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Fischer vs Kasparov The 12 Secret Games?
About ten days ago, I was on eBay and I saw up for auction a chess book entitled “Fischer vs Kasparov The 12 Secret Games?” The starting bid was $24.99 US.
I wrote to the seller and asked if he shipped to Canada and he said he would if he could get a UPS Tracking Number.
The “Buy Now” price was $79.00.
The book was published in 2004. I could find only one reference to it since then, in 2010.
I also found through google that the author had seven copies left and that, if I wanted one, I should send $34.99 to a wedding photographer website in California and arrange about shipping with the author at another website. That cost me an additional $10.21 and so with the exchange rate etc my final cost was 51.16 CAD
_______
Why did I take so much trouble about a book with such a dubious subject? Well, you’ll remember the discussions about My 61 Memorable Games (2007) in this forum. I think the general conclusion was that it was an unauthorized forgery. It was also unobtainable.
There are collectors who feel that owning a copy of a dubious title is quite legitimate because it is a piece of history – negative or no.
I have copies of Wenman’s books – he was a plagiarist. I have Nunn’s terrible edition of Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games. I would even buy 61 Memorable Games if I could ever find a copy.
Details of the book:
Fischer vs Kasparov The 12 Secret Games? The story of a mysterious gift and an incredible day with GM Eduard Gufeld
By Mark Anthony copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved
Size: 8.5” x 11” (21.6 x 28 cm)
Contents page plus 61 pages
It is a paperback, that looks very much like one of those books you can have printed up instantly from a pdf file.
There is no place of publication, no publisher and no ISBN. It is not listed on the amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.
_______
Mark Anthony became a friend of GM Eduard Gufeld. Gufeld was a Soviet grandmaster, born in Kiev, who emigrated to the United States after the fall of the Soviet Union. He died of a stroke/heart attack in September of 2002 at the age of 66.
Sam Sloan wrote a eulogy of him for chessbase:
Gufeld later became much better known as a writer, journalist and world traveler. He wrote more than 100 chess books. There is debate as to whether he wrote the most chess books of anybody, but he was certainly in the top two or three. He moved to the Republic of Georgia and lived there for more than a decade, where he became the trainer of Woman's World Chess Champion Maya Chiburdanidze. .
This, however, was the great mystery about Eduard Gufeld. In an era of dour, tight-lipped Soviet Grandmasters, Gufeld was always available for a comment or a quote about any subject. He seemed to be able to travel the world freely. He went to Japan and many other countries where other Soviet chess players almost never went. In an era where it was almost impossible to get out of the Soviet Union and where Soviets who traveled abroad were accompanied by a KGB Agent, Gufeld seemed to be able to come and go anywhere he wanted without escort.
Yet, Gufeld denied to his dying day that he was a KGB Agent. If he was, his secret died with him.
Gufeld was such a superstar that after the breakup of the Soviet Union he went to Hollywood, where he continued to write books, travel, teach, lecture and play in chess tournaments. Even though he was no longer a world-class player, he won many tournaments, including the US Senior Championship.
See http://en.chessbase.com/post/grandma...ufeld-has-died
_______
One day, Gufeld dictates twelve chess games to Anthony. Another page is put into an envelope and Anthony sworn not to open it until Gufeld is dead. He also gives him a copy of his book “Improving Chess By Tactics” signed and inscribed on 12/18/01.
When Anthony later opens the envelope up there is a list of the twelve games with the players listed as G.K. and B.F.
He is fairly certain that Gufeld passed on the moves of a twelve-game match between Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.
“So the remaining questions are when, where and how? Kasparov did meet with Gufeld in Los Angeles to film a commercial, and stayed a week. Gufeld spoke with Bobby in Budapest when he travelled there to play in tournaments. When? There’s no way to guess or know for sure. Where? Perhaps in Budapest, perhaps through correspondence, perhaps through contact with Gufeld.”
…..
“Perhaps Gufeld fabricated them, but why?”
He concludes that, after analyzing the games, that they are genuine and says:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
I present to you (in all probability) the 12 Secret Games of Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.”
