Tuesday 4 April 2017

April fooled!

Normally I keep my eyes open for clever April Fools Day jokes, but I was busy with the Dubbo Open this year, and so if any happened in my vicinity, I probably missed them. However I did catch up on a couple later in the day, as well as on the 2nd, although they were pretty tame and/or obvious.
Chessbase had a story about Malcolm Pein planning to take over FIDE, but even with a photo shopped picture, it was pretty obvious. But to give Chessbase their due, they did catch me out with another April Fools Day story, although I've only just realised it.
Last year they had a story about a young problemist having a problem published in the February 1968 edition of Chess Life. While I didn't see the chessbase article, I did see references to it elsewhere on the internet, and assumed it was true. The name of the problemist was Donald Trump, and the problem was a mate in 4. It was only when I decided to catch up with the reaction from this years 'fake news' that I discovered that I had fallen for last years 'fake news'. The article was cooked up by two Chessbase editors, and although they fessed up pretty quick, I wonder if this may end up being like the Pope JP II chess problem, with the fake story believed long after the real one is forgotten.

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