From: perlman@qso.Colorado.EDU (Eric S. Perlman)
Subject: Re: CJA Awards
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:05:05 GMT

In article <29016@wissel.GBA.NYU.EDU> mginsbur@wissel.GBA.NYU.EDU (Mark Ginsburg) writes:
>The more I think about the Cozio Defense piece winning the CJA award,
>the more steamed I get.  That's because I've read that piece as it
>appeared in _Chess Horizons_ and I consider it:
>
>(a) misleading
>(b) presenting a false conclusion that black enjoys equality
>(c) omitting critical black losses in the variation that are readily
>available on ChessBase 'spanish without ...a6' diskette
>(d) not at all up to date - no recent games included
>(e) GM Praxis very little considered - see (d) 

Before you go on, Mark, might I suggest that this is a *perfect* future
topic for Chess Chow's regular "Swill" column?  

>I ask again for an explanation.  Was it the cuteness of the father & son
>team?  
>
>GM Rohde's articles in Chess Life, for example, beat this hands down
>(any of his monthly columns).  Joel's article in Chess Chow refuting
>Stefan Buecker's "Vulture" also puts this to shame.
>
>I would put the Cozio in the 'C'mon, you're kidding, right?' category
>instead, and give the 'analysis' category some, well, ANALYTICAL basis
>for judging!

Chill.  I understand, Mark, that you're angry, and I think you have
a right to be.  In particular, I agree with your high assessment of
Rohde's articles, as well as Joel Benjamin's article on the Vulture.
But calm down, please.

>In my opinion, this call by the judges puts their other calls into question
>as well.  How much time did they spend looking at the submissions?  Even
>the most cursory glance at the "Cozio" article drew these reactions:
>
>"Total garbage" - Fedorowicz.
>"Laughable" - Benjamin.
>"The opening just stinks."  - Rohde, who somehow saw all of his
>crushing wins versus the IM-part of the "Cozio" author team disappear
>from that article.

Once again, I would argue that an expose' in "Swill" would be ideal.

>And we are to somehow believe that the professional player group
>I just mentioned is THAT FAR OFF BASE?!  I think not.  C'mon, judges,
>you were hoodwinked!  Or does _Chess Horizons_ get a quota of 
>first place awards from the CJA every year?!  Unbelievable!

J'espere que non.

>Let's realistically call the Cozio what it is:  a passive response to the
>Ruy Lopez which leads by force to a space disadvantage, superior
>mobiity for white, and hence IT IS NOT EQUAL repeat NOT EQUAL.  C'mon!!!

A lot of people (myself included) would agree with this.  However, the
Cozio keeps popping up in GM praxis; I recall a recent game of Vassily
Smyslov's where he was Black in the line (it's in one of the last 4 or
so Inside Chess magazines but I don't have it with me).  If it keeps
popping up, one does have to wonder whether there's something more
behind it.

By the way, Mark, thanks for sending me a sample copy of Chess Chow.  I
was quite impressed, and enjoyed the chatty, rather than completely
serious, tone that it takes.  I'll try to put together a more
substantive review - which it deserves - soon.
-- 
"How sad to see/A model of decorum and tranquillity/become like any other sport
A battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee." -Tim Rice,"Chess"
     Eric S. Perlman 				 <perlman@qso.colorado.edu> 
  Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder