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Letter from Mr. Charlie Kaufman
Dear Mr. Taylor:
First I wanted to tell you how pleased I am that you have a place at the Jeremy Silman site to continue to teach and amuse us, your readers.
Second, I wanted to applaud and endorse JEREMY SILMAN'S COMMENTS on your famous Budapest article (I found it the most engaging article that I ever read in CHESS LIFE).
Lastly, the actions by the editors of CHESS LIFE were sadly misguided, but instructional. As every chess player knows, every choice of move on the board involves a cost. The cost of the tempo, the other move not taken, or the weakening in one aspect to gain strength in a different one.
When the editors saw your article, before publication they could have:
1) Thanked you, paid you, run it and defended their decision to do so.
2) Thanked you, paid you, and decided not to run it.
3) Thanked you, paid you, and decided that they needed to create a new publication “Chess for Adults” -- imagine the possibilities!
What they chose to do:
Run it. Deny responsibility for their own decisions (writer storms magazine, forces publication of scandalous article, hostages taken, swat team called, film at 11:00). Lastly, publish vituperative attacks against author and denounce him. (Sounds like the worst lessons of Russia were learned well by the editors -- they should have been studying Kotov, instead they were studying Beria.)
I imagine the editors felt they were atoning for their “error” in publishing your piece and establishing their commitment to morality.
Perhaps. In my eyes it seems that by their move, they may have gained a claim to a commitment to conservative sexual morality.
What they lost:
A) Any claim to editorial greatness by abandoning their writer.
B) Any claim to moral greatness by attacking their writer and allowing others to attack him without a chance for response.
Is this the best lesson for children? -- If you make a mistake, blame someone else, and “throw him under the bus.”
What they won: Concrete proof of an unyielding commitment to mediocrity.
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