SILMAN: When I heard about Leko’s supposed death on Dec. 1, 2002 (from a mass mailing by Sloan), I was stunned and depressed. I immediately sought out confirmation from other sources but couldn’t find any. Due to this, I refrained from publishing the story since I feel that journalists have a serious responsibility to make sure of their facts before spreading such news worldwide.

Imagine my relief when another mass-Sloan mailing appeared the next day announcing that Leko was, in fact, alive and well. That relief, though, was clouded by some deserved anger towards Sloan, who did the chess world a terrible disservice.

On Dec. 5, famed chess journalist and www.jeremysilman.com writer John Henderson mentioned the whole incident with indignation (see NEWS). However, the following paragraph from Henderson’s piece contains some inaccuracies and former Woman’s World Champion Susan Polgar was kind enough to contact me and set the record straight.

HENDERSON: A cruel hoax originating from his native Hungary stated that Leko had died in a tragic car crash late Sunday night in Budapest, and the news had filtered through to former women’s world champion Susan Polgar (the elder of the three famous Hungarian chess-playing sisters) in New York, who at the time was playing on the ICC and posted a brief note to that effect; though prudently added she would have to check her own contacts back home to confirm.

SUSAN POLGAR: At about 9:55 PM on Sunday (Dec. 1), I was on the World Chess Network (WCN) doing a lecture/events when I received calls regarding “the death of Peter Leko.” I was shocked and stunned. I felt physically ill. I told the administrators on the WCN server and the participants to please excuse me because of the “unconfirmed tragic news” I just received. I told them I had to confirm the news since my policy is unless I have 3 separate independent confirmations, I don’t view any news as facts. In any case, I just physically felt horrible because of this and I could not finish the lecture.

After I was able to pull myself together, I spent the next 5 hours trying to confirm the information. The problem was it was in the middle of the night in Budapest. Everyone was sleeping. I even talked to my family and no one heard anything. Finally, I saw the news bulletin posted by CHESSBASE. I was very relieved and happy to know Peter Leko was okay.

I was never on ICC talking about this. I was not even on ICC at that time. Someone who was a member of WCN and ICC went to ICC and started the “news” discussion. Obviously, I have no idea what was said on ICC. Then, others saw what was posted by Mr. Sloan on the Internet. Even a few administrators from ICC went to WCN and asked me directly if the news was true and I told them I did not know since I had no confirmation. I only told them what I was told on the phone. Even though I am very happy that Peter Leko is doing well, I am sad that such a mistake can happen and how “rumors” traveled so fast.

The next day, I sent my Open Letter to CHESSBASE and TWIC regarding what happened. I just want to clarify the facts of what took place. Once again, I wish Grandmaster Peter Leko and his family the best! I am looking forward to an exciting upcoming match between GM Leko and World Champion Kramnik.