APRIL 1 AND CHESSBASE FOLLY

Years ago (8-9?) ChessBase.com began a tradition. Every April 1 they would publish a total B.S. chess story. When I say "total" I also mean, somewhat "totally" believable. Today's the day. They have three stories which qualify:

1) Magnus Carlsen related to Matt Damon;

2) Fischer and his DNA to be exhumed;

3) Top chess players sitting at a table and discussing the Hadron Collider in Switzerland and how it might produce a black hole and suck down Iran (I made up this last part).

This year it is relatively tough but I have my thoughts as to which one is the baloney sandwich and I don't want to spoil it for you. In the past I think I have gotten them all, but a couple were tougher than expected. I used to read, it seemed, almost everything about chess. But, in the interests of widespread lunacy, I am somewhat surprised at the reasons some people send in to ChessBase. It's no wonder there are conspiracy theorists out there as it looks as if there are "families" of people who fell off the edge of their flat earth.

At any rate, I invite you to share your guesses, and clues if you wish, with our readers before ChessBase unveils its answer. Let's have some fun today after the mind-bending yesterday.

bob@thinkerspressinc.com