Editing Raymond Keene (section)

==Controversies==

===Allegations of plagiarism===
Keene has on several occasions been accused of plagiarism. In 1993 [[William John Donaldson|John Donaldson]] accused Keene of committing [[plagiarism]] in ''The Complete Book of Gambits'' (Batsford, 1992).<ref>Inside Chess, 3 May 1993, pp. 24–5.</ref> Donaldson wrote "Just how blatant was the plagiarism? Virtually every word and variation in the four and a half pages devoted to Lisitsin's Gambit in Keene's book was stolen."

In 2013, [[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Edward Winter]] reflected on plagiarism in chess:<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010233/edward-winters-chess-explorations-99-210613.aspx Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (99)] Chessbase, 21 June 2013</ref> "a particularly sordid corner of the chess world which will never be eradicated without maximum public exposure". He went on: "The latest instance is the discovery<ref>[http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2013/06/predecessors.html Predecessors] Streatham and Brixton Chess Blog, 19 June 2013.</ref> by Justin Horton that material from the first volume of Kasparov’s ''My Great Predecessors'' series has been misappropriated by Raymond Keene in ''The Spectator''."

''[[Private Eye (magazine)|Private Eye]]'' describes the plagiarism as involving "substantial amounts of text lifted from chess books, mainly Kasparov's but also other authors".<ref>Chequered Mate.</ref> One case involves Keene's notes to a game between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, which he annotated for ''The Times'' on 8 December 2011 and ''The Spectator'' on 5 January 2013.<ref>Special Ks, ''The Spectator'', 5 January 2013</ref>

These alleged plagiarisms, which Winter calls "eye-popping"<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010996/edward-winters-chess-explorations-100-040913.aspx Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (100)] Chessbase, 2 September 2013.</ref> are catalogued at "a convenient 'plagiarism index'<ref>[http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2006/10/ray-keene-plagiarism-index.html Ray Keene Plagiarism Index] Streatham and Brixton Chess Blog.</ref> which is being kept updated".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/edward-winters-che-explorations-100-040913|title=Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (100)|date=2 September 2013|website=Chess News}}</ref>

===Tony Miles===
In 1985, Keene received £1,178 from the BCF for being Tony Miles' second at the Interzonal in Tunis; however, he had not actually been Miles' second but accepted the money and shared it with Miles. Miles never banked the cheque and told the BCF about the scam in 1987. Two months later, Keene resigned his posts as BCF Publicity Director and FIDE delegate. Keene said that his resignation was for different reasons, and that he was "furious" at his treatment after organising numerous events from 1983 to 1987.<ref>''Generous to a Fault'', Kingpin 15, Summer 1989, pp. 10–11, letter from Tony Miles. Also see [http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/Kingpin/raylevy.htm Raymundo contra Mundum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120052609/http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/Kingpin/raylevy.htm |date=20 November 2008 }}</ref>

===Brain Games Network===
In 2000, Keene's former brother-in-law [[David Levy (chess player)|David Levy]] accused<ref>[http://www.anusha.com/levyletr.htm  How could you do this Raymond?] Open letter from David Levy to Raymond Keene.</ref> him of deceiving the directors of their company Mind Sports Olympiad Ltd (MSO) by setting up a rival company, Brain Games Network plc (BGN), without their knowledge and using £50,000 of MSO Ltd money to do so. Levy further alleged that Keene changed his story several times as to the purpose of the payment and the reasons why the new company had been set up. He complained that shares in the new company were held by Keene and an associate (Don Morris) but not by the company for which they had been supposed to be working, nor any of its directors other than themselves.<ref>[http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles161.pdf Chess Café] 14 August 2001, The Skittles Room, ''Brain Games: The Full Truth'' by David Levy. Also see [http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/Kingpin/raylevy.htm Raymundo contra Mundum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120052609/http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/Kingpin/raylevy.htm |date=20 November 2008 }}</ref> Levy wrote:<blockquote>As one would expect, our original investors were equally astounded at the news and extremely angry at Keene. They had by now invested £1.5 million (approximately $2.25 million at that time) partly or largely on the basis of their faith in Keene and myself. Now they had learned that one of their two key consultants, the one with money-raising skills, had been working to set up a rival company.</blockquote>Nothing, however, was proven against Keene (who had swiftly paid an identical sum, i.e. £50,000 to MSO, making the subsequent explanation that this constituted a personal loan from himself) and his new company went on to organise the world championship match later that same year. (It was at this time that ''[[Private Eye]]'' started referring to him as "[[The Penguin]]", a nickname he had first acquired in 1966.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chesscafe.com/account/login/?action=mepr_unauthorized&redirect_to=%2Ftext%2Fkibitz50.txt|title=Log in or Subscribe – ChessCafe.com|website=chesscafe.com}}</ref>)

