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BOBBY FISCHER’S NEW CHESS BOOK!
Public auction on Ebay.CA for Bobby Fischer’s brand new chess book, “My 61 Memorable Games”, published in 2007, all new!
cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie … 0196692877
Caution, bids are for a package of 50 books.
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Does anyone think it is the real deal? It seems like a hoax. If the stated reason (needs money) is why he did it, it seems like there were ways he could have generated a lot more money for the book than using an eBay auction. I think it was noted elsewhere that the example given on eBay looked like annotations from the 1995 Batsford edition that contained something like 570 changes from the original according to Ed Winter. It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be real.
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I admit that I have not yet laid eyes on the book, and I certainly have no involvement with this project. Yet…
I have good reason to believe this new book really exists.
I have known this book was coming for a while, and I know a tiny bit about how this project has evolved in the past months. Only a moron would put so much time and effort into tricking an unimportant person like me, just on the hope that a couple of forum posts by me would help a lame Ebay.CA auction scam. The people running this project are not morons, and I believe the book is very real.
I understand why there are so many doubters to whom the book’s marketing appears to be illogical. But the concerns Bobby has are different from those the average author would have. Given his esoteric concerns, I judge Bobby’s parameters for this project do flow logically from his concerns.
The people involved have encouraged discretion, and I am honoring that. Besides, it is not my place to tell someone else’s interesting story for them, or to “steal their thunder”. Others will tell their story when they are ready.
I expect 2008 will see a flurry of book reviews that compare the annotations of “61 Memorable” to those in the original “60 Memorable”. Each reviewer will judge whether Fischer made the changes, and whether the quantity and quality of the changes is sufficient to warrant excitement.
I have not seen the new book, and I do not own a copy of “60 Memorable”.
As an aside that does not matter – people who scam on Ebay build up a good history with little sales before they spring the big payday scam on a trusting soul.
Thanks.
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I guess eBay has now stepped in with their own opinion of whether this is a fraud or not. The auction was halted and the book has been removed from the market.
Icelandic press is apparently reporting Fischer’s angry disavowal of this book.
I’m awaiting the true sequel. My 60 Memorable Games of Gothic Chess.
A source I trust tells me:
“… sources close to Fischer now say the 61 Memorable Games book was not by him, nor did it have his approval.”
Regards,
Daniel Lucas
Editor, Chess LIfe