Aug-20-08
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Kevin Spraggett claims that Gheorghiu offered a bribe to Piasetski the night before this game. If you want to know how much, see... http://www.kevinspraggett.com/anecd...
Keep in mind that the charge could not be proven. |
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| Dec-09-09 | | jerseybob: Great game. Starting with 20..e4!, just one hammer blow after another. |
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Dec-09-09
 | | ray keene: gheorghiu was given a public warning by the arbiter- don antonio medina- before the game -i was there and i witnessed it-i am certain that gheorghiu tried to bribe piasetski-apart from the fact that piasetski told me before the game, gheorghiu was notorious for trying to fix results-he also tried to bribe me at reykjavik 1972. he shd have been banned for life in my opinion. |
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| Dec-09-09 | | jerseybob: That's shocking, and a shame he wasn't punished OTB. But here happily he was. |
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Dec-11-09
| | ray keene: yes we all enjoyed gheorghius discmfiture in this game-piasetski became the most popular player in the tournament when he won |
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| Dec-15-09 | | Albertan: Leon Piasetski took a long break from chess.He just started playing again last year, the largest tournament he played at last year was the Canadian Open Chess Championship in Edmonton.I saw him there and talked with him. |
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Mar-10-11
 | | perfidious: <ray keene> Was just re-reading your article on Orense in BCM, so these particulars don't surprise me at all, though of course you were unable to write about it, except in vague terms. Here's another story I was told regarding Gheorghiu from long ago: while playing an event in Toronto in 1984, another player described how, in the last round of a World Open (I think), Gheorghiu proposed a draw in the last round. Turns out it was part of a package deal-he looked at the next two-three boards to make sure they, too, were calling it a day, before agreeing to the draw, which enabled all the players involved to share first. The way it was narrated to me was hilarious, and I'd already heard the rumours about Gheorghiu, though I never played an event with him. |
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Dec-24-22
 | | FSR: A win would have enabled Gheorghiu (if the results in the last two games were the same) to tie for first with the winner, Orestes Rodriguez. This was Piasetski's only win, apart from a win against the tail-ender, who lost all his games. http://www.historiadelajedrezespano... Perhaps Gheorghiu's illicit offer inspired him. |
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| Sep-01-23 | | Caissanist: LOL, that bribe offer was hilarious. Spraggett's websites are all dead, but the page has been saved on archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/2002060... |
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| Sep-01-23 | | Retireborn: OK, but who was the briber at Manila 1976? Presumably not Gheorghiu again. I suppose Mecking and Kavalek are the likely suspects? |
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Sep-01-23
| | perfidious: Kavalek had nothing to gain; after the draw in round eight, he won the next round and beat Spassky in the eleventh for +3, then lost three straight, which put paid to any chance of qualification. What would have been in it for Mecking? He was +8 with six rounds left before their meeting and coasted home with a loss to Spassky and five draws. |
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| Sep-01-23 | | Retireborn: Well, the only other people who fit the criteria (respected GM, drew with Biyiasis) are Ribli, Ljubojevic, and Spassky. I'm inclined to doubt the veracity of this story. |
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Sep-01-23
| | perfidious: So am I, unlike the accounts of what went before this game. In November 1977, I shared a ride with he, Ruth Haring and a friend from Leominster, Massachusetts back home; do not recall even having the temerity to discuss chess with someone so much stronger than I at the time. Could have been entertaining, though. |
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Mar-12-24
 | | Sally Simpson: From Kevin Spraggett's archived site from the link Caissanist gave. "While playing in some tournament in Spain in the spring of '77, looking for a GM norm, Leon gets a knock on his hotel room door, and when he opens it, to his surprise, he finds GM Gheorghiu standing there (No, he had no briefcase with him.) Surprised because Gheorghiu just happens to be Leon's next round opponent...
(For those to appreciate what happens next, it must be held in mind that Leon comes from a strict, well-to-do Jewish family in Montreal.) Gheorghiu explains to Leon how important it would be for Gheorghiu to win this tournament, and that he had better make certain that he starts winning right away!
Leon is not quite sure what Gheorghiu is getting at... The Gheorghiu opens his wallet and offers Leon ....$5 US for the point!! Leon is horrified!! (He had never been offered a bribe before, and while he might have imagined it happening some day, he certainly couldn't have imagined it being for $5!) Before I go on, please bear two things in mind: one, in those days the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar, and two, in Romania (Gheorghiu's country) $5 US was a fortune! Leon tells Gheorghiu to leave his room. He immediately makes a formal protest to the tournament organizers. In the game between the two Leon completely CRUSHES Gheorghiu!! (Bravo Leon) |
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Mar-12-24
| | perfidious: Piasetski's response should have been (echoing a recent thread elsewhere): <I don't get out of bed for less than $500!> |
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Kibitzing
