You gave me authoring priviledges here in the blog and maybe after this post you will regret it but here goes anyway! OK it's been a while since the whole Karpov vs. Fischer or Fischer vs. Karpov match in Gothic Chess has been discussed. You know lots of people said bad things about this whole thing. Stuff like 'there's no way this is gonna happen' and 'this is all a stunt for publicity' and 'nobody can recover all of that money so it's all a bunch of bull'.
So how do you respond to all of this? We know you were on the radio and talked about it but you still left a lot of questions unanswered.
21 comments:
No way! Fischer was going to play Karpov????????????????? When was this?????
Oh this was announced on the ICC radio program with Fred Wilson or Dan Heisman I forget which and I listen to both. I remember it was before Halloween last year so some time in October 2006 the announcement was made. There was a great backlash from some people over this and I don't think the date for the match was stated during the announcement but I could be wrong. Hang out here and wait for Ed's reply it should be very interesting!
By the way my 16 year old daughter swims butterfly relay 4x100 meters what is your event?
I remember hearing something about this a really long time ago. You sure it was only last October?
It was on the "Ask The Renaissance Man" radio program with Dan Heisman as the announcer. Personally, anytime I hear anything involving Fischer playing again, I don't believe it until I see it. One time and one time only, back in 1992, I was pleasantly surprised. It did sound fishy as hell but I tuned and even got a question on the air to Trice and he answered it smack on center and satisfied me. I'd still like to know how he got that far and what made the whole thing collapse.
Carta, I said you could post here, not create a topic that will cause riots all over the net!
OK, I am just back from a long day of travel, I will try to reply to everything that springs up here.
It would be easier if you number all of your questions in your posts and I can reply to them the same way. As for now, I'm logging in to get my ICC messages and maybe playing a blitz game or 2 before going to bed.
I'll try and answer this tomorrow, which is Tuesday May 8, a great day for the Artificial Intelligence Community concerning the game of checkers :)
I'd like to know how you planned on paying back that $15,000,000 you "borrowed".
OK first to answer victor, then I will backtrack and answer all questions in order.
I did not borrow $15,000,000
I raised $15,000,000 by approaching several match financiers who sought evidence that they could be repaid $22,500,000 within a certain radius of time surrounding the match (some before, some after, conditions bound by contracts, etc.)
A bulk of this money would come through international video broadcast revenues. For example, the edited footage of the Fischer-Karpov match would fetch $700,000 per hour from some networks. During that one hour slot, they could charge far in excess of that for the commercial air time that they would run.
As a recent example, the show "American Idol" generated $4,000,000 per hour in commerical revenues when it was at its prime. So, $1,000,000 per hour was a "no brainer" number that execs came up with for a Fischer-Karpov, with $1,500,000 a "most-likely" and a $2,000,000 per hour stream a "possibility" if Fischer made it more colorful.
So,for a 12-game match with about 16 hours of footage, we could sell it for between $6,000,000 on the low end to about $8,500,000 on the high end. That is per station that would host the broadcast.
Now not all station would want the whole thing. In fact, a vast majority would only want the opening and closing ceremonies plus maybe only 1 or 2 games. But there are dozens upon dozens of these $2.2 million to $2.5 million dollar deals.
So, we had it covered.
Cartaphilus: You know lots of people said bad things about this whole thing. Stuff like 'there's no way this is gonna happen' and 'this is all a stunt for publicity' and 'nobody can recover all of that money so it's all a bunch of bull'.
I just wanted to say, you are being a little vague, but since so much time has passed, I will just address your concerns.
"There's no way this is gonna happen."
Well, nothing would ever happen unless a first step is taken! We took more than a first step as well. We sought out financiers. We raised money. We contacted both players. We drafted preliminary agreements. Karpov signed one. Fischer did not. There were some further machinations, a deadline was passed, then extended, then passed again, so the financiers elected to move on to other things.
"This is all a stunt for publicity."
Tell me, where was it publicized? Where did it appear in print? The New York Times? Newsweek? Time Magazine? None of the above is the answer. So it was NOT a publicity stunt.
