The 2023 book Kings, Queens & Rookies: The Tata Steel Chess Tournament – A Celebration of 85 Years includes, without citing its source, a game annotated by Magnus Carlsen that appeared almost 20 years earlier in New in Chess magazine. Chess historian Edward Winter may want to add this example to his article on copying.
Edward Winter on Copying
Edward Winter’s article on copying begins “Some cheat at the chessboard, others at the keyboard.” Winter’s article is mostly about writers stealing each other’s words, though it also covers self-plagiarism.
According to the American Psychological Association (APA) Style website, “Self-plagiarism is the presentation of your own previously published work as original; like plagiarism, self-plagiarism is unethical.”
Winter’s article gives a recent example of GM Raymond Keene self-plagiarizing.
Addition on 15 June 2024:
Much of Raymond Keene’s article of 15 June 2024 merely copies what he wrote on 21 January 2022.
Copying from New in Chess
The authors of Kings, Queens & Rookies:The Tata Steel Chess Tournament – A Celebration of 85 Years are GM Erwin l’Ami, Peter Doggers, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, and FM Peter Boel. At the time of the book’s publication, January 17, 2023, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam was editor-in-chief of New in Chess magazine.
Included in the publisher’s Sample Pages are pages 96 and 97, which contain Magnus Carlsen’s annotations of his win, in 2004, over Sipke Ernst. At the time of that game, neither player was a grandmaster. Carlsen got his grandmaster title later in 2004 and Ernst became a grandmaster in 2007.
In 2004, New in Chess magazine published Carlsen’s annotations. Presumably, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam was aware that his co-authored 2023 book copied the 2004 magazine, which he edited. The 2023 book does not cite the 2004 magazine as its source for Carlsen’s annotations.
Carlsen’s Annotations
Carlsen’s introduction to his annotated game is charming. Carlsen wrote, “Having read about this great tournament since 1999, I’ve always dreamed about coming to Wijk aan Zee and watching the big guys in action. Therefore I was very happy when the organizers found a place for me in the C-group this year.” You can find his introduction at https://www.chessdom.com/magnus-carlsen-writes-on-his-first-major-victory/
Likewise, Carlsen’s 2004 annotations for New in Chess magazine are repeated in the 2023-published book. You can find his annotations here: https://chessdailynews.com/magnus-carlsen-quite-a-nice-mate/
Photos and Games
Kings, Queens & Rookies:The Tata Steel Chess Tournament – A Celebration of 85 Years contains many photos of players. The eBook doesn’t identify the players in some of its photos. The printed book is superior to the eBook because it identifies photographed players in a list labeled “Photos.” But photographers aren’t credited in either the eBook or the printed book.
There are 12 games in the printed book. There are 11 games in the eBook. Compared to the printed book, the eBook is missing Carlsen–Sokolov (Wijk aan Zee, 2013).
On August 31, 2024, I alerted the publisher to the eBook’s uncaptioned photos and missing game. The eBook could be revised to remedy these omissions, but the omissions still existed as of September 18, 2024.
Evaluation
A dozen games, all played after 1984, do not adequately represent a tournament that began in 1938. For that reason, along with the other issues discussed above, most readers won’t want to purchase Kings, Queens & Rookies:The Tata Steel Chess Tournament – A Celebration of 85 Years.
However, some collectors may want the printed book because it is beautifully produced. There is ample white space, attractive formatting, and many color photographs. The printed book is a colorful souvenir of the annual tournament held in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.
Carlsen versus Ernst, 2004
Can you find how Carlsen continued his attack, on move 18, against Ernst?