Levy further criticised Keene for selling three of his own companies to BGN for £220,000 despite their being "virtually worthless". The three companies had between them "a total capital and reserves of only £2,300". At much the same time, according to Levy, BGN purchased a web site and two domain names from Chess and Bridge Limited. However, they made the purchase in two stages. The first of these stages was its sale to Giloberg Finance Limited, owned by Keene's associate Alan Lubin: the second was the immediate sale of the same items, by Giloberg, to BGN. The first sale was for approximately £60,000 (in fact $100,000) and the second was for £290,000, hence making Giloberg "an instant profit of approximately £230,000" and raising the question of why BGN should have paid a sum much greater than the original vendors considered the items were worth.<ref>[http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com/Levy-Is-Fraud-a-Braingame.htm Is Fraud a Brain Game?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717101650/http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com/Levy-Is-Fraud-a-Braingame.htm |date=17 July 2011}} by David Levy, 6 January 2002.</ref>

BGN collapsed in controversial circumstances. Shareholders were unhappy that sums amounting to at least £675,000 had been paid to directors in "fees and payments" despite the company swiftly becoming insolvent.<ref>''Private Eye'', 1084, 11 July 2003.</ref> Investors were also unhappy that Keene and Lubin had acquired 88% of the company "for a song" even though the remaining 12% had been sold for around £3 million.<ref>''Private Eye'', 1093, 14 November 2003.</ref>

During the course of the 2000 Braingames World Championship Keene was accused of heavy-handed behaviour in having journalist John Henderson removed from the press room with the assistance of bouncers.<ref>"Pandora", ''The Independent'', 23 October 2000, comment p. 4; Lubomir Kavalek, "Chess", ''The Washington Post'', 23 October 2000, p. C11.</ref>

===Korchnoi===
[[Viktor Korchnoi]] alleged that when acting as his second in the [[World Chess Championship 1978|1978 World Championship match]], Keene broke his contract by writing a book about the match (which appeared three days after the match finished) having specifically signed an agreement "not to write, compile or help to write or compile any book during the course of the match". Korchnoi commented: "Mr Keene betrayed me. He violated the contract. It was clear that while Mr Keene was writing one book and then another, Mr Stean was doing his work for him."<ref>"Keene's Gambit" by Nick Pitt, ''The Sunday Times'' magazine, 13 January 1991, p. 20.</ref>

Attempts to defend Keene were rebutted by Michael Stean's mother, who stated that she was in a position to know what was in Keene's contract since she herself had typed it. Keene, she claimed, had signed this despite having already negotiated a contract with Batsford to write a book about the match. She described "a premeditated and deliberate plan to deceive" and noted that Keene's conduct had come under suspicion during the match.<ref>"When Keene was taxed by Petra Leeuwerik and Viktor Korchnoi as to whether he was writing a book during the match, as he was spending so much of his time in the Press Office sending telex messages, Keene emphatically denied it." ''Chess'', February 1980, pp. 84–85, letter from Mrs Jean Stean.</ref><ref>[http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.com/2013/04/what-jean-stean-had-seen.html What Jean Stean had seen] Streatham and Brixton Chess Blog, 19 April 2013.</ref>