After some 20+ months of coddling this difficult process, the financiers wanted some guarantees. They wanted me to broadcast what had been accomplished to date. They wanted to "get the word out" to try and coax Fischer to "go the distance" and put his signature on the dotted line.
A publicity stunt would feature television cameras and a press conference or would be carried by some major news media. We deliberately DID NOT go that route at all, so I fail to see how this was a publicity stunt.
We were informing a close-knit circle of chess enthusiasts, nothing more.
"Nobody can recover all of that money so it's all a bunch of bull."
Bill Gates could, to immediately refute the statement as it was issued. If you continue to make vague generalizations, they are easy to shoot down. But as for how the $15,000,000 would be recooperated for the financiers, see my previous post.
Fascinating! It must've been great while the ride lasted! So what's the deal with it now? No chance? Some chance? All over?
I don't remember all that detail being talked about on the show so thanks for that Ed. So what happened at the end?
Oh and has anyone else had problems logging in today? I kept getting the message 'you must validate your email account' or something like that it was very annoying. I hit the refresh button on my browser and by pure luck it worked.
dueling, I swim the 400m freestyle and the 200m backstroke.
my girlfriends all do the breaststroke.
;)
"We drafted preliminary agreements. Karpov signed one. Fischer did not. There were some further machinations, a deadline was passed, then extended, then passed again, so the financiers elected to move on to other things."
1. So is there no financial backing now? How will this work considering Fischer seems to be reluctant to sign to anything? Has he actually played GChess?
I think the investors pulled out since Fischer was unapproachable.
Hi Alex,
As of this exact moment, Mr. Fischer is battling the Swiss Bank to try and get his money out. They have frozen his $3,000,000 and will not release it.
When I went to Iceland in June 2006 to meet with him, I brought a Gothic Chess set inside my chess carrying case. I gave it to GM Fridrik Olafsson who gave it to Mr. Fischer. According to Fridrik, they have both played many games of Gothic Chess, mostly to analyze lines of play and things of this nature.
We all know Bobby does not like to sign anything, and we have always been prepared to work around that issue. But we could not keep the $15,000,000 "on ice" indefinitely. The investors said if November 15 comes and goes with no signature, they were going to pull out. This was extended to December 15. Then, they did withdraw their money.
I am still in contact with some of them from time to time and they ask me how things are going. They get the same response each time.
So then it's safe to say, the match isn't happning?
Wow you kidding you had Fischer on board once? How'd you pull that off?
Alex it seems from the posts Fischer didn't do as requested. The match isn't happening. The original post was asking questions from when it was still going on & those were all answered.
Just curious Ed, didn't you once say that you had Susan Polgar to step in as an alternate if Fischer backed out?
What happened to that?
Hello BlueOyster,
Susan Polgar was the alternate if Fischer did not show up to the match after the match was set in motion. She was not the substitute if Fischer did not sign the contract.
The match financiers would only sanction a Fischer-Karpov match and not a Polgar-Karpov match. But, if Fischer were to walk after we procured the playing site at roughly $2.2 million, the satellite uplink at $50,000/day, and a host of other costs, the financiers would be out a boatload of money. At least with Susan held in reserve and ready to play, it would not be a total fiasco.
When I spoke with Susan, she was interested in selecting an opponent other than Karpov for the expressed purposes of promoting a match in tandem. It would be more difficult to coordinate a promotion effectively with Karpov being half a world away.
But, the nature of financing such a Gothic Chess match is entirely different. With Susan being such a fantastic personality and well-respected player, we could approach sponsors, and not just vulturistic financiers. Sponsors would agree to foot the bill if we could demonstrate the exposure would exceed a similar capital expenditure in advertising.
So, if a 5 million dollar match generates 10 million dollars worth of publicity, it is a "slam dunk" for corporations to get involved with the venture.
I hope this answers your question.
for gothicchessinventor
Did Fisher give a reason for not
signing the contract or did he
just refuse to respond to anyone
after the deadline had past?
(he has done this is the past)
goommba88
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