fredthebear: Honour truth
Apr-21-23 GonzaloCalvoPerez: My name is Gonzalo Calvo Pérez. I am Ricardo Calvo's son. There are a number of things that have to be said here, in order to honour truth and the legacy of my father:
1- There is obviously not a hint of racism in the article by my late father, as anyone can check, which proves the corrupt behaviour of FIDE, and the illegitimacy of the declaration of persona non grata. In this point I would be happier if the present FIDE responsibles were brave enough to acknowledge this, and to restore his public image, and therefore FIDE's honour.
2- My father always fought against corruption, both in chess and in medicine, as well as in politics (in the 80s he was not only the delegate of Kasparov for Spain and South America, but also the responsible of the international section of the spanish journal El Independiente), and there is an important information that should be known. My father, as medical doctor and chess expert, conducted the first real-time medical survey of chess players. He was the first person to scientifically measure the extreme levels of stress in the human body while playing chess. I know he made a film documentary on this, that received an international prize, in Switzerland, I think. -If anyone knows how to find a copy of it, and publish it in YouTube, it would be cool!- Also, before passing, he suggested that during Cold War doping with amphetamines was common at top-level competition, that it was implemented by political decisions, and that he had direct evidence and knowledge of it. This is obviously the main reason why he was, and still is, attacked by FIDE and others, even after almost 20 years of his passing. The context of Cold War, and the career of Bobby Fischer, among others, must be relativised under this light. Other games with societal/political relevance, such as football/soccer, are also clearly corrupted by doping, and we never have notice of any scandal about it, which is a clear indicator of a wider conspiracy, as anyone can understand.
3- The greatest discovery my father made, and he should be recognized for it, was that modern chess was invented in medieval Valencia. He dedicated the last decades of his life to perform what has probably been the deepest research ever made not only on the History of chess, but also on other aspects of the pure game itself, including complex geometrical studies on the abstract movements of the pieces, etc..
4- As a medical doctor, when he worked in the spanish Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Sanidad), he was responsible for prohibiting a list of more than 300 medicines. These medicines were proven more harmful than beneficial to patients. Of course, the powerful international pharmaceutical lobby never forgot it. And linked to that corrupt lobby are/were other corrupt institutions, including the CIA, the KGB, and, of course, the FIDE.
As we say in Spain: Truth hurts, but it does not offend.
A final truth that should be mentioned more often is that chess itself also has downsides. It develops intelligence, but it does it towards a mentality of war. Therefore, it harms the minds of players, just as war does. War between human beings is the greatest of all evils, so it should avoided. Games of collaboration exist. Why not play them more instead?
C