Heh, great story. Would have been even more interesting to see this medium play live.
Ofcourse this situation wasn't really fair on Kortschnoi, as Maroczy could use divine assistance! Its amazing he lost really... No wonder he died, couldn't beat Old Master Death at chess either.
From what I've heard he wanted to play Capablanca but the medium said that he was unavalible and couldn't be reached he said Marcozy was and Kortchnoi agreed to play him.
Korchoi wanted to play Capablanca, Keres, or Maroczy... the medium told him Capablanca and Keres couldn't be reached, but Maroczy had agreed to play, and Korchnoi said yes, he was interested.
Dr. V. Eisenbeib, no era un anónimo entusiasta, era también el Presidente de la Sociedad Suiza de Parapsicología, y estaba dispuesto a llevar un experimento asociado al ajedrez, para demostrar la existencia de las almas, independientes de los cuerpos.
Dr. Eisenbeib wasn't some anonymous fan, he was the president of the Swiss Society for Parapsychology, and he had decided to carry out an experiment related to chess, to prove the soul can exist independent from the body.
Korchnoi había sido elegido para ello sin ser consultado, y cuenta en su fascinante libro "Chess is my life" que en principio no aceptó, pero los parapsicólogos insistieron, y participó en el experimento.
That's why Korchnoi agreed to be his consultant. He wrote in his book, "Chess is My Life", that at first he refused to participate. But the parapsychologists insisted, and so he finally agreed to participate in the experiment.
Sobre si era verdad o ficción, Korchnoi, opinó, "... debo decir que he leído mucho sobre el tema y al final estaba inclinado a creer"; de lo que sí estaba seguro es que una vez aceptado el reto "mi tarea fundamental era ganar la partida, pero... ¿contra quién?".
When asked if this was fact or fiction, Korchnoi replied, "I ought to tell you that I've reach alot on the subject and, by the end, I was inclined to believe. My main job was to win the game, but... against who?"
Mediums (at least probably most of them) aren't what the claim to be, here's proof. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G18NfN76bAs
he is right yanno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiC4clFpAXg
timestamp 22 min about - not only did maroczy give moves to the medium but answered questions regarding his personal life with accuracy
On Bendcat's blog, under a posting on the web pages of chess masters, which included a link to a page on Jacque Mieses, the following was posted:
billwall: Very good, but Mieses has been dead for a few years. Hasn't stopped Korchnoi from playing him, though.
likesforests: Bill, this sounds like an interesting story. Care to explain?
For some reason I wasn't able to make a game board in a posting there, and rather than re-booting, etc. I decided to respond here (since Mr. Wall may not see the request).
In 1985 Korchnoi met Robert Rollans, a psychic medium from Switzerland. In the course of things, Rollins helped arrange a game between Viktor and the long dead Geza Maroczy (died in 1951). The game was actually a correspondence game conducted by mail over an 8 years period. Korchnoi won of course.
Details are available here