Search found 149 matches

by O.G. Urcan
Tue Jul 05, 2016 9:19 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Leonard Barden's fantastic world record
Replies: 25
Views: 5604

Leonard Barden's fantastic world record

In his Evening Standard column on 30 June 2016 Leonard Barden wrote:
"Today's puzzle marks a record 60 years of the Evening Standard chess feature, the longest running daily column on any subject by a single individual in the history of journalism."
Olimpiu G. Urcan
by O.G. Urcan
Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:05 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Claims by C.J. de Mooi
Replies: 132
Views: 18163

Re: Claims by C.J. de Mooi

At the Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog on 9 September Justin Horton wrote that Amazon's "Look Inside" function showed only four references to chess in C.J. de Mooi's recent autobiography. A colleague who has the book tells me that those four mentions are indeed the only ones. The book has nothing abo...
by O.G. Urcan
Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:11 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Claims by C.J. de Mooi
Replies: 132
Views: 18163

Re: Claims by C.J. de Mooi

I see that in an editorial on page 4 of CHESS, November 2009 Malcolm Pein wrote that C.J. de Mooi "was the UK's most active tournament player for a couple of years when he averaged over a game a day".

No particulars were given.
by O.G. Urcan
Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:09 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Claims by C.J. de Mooi
Replies: 132
Views: 18163

Claims by C.J. de Mooi

C.N. 9476 quotes a claim by C.J. de Mooi on page 46 of CHESS , March 2010: "I think it was 1998 and 1999 I was the most active player in the country. I was playing 360-370 rated long-play games a year as well as about 250 rated Rapidplay games." After I posted a tweet about this yesterday, Angus Fr...
by O.G. Urcan
Thu Jul 23, 2015 10:26 am
Forum: Chess History
Topic: Footage of 1960s Hastings tournaments
Replies: 5
Views: 1780

Footage of 1960s Hastings tournaments

The Chess Notes website has just posted some links which I have provided for footage of a number of chess events, including tournaments played in Hastings in the 1960s. Edward Winter's site also has a feature article Chess Masters on Film offering many other such links. There is even a film sequence...
by O.G. Urcan
Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:23 pm
Forum: Deaths & Obituaries
Topic: George Ellison RIP
Replies: 23
Views: 6958

Re: George Ellison RIP

My Twitter page (https://twitter.com/OlimpiuUrcan) mentions a book by George Ellison, Spike's Chess Primer, published in 1983.
by O.G. Urcan
Tue May 05, 2015 12:22 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Chess Royalty
Replies: 35
Views: 9154

Re: Chess Royalty

In March my Twitter page had suggestions about possible members of an "elite": Baron Columns, Seigneur Donationsfortunis, Emir Justforthegrub, Viscount Hewritehisownstuff and Shah Yourselfwithpraise.
by O.G. Urcan
Fri Mar 27, 2015 8:41 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

I suggest that three basic questions are worth consideration:

1) Is plagiarism wrong?

2) Does proof exist that Raymond Keene has plagiarized a substantial amount of material?

3) Is it proper for plagiarists' conduct to be brought to the public's attention?

My own answers are: yes, yes and yes.
by O.G. Urcan
Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:15 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

One difficulty with Ernie Lazenby's wish for no further discussion of Raymond Keene is that new transgressions keep coming to light. The latest exposé, from yesterday, is this . Mr Urcan and myself may have to differ on the meaning of the word `new`. The link refers to something that happened in 20...
by O.G. Urcan
Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:49 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

One difficulty with Ernie Lazenby's wish for no further discussion of Raymond Keene is that new transgressions keep coming to light. The latest exposé, from yesterday, is this.
by O.G. Urcan
Mon Mar 16, 2015 5:11 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

On 13 March Andrew Zigmond wrote of Raymond Keene: "At present it seems he can't show his face anywhere without the guns being drawn and players and benefactors being caught in the resulting crossfire; to the point where the event itself gets relegated to a sideshow." In fact, the relegation has bee...
by O.G. Urcan
Sun Mar 15, 2015 8:33 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

A reference by Christopher Kreuzer on 13 March ("Colin Crouch insults Justin Horton") reminds me that after Crouch made vague negative remarks about Horton in connection with Keene last November I wrote on Twitter: "Let's focus on the substance: are any of Horton's criticisms of Keene on that long l...
by O.G. Urcan
Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:29 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

On Twitter yesterday, Steve Giddins called the article at http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.c ... smell.html an "outrageous attack on the Varsity Match."
by O.G. Urcan
Thu Mar 12, 2015 1:12 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

It seems that the organizers of the Varsity match have no qualms about Raymond Keene's presence: http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.c ... smell.html
by O.G. Urcan
Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:50 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."
Replies: 129
Views: 22030

Re: Keene's claim to have won "22 national championship titles."

Yes I know what you said because I read the note. You did not make reference to the quality of either book, I understand that. I made reference to the quality of the books to make the point that if both the books were good it was not surprising that both authors praised the other. Whether nine time...