite
point of vbiew in what follows, let it be said right
off that Mr. McCormick has given as well as received.
He stuck Viktors Pupols with the monicker 'Deity' in
the middle 1960's and early 1970's; he derisively and
successfully labeled students of the Latvian master,
'Little Viks'; and in the case of the current state
senator from Kent, K. Pullen [now deceased] he noted
the latter's close approximation to Viktors' playing
style and called the poor man, 'android.'"
BUT: as Pupols later noted in the book, there are worse
things to be called than God.
It took Mr. Brennen quite a long time to accept this concept.
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