English Chess Forum

Raymond has a new site
https://www.grandmasterray.com/
including his top ten personal games.
https://www.grandmasterray.com/rays-games/
as well as listing his books
https://www.grandmasterray.com/rays-books/

What could be interesting is if instead of endlessly recycling his old notes from forty or fifty years ago, he did a reappraisal.

The games can still be relevant in English domestic chess. Surtees punted some of Basman's plan against me last year.
http://www.keeneonchess.com/rays-games/game-10/

I think he gave up on producing new original material a while back, unfortunately.

Talking of producing new material I was very pleased to see this load of old dreck again, being familiar with from previous appearances in places such as the Gibraltar Literary Festival, the World Peace and Prosperity Foundation, Ray and Tony's "charity" the Brain Trust and indeed the Gifted Academy, a Mind Mapping-related griftwhich is linked to from Ray's new site.

By the way, in locating these I came across this odd interview that I hadn't seen before, in which Ray is kind enough to refer to the late Tony Miles as "clinically insane".

(For the interested, part two is here.)

Checking out the author of the interview (Sunday morning being as good a time as any to disappear down internet rabbitholes) I came across this - I'm not sure what it is, since it looks like a respectable academic journal but obviously isn't, and among various material relating to Ray-and-Tony-cronies such as Manahel Thabet, I found this acknowledgement.

Count Grand Master Raymond Keene Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (Knight of the Order of the White Swan, (conferred by ) Prince Marek Kasperski Chevalier of the Order of Champagne; Chair, Outside in Pathways; Director, Brain Trust Charity; Former British Chess Champion; Bronze Medal, World Team Championship; Right to Arms, Royal College of Arms; Freeman, City of London; Winner (Two Times), Global Chess Oscar; Ex-Head (1994-2000), Mind Sports Faculty; ExChess Tutor, Imperial Court of Iran; Gold Medal, Chinese Olympic Association; Gold Medalist, European Championship; Honorary Board Member, World Intelligence Network (WIN); The Global Media and PR Director, World Memory Sports Council; Ex-Head (2013/2014), Leadership Academies Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein and President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, in Leon; Britain’s Senior International Chess Grandmaster; International Arbiter, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) or World Chess Federation; Co-Founder, World Memory Championships; Count of the Order of Torres Madras, Portugal) at The Brain Trust

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:21 am

I found this acknowledgement.

He's only claiming British Chess Champion (singular). Title awards by obscure European royalty rank higher.

Some of his books claimed multiple wins. You can justify this at a pinch, but only by including numerous wins by the teams he was a member of in the Counties Championship and National Club.

I confess I'd missed this name up to now - Professor Frederick Trowman-Rose,, who is apparently "a globally renowned and distinguished academic", a claim I can find no material to justify. I trust he is, actually, a Professor, and indeed a General.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:31 am

Title awards by obscure European royalty

Or indeed Australian.

Here's Kasperski editing the Brain Trust's BS magazine Synapsia. A fair number of the usual crew are listed on the masthead.

It's like an ongoing networking-cum-grifting community, with a certain amount of its activity involving the creation of titles and organisations, which often don't really exist in any meaningful sense for any length of time but which sound impressive to the marks.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:40 am

I confess I'd missed this name up to now - Professor Frederick Trowman-Rose,, who is apparently "a globally renowned and distinguished academic", a claim I can find no material to justify. I trust he is, actually, a Professor, and indeed a General

Jolly japes! I'm a sucker for Google-chasing guys with names like General, the Professor Frederick Trowman-Rose, especially when they are described as a "globally renowned and distinguished academic" in a field about which I know plenty. Plenty, but not everything - including this bloke.

This is how he describes his own status on The Gifted Academy website:

Professor Trowman-Rose is also the Chairman of Academic Board of the Georgia & Caucasus Strategic Studies Institute, where he has been appointed Professor of Strategy. In addition, he is a General of the Royal Georgian Legion, which provides education and training for the world leaders of tomorrow. More recently, he has acted as a consultant for a number of UK and Commonwealth educational authorities regarding adult education (emphasis added)

What is to be said of the Georgia & Caucasus Strategic Studies Institute (GCSSI)? There are one or two bodies with a similar title - the Georgian Strategic Studies Institute (GSSI), for example. And these bodies do appear to exist - exist, as in 'enjoys a physical accredited presence in the real world'. But the GCSSI appears to exist merely as a Facebook page. And it is this Facebook entity that has awarded Frederick Trowman-Rose a professorship. Does this mean he is really a 'Professor'? Well, many and various (and occasionally corrupt) are the ways by which a person gets to call herself a Professor. But one usually starts out from a legal entity formally accredited for higher learning and research within an appropriate jurisdiction. The GCSSI enjoys no such accredited status anywhere. And while these days, in the UK & USA, all manner of curious entities receive accreditation, the process has not yet extended to Facebook pages. So, no, Frederick Trowman-Rose is not a Professor.

And the Royal Georgian Legion? Is he a General? I think you know how this is going to end. There is a Georgian Legion of longstanding. But I can only find a Royal Georgian Legion as a Facebook page, nothing else. So, no, Frederick Trowman-Rose is not a General.

And The Gifted Academy? Judge for yourself

If we turn our attention to The Gifted Academy (where's that photo taken, out of interest?) of which Ray is a Trustee we may note that it has managed to accumulate - among the tat like the World Intelligence Network and Think Buzan - an impressive portfolio of Associates, including the Royal Society of Medicine, the British Psychological Society and Imperial College London, all of whom, we can be one hundred per cent certain, have consented to having their names and branding used in this particular way.

Also, did anybody ever work out what Ray's claim to have been "chess tutor to the Imperial Court of Iran" was based on?

A certain Twitter account has also mentioned Raymondo's claim to be the "chess correspondent of Thames Television".

While it isn't actually true they "shut down" in 1992 (they continued as a programme making concern after losing their ITV franchise) it is hard to think his duties as such would be terribly onerous, even if such a post actually exists......

Gold Medal, Chinese Olympic Association ??

FFS ...

I note that the site is copyright "Raymond Keene OME". Is that a comment about how he sees himself or a misprint for OBE?

To be honest the idea of Ray invoking copyright is eyebrow-raising enough.