To be continued in the next post of this thread
About ten days ago, I was on eBay and I saw up for auction a chess book entitled “Fischer vs Kasparov The 12 Secret Games?” The starting bid was $24.99 US.
I wrote to the seller and asked if he shipped to Canada and he said he would if he could get a UPS Tracking Number.
The “Buy Now” price was $79.00.
The book was published in 2004. I could find only one reference to it since then, in 2010.
I also found through google that the author had seven copies left and that, if I wanted one, I should send $34.99 to a wedding photographer website in California and arrange about shipping with the author at another website. That cost me an additional $10.21 and so with the exchange rate etc my final cost was 51.16 CAD
_______
Why did I take so much trouble about a book with such a dubious subject? Well, you’ll remember the discussions about My 61 Memorable Games (2007) in this forum. I think the general conclusion was that it was an unauthorized forgery. It was also unobtainable.
There are collectors who feel that owning a copy of a dubious title is quite legitimate because it is a piece of history – negative or no.
I have copies of Wenman’s books – he was a plagiarist. I have Nunn’s terrible edition of Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games. I would even buy 61 Memorable Games if I could ever find a copy.
Details of the book:
Fischer vs Kasparov The 12 Secret Games? The story of a mysterious gift and an incredible day with GM Eduard Gufeld
By Mark Anthony copyright 2004 All Rights Reserved
Size: 8.5” x 11” (21.6 x 28 cm)
Contents page plus 61 pages
It is a paperback, that looks very much like one of those books you can have printed up instantly from a pdf file.
There is no place of publication, no publisher and no ISBN. It is not listed on the amazon or Barnes and Noble sites.
_______
Mark Anthony became a friend of GM Eduard Gufeld. Gufeld was a Soviet grandmaster, born in Kiev, who emigrated to the United States after the fall of the Soviet Union. He died of a stroke/heart attack in September of 2002 at the age of 66.
Sam Sloan wrote a eulogy of him for chessbase:
Gufeld later became much better known as a writer, journalist and world traveler. He wrote more than 100 chess books. There is debate as to whether he wrote the most chess books of anybody, but he was certainly in the top two or three. He moved to the Republic of Georgia and lived there for more than a decade, where he became the trainer of Woman's World Chess Champion Maya Chiburdanidze. .
This, however, was the great mystery about Eduard Gufeld. In an era of dour, tight-lipped Soviet Grandmasters, Gufeld was always available for a comment or a quote about any subject. He seemed to be able to travel the world freely. He went to Japan and many other countries where other Soviet chess players almost never went. In an era where it was almost impossible to get out of the Soviet Union and where Soviets who traveled abroad were accompanied by a KGB Agent, Gufeld seemed to be able to come and go anywhere he wanted without escort.
Yet, Gufeld denied to his dying day that he was a KGB Agent. If he was, his secret died with him.
Gufeld was such a superstar that after the breakup of the Soviet Union he went to Hollywood, where he continued to write books, travel, teach, lecture and play in chess tournaments. Even though he was no longer a world-class player, he won many tournaments, including the US Senior Championship.
See http://en.chessbase.com/post/grandma...ufeld-has-died
_______
One day, Gufeld dictates twelve chess games to Anthony. Another page is put into an envelope and Anthony sworn not to open it until Gufeld is dead. He also gives him a copy of his book “Improving Chess By Tactics” signed and inscribed on 12/18/01.
When Anthony later opens the envelope up there is a list of the twelve games with the players listed as G.K. and B.F.
He is fairly certain that Gufeld passed on the moves of a twelve-game match between Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.
“So the remaining questions are when, where and how? Kasparov did meet with Gufeld in Los Angeles to film a commercial, and stayed a week. Gufeld spoke with Bobby in Budapest when he travelled there to play in tournaments. When? There’s no way to guess or know for sure. Where? Perhaps in Budapest, perhaps through correspondence, perhaps through contact with Gufeld.”
…..
“Perhaps Gufeld fabricated them, but why?”
He concludes that, after analyzing the games, that they are genuine and says:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
I present to you (in all probability) the 12 Secret Games of Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.”
To be continued in the next post of this thread
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