Raymond Keene responds Re: A "Pump-and-Dump" Fraud from Brain Games, by David Levy

dear sam

i am afraid you have been seriously misled  by someone and i wd like
you to correct this highly inaccurate story

1 david levy and i were never kasparov's business managers -anyone
making this claim is lying

2 £3 million pounds sterling were certainly raised for the 2000 world
chess championship but from this brain games had to pay the
organisational costs and the prize fund of the match-the prize fund
alone created a huge dent in the investment and i can assure you that
there was no margin for running off with unused funds-anyone who has
ever  been involved in organising a world chess championship match can
confirm what the likely costs of such an event are going to be! the
figures you have been fed simply don't add up!!

3 what caused the most serious difficulties for brain games  was the
fact that the next flagship event - kramnik v fritz was due to be held
in bahrain just after 9/11. it was of course postponed by a year
because of the atrocity in new york  and this  postponement lost the
company both momentum and investment. numerous other companies  and
relationships were affected by this act of terrorism. as you will
recall i contacted you in new york at that time to ascertain the
safety of david goodman who had not spoken to  his family  in london
for some time to assure them he was unharmed.

4 it is a matter of public record that we have already organised and
sponsored two chinese chess championships in beijing which brought in
huge tv audiences and stacks of publicity. our business is 100%
legitimate and already has a proven track record in china .

5 i  have agreed to promote the company's activities by playing
western chess simultaneously in beijing  against  invited  junior
champions in the other games who would like to try western chess. of
course i could not face 100 western chess experts but in the past i
have successfully taken on 107 juniors simultaneously ( won 101-drew 5
lost 1) and in korea a few years ago  i took on a group of players and
champions in other mind games - such as go and korean chess- who
wanted to try their hand against a grandmaster in western chess. i am
sure you could do the same-it is not a particularly amazing  feat to
face large numbers of opponents who are not very adept in ones own
speciality!

i was very hurt by your  publication of these allegations without
contacting me first for the truth and i would therefore be very
grateful if you could ensure that my corrections reach all the
recipients of your original message!

best wishes

ray keene