English Chess Forum

ANTHONY PETER BUZAN 2.6.1942 to 13.4.2019.

This came as a real shock. He always seemed so full of life. Tony was probably best-known for 'mind mapping'. From the chess world's viewpoint perhaps best known for being one of the founders of the Mind Sports Olympiad, along with Ray Keene and David Levy, an event that will again be held in August in London this year.
Our codolences to his family and close friends.
RIP
Stewart Reuben

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 14, 2019 12:03 am

Our condolences to his family and close friends.

Ray Keene is one of the latter. Tony was mentioned on this Forum a number of times, mainly because of that connection.

I have absolutely no complaints about that, but I think that my memories of Tony belong elsewhere.

Met him once at a Mind Sports event in a box at the Albert Hall in the company of RDK and Karpov.

The trio were were all smiles and there was champagne and caviar, which my friend chess journalist IM Petr Marusenko and me were invited to partake of.

Bought his book Use Your Head in 1974, but it's not only what you know it's who you know that matters, too.

R.I.P.

John McKenna wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:08 pm

there was champagne

Pink champagne, I'd guess - fittingly, RDKOBE's tipple of choice

Ah, David, now you've put me back up above the hall, in the box, momentarily reliving the high life...

I recall that the shining caviar was ebony in hue and the sparking champagne an ivory tincture...

(Perhaps Ray was able to forego his favourite rosé - if it was so at that time - in honour of Anatoly.)

My thanks, again, to mine hosts and to Tony in particular for being such an enthusiast for human potential!!

John McKenna wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 15, 2019 1:13 am

Tony in particular for being such an enthusiast for human potential!!

Indeed

How will humankind transcend our limitations to prove that the earthly sky is not the limit? To overcome the tsunamis and catastrophes of intergalactic space, the boiling away of suns the explosions and implosion of cosmic time.

Times obituary. The author is probably (from its tone, not to mention its length) not his old business partner.

Intriguingly it seems to accept as fact that Buzan was

a coach for the British rowing team at the 1988 Olympic Games.

People may recall that he also claimed to be

an advisor to...the British Olympic Chess Squad

which obviously provokes a little scepticism about the rowing claim, but I don't know that sport, so does anybody else know the truth on this one? There's a Telegraph story that says

he has also just helped coach the British women's rowing team to its first Olympic medal

although "just" would mean 2000, not 1988. Moreover the piece also says

Some 250 million people worldwide have already benefited from his Mind Maps, a diagrammatic learning tool that helps the brain to store and recall information

not to mention the (also) slightly exaggerated claim

Last week, he oversaw the World Chess Championship

so it may not be entirely reliable.

[For what it's worth, I took the trouble to listen to this interview with 1988 Olympian Alison Gill, which makes no mention of our man.]

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 17, 2019 6:25 pm

Times obituary. The author is probably (from its tone, not to mention its length) not his old business partner.

One of the comments, from "Concerned of Tunbridge Wells" says:

"Around 30 years ago I attended one of his 2 day seminars in the ballroom of a Central London hotel. ...

Tony relieved the pressure by interspersing the presentations and work with diversions such as ... a chess tournament with 30 of us simultaneously taking on a grandmaster who was blindfolded throughout. The master won every game."

Anyone know anything about that? I wasn't aware of Ray Keene giving blindfold displays and 30 games simultaneously is only 4 games short of what Wikipedia/Guinness World Records says was the world record at the time, so I doubt the veracity of the comment. Perhaps it was 30 games in total, but not all played at the same time.

Ian > a chess tournament with 30 of us simultaneously taking on a grandmaster who was blindfolded throughout. The master won every game.",

There could be another meaning to that. The 30 players might have been playing one consultation game, several times.

Surely most people think of the Najdorf 46 games as the blindfold record. There are rumours about the validity of that. I never asked him. He was a friend and I wouldn't have wanted to he lie to me. More likely of course, is that tony's claim was fabricated nonsense.

Tony Miles used sometimes to give blindfold simuls against 20+ opponents. So it could have been him.

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 18, 2019 8:50 am

More likely of course, is that tony's claim was fabricated nonsense.

Well in this instance the claim, fabricated or not, doesn't appear to be Buzan's, though it does appear to be nonsense.

Mind you, he was quite good at getting other people to repeat his nonsense for him: the chess and rowing claims appear, for instance, in this Guardian piece from 2005. Also, there's this curiosity from the BBC in 2002, in which two people recommend mind-mapping (and one of them specifically cites Tony Buzan) as useful to people with dyslexia. This may be right, but what's curious about it is that both people worked for Tony Buzan, which the piece does not say.

Talking of dyslexia, The British Dyslexia Association has oddly chosen to reproduce a eulogy to Tony Buzan which in fact (though they do not say so) comes from the site of the World Memory Championships (prop. Tony Buzan). Also in the "odd" department - it refers to "Professor" Tony Buzan, and cites "Prince" Marek Kasperski. Kasperski, as we know, is not a Prince, and I have no reason to think Tony Buzan was a Professor.

The "Chronology" section (pages 18-29) of the second edition (2017) of
Raymond Keene's book on Tony Buzan includes these claims about rowing:

"1988: Member of coaching team for the Great Britain Olympic Rowing
squad, Korean Olympics."

"1990 and ongoing: Mental Toughness coach, Marlow Rowing Club, one of
the most prestigious clubs in the world."

"1992: Member of coaching team for the Great Britain Rowing squad,
Barcelona Olympics."

"2000: Member of coaching team for the Great Britain Rowing squad,
Sydney Olympics."

Heh, yes, I also saw that, but I couldn't get any access to anywhere in the main text that might expand on these claims.

Here is a sample page from the Keene book on Buzan mentioned in my earlier posting:

C'mon, guys, lighten up a little.

I know this is a sad subject but I think Tony wouldn't have wanted us to take his departure too seriously and would prefer to leave us all laughing as he goes.

For example, the following -

Also in the "odd" department - it refers to "Professor" Tony Buzan, and cites "Prince" Marek Kasperski. Kasperski, as we know, is not a Prince, and I have no reason to think Tony Buzan was a Professor.

reminds me of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn of which it has been said,

Unfortunately, Twain seems to suggest that the characters of the Duke and the Dauphin are more similar with the rest of the characters in this novel than we would like to think.

After all, there's a little bit of the laughably loveable rogue in most of us.

Yeah, well John, one man's "loveable rogue" is another man's grifter and con merchant.