However, as I was telling the Major yesterday, it's not finished yet. Needs further fact checking and more editing.

Every time I read it I see new mistakes. Similar to the chess documentaries I made, except I can't just "edit" those, I'll have to redo them all by hand.

I think such a strong claim demands some sort of citation.

<Certainly, his lack of world renown does not do justice to his achievements over the board.>

I don't expect every bio to be a strictly objective recitation of facts, but this probably crosses the line into fandom.

Maybe "the political turmoil of the USSR kept him from being better known than his achievements deserve."

<Despite these humble beginnings, Petrov was bright >

Lacks nexus.

<He came upon chess almost by accident. He and his friends grew bored with cards and began to play chess.>

You could delete the first line and not miss anything. Lots of people discover chess that way and I doubt they'd say it was by accident.

<Petrov, however, who was now employed by the TASS news agency, had experienced no particular trouble during his trip to Russia, and he tried to assuage her fears. >

You could delete "however, who".

<finishing 2d behind Viacheslav Ragozin, ahead of Alexey Sokolsky, Boleslavsky, Georgy Ilivitsky, and others. >

You could delete "and others".

<There is strong evidence that at least three fellow chess masters denounced Petrov to the authorities.>

Such a strong claim demands a citation.

<When she lost contact with her husband in 1942, Galina Petrov spent the rest of her life trying to find out what happened to him.>

Game Collection: 1959 Santiago

Game Collection: 1959 Zurich

Game Collection: 1961 Bled

Game Collection: 1961 Fischer - Reshevsky Match

Game Collection: Netanya-A 1968

Game Collection: USSR vs. Rest of the World 1970

Game Collection: 1992 Fischer - Spassky Match

<Buenos Aires 1970> is done, but awaiting 3 more games.

I am currently working on <Rovinj/Zagreb 1970>. I should be done before Friday if all the games are present.

<Reykjavic 1960> is missing all the games but Fischer's, but maybe someone has access to Icelandic magazines.

I have submitted the missing games from Bobby's remaining US Championships.

Brilliant! I really can't thank you enough for your notes. I took your advice on each point and made the changes you suggest.

Junk - Paul McCartney
http://youtu.be/uAQHhWbImyY

P.S. Here's a song Macca wrote for Frank Sinatra that never happened. Paul used a small portion of this song on his 1st solo album.

It was an unofficial convention- the convention is described in detail in the <Galina Petrov> bio, but to explain it further in a short bio seems a little lugubrious.

The Latvian connection to FIDE at this time involved nothing more than the Latvian Chess Section organizing delegations to FIDE conferences and picking Olympic squads. There was no such thing as a "Latvian FIDE" chess body that played any role in awarding titles to Latvian players. The Latvian Chess Section took care of this in house. The highest title they had awarded before <Petrov's> shared victory at <Kemeri 1937> was "Master."

It's important to leave in, because the chess journals in Latvia made a big fuss about <Petrov> reaching "Grandmaster" status, and he was also labeled a grandmaster by non-Latvian chess journals and newspapers at the time. Even today the Latvian journals proudly refer to him as the 'first Latvian Grandmaster'. In addition, other players such as <Alekhine> and <Euwe> began referring to him as a Grandmaster after <Kemeri 1937>.

So it was an unofficial convention that enjoyed universal recognition among peers at the time.

What do you think? Is there a brief way to get all of this information into the bio?

It's important to disambiguate this, as you said. Here's the long version:

In the era before FIDE began regulating and standardizing the awarding of titles, local national chess federations normally conferred official rankings ranging from Category 3 up to Master.

The Grandmaster title existed in some national federations (such as the USSR and Yugoslavia) but not others. In the case of <Petrov>, the Latvian Chess Section (federation) did not in fact officially confer the title of Grandmaster on him. The highest ranking the Section conferred on any player was "Master" (meaning "National Master").

According to European custom at the time, any Master who played first board in an Olympiad would be recognized (unofficially) as an International Master. So <Fricis Apesenieks> would have been an unofficial International Master according to this convention, despite the fact that the Latvian Chess Section did not offer this title. By the same token, after he played first board at the Warsaw 1935 Olympiad <Petrov> was recognized by European custom as an International Master, but he didn't have this title conferred upon him by the Latvian Chess Section.

Again according to European convention at the time, a local master who won a local tournament that featured at least six foreign Grandmasters would himself be recognized as a Grandmaster. This is what happened in the case of <Petrov> after <Kemeri 1937>. The Latvian Chess Section did not officially confer a Grandmaster title on him, but as per the European convention of the time, the Press and fellow chess players recognized <Petrov> as a Grandmaster and began referring to him as a Grandmaster.

This general state of affairs in Europe was further complicated by "roving masters" such as <Rudolph Spielmann>, who didn't really belong to any one country or chess federation on a permanent basis.

Many European "Grandmasters" at this time didn't have official Grandmaster titles per se. So for example, <Spielmann's> peers, and the European press, would refer to him as a Grandmaster, but in his lifetime, this title was never officially conferred upon him by any national chess federation.

I agree that is the most concise method.

<So for example, <Spielmann's> peers, and the European press, would refer to him as a Grandmaster, but in his lifetime, this title was never officially conferred upon him by any national chess federation>

Unbelievable.

<If you can think of a way to make the new passage in the bio read better, please give me your suggestion.>

Maybe.........

<Petrov also earned the title of Grandmaster, due to a widely recognized convention in European chess at this time. If a home town player won a tournament in which at least six foreign Grandmasters participated, then that player would also be recognized as a Grandmaster.>

Petrov also earned the title of Grandmaster, due to a widely recognized convention in European chess at this time that if a home town player won a tournament in which at least six foreign Grandmasters participated, then that player would also be recognized as a Grandmaster.

He is very much the rule, not the exception.

Before 1950, even countries that had chess federations that conferred Grandmaster titles didn't do so at all times. For example, the Soviet Union abolished the title at one point, then brought it back.

You know who else didn't have the title conferred by a chess federation is <Lasker> <Capablanca> <Alekhine> <Tarrasch> and <Marshall>.

Now we can include Rovinj/Zagreb (1970).

I have a block of <St Petersburg 1914> games and a block of <petrov> games I'm currently preparing for submission.

What do you estimate the wait time to be?

Are you guys greasing the wheels by pestering Daniel?

I remember I waited several months for some Charousek game submissions. So I emailed Daniel and he said he never saw the submission.

The next day they were all in the data base.

I would say several weeks/months.

What is frustrating is when some of the games appear, but others in the same tournament do not.

Alekhine's <Mexico City 1932> is an example. On Friday, 26 of 28 appeared, but two did not. Same with another tournament. 2 still missing.

This has been the case in every set of submissions that I have made.