English Chess Forum

I would put that last named example down to sloppiness and not caring about the facts rather than an actual, deliberate untruth (those are more the preserve of his old mate Raymondo) Though that isn't really much better at the end of the day I suppose.

I bought the Schiller/Benjamin book in question (and still have it somewhere) IIRC it has a few decent summaries and bits of analysis but also some highly questionable judgements, not to mention a number of surprising outright omissions.

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 07, 2018 1:08 pm

I would put that last named example down to sloppiness and not caring about the facts rather than an actual, deliberate untruth (those are more the preserve of his old mate Raymondo) Though that isn't really much better at the end of the day I suppose.

I bought the Schiller/Benjamin book in question (and still have it somewhere) IIRC it has a few decent summaries and bits of analysis but also some highly questionable judgements, not to mention a number of surprising outright omissions.

Well, I have to totally disagree with your first statement.

To say that a book you have not read (and which in fact does not exist) is the best in a category is intellectual dishonesty to say the least as it strongly implies you have seen and compared them.
Moreover, as you can see from Winter's article linked above, Schiller (when challenged on this by Myers) persisted for some time in claiming there was such a book by Westerinen and that he had a copy.

Point taken, I might have a read (or more accurately, re-read) of Winter's article.

Andrew Martin wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:42 am

Some well-considered words here:

http://www.spraggettonchess.com/eric-schiller-rip/

Officially, sources indicate that he wrote about 100 chess books, but this is not true. He wrote several hundreds

Uh huh

I suppose it might depend on how you define "wrote"?

the poor man only had one limb left when he died....there are some hard cases posting here! I must remember never to upset or cross some people lol

As my initial comment in this thread made clear, I'm far from thinking he was all bad.

But I have also always thought that the tendency to whitewash someone's failings when they die is not a healthy one.

Was there ever a book "written" by Eric, Raymondo and Sam Sloan ? What would be the subject matter ?

I´ll say it.

"A sick man is not to be pitied if he has a cure up his sleeve."
Michel de Montaigne

Schiller had the milder of diabetes two forms. I have taken injections for over forty years.
O´Brien died in his sixties and had eye problems. Miles died of a heart attack at forty-six. Each was diabetic. Neither they nor Schiller took proper care of their condition.
So, Señor Crichton; go for regular check ups, test the level of sugar in your blood several times daily and you shall minimise diabetic problems.
Eric´s loss of three of his limbs was appalling.
But,
"A sick man is not to be pitied if he has a cure up his sleeve."
Michel de Montaigne

Mention has been made, in relation to Eric Schiller's passing, of the "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" tag so maybe it's not totally inappropriate to recall what Eric himself wrote on the death of former FIDE president Florencio Campomanes in 2010:

"An evil man who is not going to be missed. Thoroughly corrupt persecutor of those who wanted chess to move forward. Destroyer of our beloved World Championship"

I was no fan of Campomanes, although he was entirely engaging on a personal level when I interviewed him back in the 1980's, but this quote displayed poorer taste than those whose admiration for Eric has been shown here to be less than whole-hearted.

Eric could be cordial but this was not always to be relied upon. Having said that, it was sad to hear of his health problems which I wouldn't wish on anyone - I now assume that the quality of many of his chess books probably reflected an urgent need to earn money to meet medical costs.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:51 pm

Was there ever a book "written" by Eric, Raymondo and Sam Sloan ? What would be the subject matter ?

A Sam Sloan book might be "64 Ways to Cook Susan Polgar and her husband"

Roger Lancaster wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 11, 2018 4:17 pm

Mention has been made, in relation to Eric Schiller's passing, of the "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" tag so maybe it's not totally inappropriate to recall what Eric himself wrote on the death of former FIDE president Florencio Campomanes in 2010:

"An evil man who is not going to be missed. Thoroughly corrupt persecutor of those who wanted chess to move forward. Destroyer of our beloved World Championship"

Roger Lancaster has omitted to quote the subsequent sentence written by Eric Schiller on the day Florencio Campomanes died: "Some champagne with dinner tonight to wish him good riddance!"

- O.G. Urcan