...Then he discovered he was playing Black.>

Hmm, it says up top that Tolush was playing White, not Black>

I was trying to make a joke, IF Tolush had made that boast AND THEN found out he was playing BLACK, then - actually I am going to draw a diagram and post it at Instagram.

It's already here:

click for larger view

Komodo-10.1-64bit:

+0.62/33 22...Rad8 23.Nd4 Rxd4 24.Qg4 Bxf1 25.Nxe6 Bxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Rd7 27.gxf6 Bxf6 28.Nxc7 Rg7 29.Bxb4 Rc8 30.Nd5 Rxc2+ 31.Kf1 Rxg4 32.hxg4 Rc6 33.g5 Bxb2 34.Ra2 Bd4 35.Rd2 Bg7 36.f5 h6 37.f6 Nxf6 38.gxf6 Bxf6 39.Nxf6 Rxf6+ 40.Ke2 Kh7 41.Ke3 Re6 42.Rd5 Kg6 43.Bd6 h5 44.Bg3 Rb6 45.Bh4 Rb5 46.Rd6+ Kf5 47.Rxa6

click for larger view

Komodo-10.1-64bit:

Tolush vs Kotov, 1945 (kibitz #3)

I have Lombardy/Daniel's book in front of me, and the anecdote begins thusly:

<Sometimes the deals that aren't made are more interesting than those that are. A Soviet grandmaster [ed- who,where,when?] tells the following story about two of his older colleagues.>

18/19-RR-1

On the other hand, Kotov did share a tie for 4th place, and there well may have been prize money involved.

This may or may not have happened. It's folkloric, or gossipy, depending on how you view it. But don't forget, Kotov himself indulged in quite a bit of folkloric/gossipy writing about other GM's himself.

<‘So far as the complaints of collusion among Soviet players are concerned, it is undoubtedly true that the Soviet contestants in FIDE tournaments, especially in the early competitions, have played as a team and not as individuals. Alexander Kotov admits this in his Memoirs of a Chessplayer, published in the USSR in 1960. He apologizes for his victories over Smyslov in 1933 [sic – 1953] and Botvinnik at Groningen in 1946, and hopes he will be forgiven, since he made up for these lapses by defeating Reshevsky and Euwe respectively in these tournaments.’>

But then continues to research the original sources, concluding

<Mr Giddins comments:

‘It is quite clear from the above that no admission of the sort that Harkness alleges is made; quite the contrary. Indeed, it is inconceivable that any such admission could have been made, given Kotov’s known Communist loyalties, and the heavy hand of the Soviet censor. I can only assume that Harkness himself did not understand Russian (a supposition supported by his mistranslation of the book’s title) and was merely reciting something he had been told by somebody else. It may be that, in some other context, Kotov joked about asking “forgiveness” for beating his colleagues, but to suggest that this amounts to an admission of a conspiracy is quite unjustified.>

Interesting, but can we trust Winter?

The general answer is that question is yes (say with >99% confidence).

The thing is that Winter is surveying the literature, and quoting various sources. In this case it seems Winter leans towards the same opinion as Mr. Giddins - that Harknesses claims appear unsupported.