Media comments on chess

[JustinHorton]

Out of interest, is there any precedent here? (And do we know whether the judge might speak to my defence team to ask whether this was a defence I really wished to adopt?)

[David Sedgwick]

I have no idea whether anyone has ever relied on alien abduction as a defence. It's a hypothetical, like yours. That doesn't mean it isn't clear what the legal position would be.

Out of interest, is there any precedent here? (And do we know whether the judge might speak to my defence team to ask whether this was a defence I really wished to adopt?)

It's conceivable that there might have been such a defence, If Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had been accused of a crime in 1997.

[Jacques Parry]

Out of interest, is there any precedent here?

I'm not sure what you mean. Any instance of a defendant relying on alien abduction as an alibi? Not that I know of, but then there's no reason why I would. Or do you mean a precedent for a rule that an assertion of a fact, even if uncorroborated, is still evidence of its truth? That's the sort of thing that's so fundamental it hardly needs a precedent.

(And do we know whether the judge might speak to my defence team to ask whether this was a defence I really wished to adopt?)

It's possible, but your defence team would undoubtedly have tried to dissuade you from running it, and the judge would know this.

[JustinHorton]

It's possible, but your defence team would undoubtedly have tried to dissuade you from running it, and the judge would know this.

Well, unless I just came out with it unexpectedly, I suppose.

Out of interest, is there any precedent here?

I'm not sure what you mean. Any instance of a defendant relying on alien abduction as an alibi?

Yes, I was just curious.

Isn't there a problem here, in so far as there's a difference between what we think of as "evidence" in the setting of a court case, and what we think of as "evidence" in the field of general intellectual enquiry? So in our hypothetical case, I'm a defendant and the claim is part of my testimony, and in a court case, for good reasons, a defendant's testimony is evidence, no matter how uncorroborated or untestable it may be.

But in a more general setting, where (for instance) we ate trying to establish the historicity or otherwise of an event, there's surely a difference between "evidence" and "assertion". And just because I assert something, e.g. that aliens attempted to abduct me last night, doesn't make it evidence. The alternative to that view, as far as I can see, is that any assertion would constitute historical evidence unless it were already disproved, and I don't think that can be right.

[Jacques Parry]

I don't think lawyers use the notion of evidence in some peculiar, technical sense. The legal usage simply assumes that, if someone asserts a proposition to be true, the making of that assertion militates to some extent in favour of that proposition being true. It may not be much, but it's better than nothing. What Korchnoi said is, because he said it, more likely to be true than if he hadn't said it.

[Geoff Chandler]

...and back to Korchnoi and the KGB.

In 1977 Korchnoi beat Petrosian in the candidate quarter finals, then Polugaevsky in the
semi-final and one week before playing Spassky in the candidate final this happened....



One can only imagine the speculation if Korchnoi had been very seriously injured or even killed.
The accident was just that, an accident. The car collided with a Swiss Army Truck.
(there must be a Swiss Army Knife joke in there somewhere.)

Also onboard and escaping serious injury was Raymond Keene.
(there mus be a 'where you Justin on the 8th November 1977' joke in there somewhere)

Same issue (November 1977 the picture is from a guess the year quiz) also has an interview with Korchnoi
regarding his 1974 match v Karpov and a telephone call after winning his second game:

"if you win the next game we will take care of you..."

The quiz is here:

https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess-blog/l ... ogpost.443

But the annoying thing is I do a wee piece on The Rook and Knight Epaulette Mate.

4rkr1/8/5R2/5N2/8/8/8/5K2 w - - 0 1

In the same CHESS magazine reporting the Korchnoi car accident one of the puzzles from Hugh Courtney's Christmas Quiz:

Reach this position after five moves.

rnbq1bnr/ppppkppp/8/4R3/4N3/8/1PPPPPPP/2BQKBNR b K - 0 5

Drats, Rat and Cross-eyed Cats...I missed it. I could have added it in, it's a perfect fit. (I'll use it in the future.)

Solution:
1. a3 e5 2. Nc3 Bxa3 3. Ne4 Bf8 4. Ra5 Ke7 5. Rxe5#

Composer? Hugh comments that he got the puzzle from Leonard Barden's column in the
Evening Standard who apparently got it from a foreign chess column.....

...The Coronavirus Chess Problem!

[John McKenna]

But evidence requiring of significant additional corroboration to be accepted as something close to the truth.

The allegation was made during Korchnoi's lifetime.

Heh, I wondered if Popov et al would come up. What's their source?

Then it's too bad that you didn't call on them first - as witnesses for the prosecution of your case.

OBJECTION!!

Chief prosecutor Horton is, as usual, trying to shill the court - whenever he says "I was abducted by aliens" read "the KGB had plans to kill me".

There's a world of difference.

[JustinHorton]

There's a world of difference.

Well done John, you have grasped everything except the point.

[Paul McKeown]

Is all this gibberish of any use to mankind, or merely amoebic dysentery?

[JustinHorton]

To give you a completely straight-faced answer Paul, I've found a few people's contributions quite interesting, but especially Jacques Parry's.

[Jonathan Bryant]

...and back to Korchnoi and the KGB.

In 1977 Korchnoi beat Petrosian in the candidate quarter finals, then Polugaevsky in the
semi-final and one week before playing Spassky in the candidate final this happened....



One can only imagine the speculation if Korchnoi had been very seriously injured or even killed.

The Candidates’ final with Spassky was delayed because of the crash ... and Vik was allowed to move with one hand /press the clock with the other in time trouble because of his injuries.

You can find both Korchnoi’s and Keene’s accounts of the accident here:-

https://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot. ... v.html?m=1

Curiously, Ray plays a central role in saving Korchnoi in his version but you don’t hear much about him in the Victor’s

[John McKenna]

There's a world of difference.

Well done John, you have grasped everything except the point.

Why don't you stop shilly-shallying, Justin.

Probably your best hope is to follow a master -

"Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, but this too is pure speculation." (Wiktionary)

Oh, but no... forget that - you simply cannot stand anything that smacks of speculation.

As for the never-jocular Mr. Paul McKeown - "it's the way he tells 'em". Not!

Get a sense of humour from somewhere, Paul, even if you have to beg, steal and borrow to acquire it.

[Paul McKeown]

It would appear that someone has yanked Colonial John by the pith helmet.

[John McKenna]

That's quite mild & measured for you, Paul.

Edit: I've toned it down after seeing Carl's comment, below.

[Carl Hibbard]

It seems I’m here again