We Have a Coronavirus of Cheating in Chess. Geez Louise!

From The New York Times.

Think Cheating in Baseball is Bad?  Try Chess

Smartphones, buzzers, even yogurt - chess has nearly seen it all in both live and online tournaments.  And just as in baseball, technology only makes it harder to root out.

By David Waldstein
March 15, 2019

Until the sports world ground to a halt last week over the coronavirus outbreak, perhaps the biggest issue looming over professional sports in the United States was the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal. The revelations of their scheme led Major League Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, to deliver a stern warning to all 30 club owners that there was a “culture of cheating” in the game.

But baseball’s malfeasance — sign-stealing or otherwise — has nothing on chess. At prestigious live tournaments and among thousands of others playing daily online, cheating is a scourge.

Whether it’s a secret buzzer planted in a shoe, a smartphone smuggled into the bathroom, a particular flavor of yogurt delivered at a key moment — or just online players using computerized chess programs — chess has perhaps more cheating than any other game in the world.

"Of course it is a problem,” said Leinier Domínguez, the Cuban-born player currently ranked No. 1 in the United States. “Because with all the advances in technology, it’s always a possibility. People have more chances and opportunities to do this sort of thing."

In both chess and baseball, both real and rumored instances of cheating have been around for decades, but an explosion in technology and data over the past 10 to 15 years has made the problem much harder to curb for both.

The Astros’ scheme, which helped propel them to the 2017 World Series title, involved illegally deciphering the signs of opposing catchers via a live video feed and then banging on a trash can to signal the next pitch to the batter. M.L.B. is now grappling with how to prevent similar electronic-based schemes in the future.

In chess, players at live tournaments are now required to leave their phones behind and pass through metal detectors before entering the playing area. Some have even been asked to remove clothing and been searched. And some tournaments now put players behind one-way mirrors to limit visual communication.

But, like the Astros, many chess players still try.

Just last year, a grandmaster named Igors Rausis was caught examining a smartphone in a bathroom stall at a tournament in France. In 2015, Gaioz Nigalidze of Georgia was barred for three years by FIDE, chess’s global governing body, and had his grandmaster status revoked for the same offense.

FIDE’s anti-cheating commission has recently stepped up its efforts to combat the problem. The group met last month and resolved to give financial support to national federations that need it to help them root out cheating, and will share detection techniques with online chess platforms. They are currently investigating 20 cases.

"The cheaters have been winning for a long time,” Arkady Dvorkovich, the president of FIDE, said in a telephone interview from Moscow. “But in the last few months we showed our determination to fight it and I think people realize it is serious.’"

In 2013, Borislav Ivanov, a young player from Bulgaria, was essentially forced into retirement after he refused to take off his shoes to be searched for an electronic device that might be used to transmit signals to him. A device was never found — Ivanov reportedly refused to remove his shoes because, he claimed, his socks were too smelly — but he retired shortly after the tournament.

Chess Cheat Caught Using Grody Toilet-Paper Wrapped I-Phone In Men's Bathroom

Oh gag me!

Even worse, the news was disgusting enough to make it onto the front page of Yahoo!  Like chess doesn't already have a quirked-eyebrow reputation amongst the general population?  And now this kind of incident gets world-wide publicity.  Gee, thanks for nothing, Schmuck Nigalidze.  I hope Bobb Fischer haunts your dreams with his own personal pitchfork for as long as you live.

Chess champion caught cheating by hiding an iPhone in the bathroom

BGR News

Yoni Heisler‎

April‎ ‎15‎, ‎2015

 

A 25-year-old chess champion named Gaioz Nigalidze was recently caught cheating via his iPhone while playing at the 17th annual Dubai Open Chess Tournament.

 

According to tournament investigators, Nigalidze made suspiciously frequent trips to a bathroom stall where, come to find out, he had hidden his iPhone behind a toilet, appropriately wrapped and concealed in wads of toilet paper.

 

Nigaldze’s opponent, a grandmaster named Tigran Petrosian, initially became suspicious when he noticed Nigaldze consistently running to the toilet after making a move. Petrosian lodged a complaint which then prompted an “on the scene” investigation, according to a report in The Telegraph.

 

When the toilet paper covered iPhone was discovered, Nigalidze denied it was his, a plea which comically fell on deaf ears once investigators began poking around and discovered open social networking apps which clearly belonged to Nigalidze. Not helping matters was an open chess app that just so happened to be analyzing Nigalidze and Petrosian’s ongoing match.

 

Naturally, Nigalidze was banned from the tournament. What’s more, the validity of his entire career is now being called into question. A purported rising star within the chess community, Nigalidze was the reigning Georgian Chess champion for two years running.

Unbelievable Chess Cheating Accusation

Do people cheat? -- Yes. Do people cheat at chess? -- Yes. Within the past few years, there have been reported instances where electronic transmission devices have been discovered physically on players or wired into players' clothing (such as a baseball hat) who were accused of cheating. That being said, unfortunately it is far too easy today to whip up "cheating hysteria." All a chess player has to do is make the allegation. Even in cases where no physical proof is discovered (i.e., electronic devices or some other kind of device or set-up capable of transmitting moves to the accused player -- does transmission of moves via ESP count? - that was a big bug-a-boo of Bobby Fischer and the Kasparov camp), the stigma of having an unproven accusation of cheating hanging over one's head is there for a long, long time. Topalov accused Kramnik of cheating during their world championship match in Elista - from the bathroom ("toilet" as Topalov's mouthpiece crassly stated). No evidence of any cheating was found despite extensive and embarassing searches, but the ugly accusation has hovered over Kramnik ever since. Most recently, Shakriyar Mamedyarov accused Russian GM Igor Kurnosov of cheating at the huge and richly rewarding Aeroflot Open in St. Petersburg. Charges, response/rebuttal and more detailed charges have been thrown out since. It is very sad. These days, it would not surprise me to find out, if it could ever be discovered and substantiated by actual evidence, that an accuser is actually guilty of cheating him (or her) self, and uses the accusation to cover the tracks of his (or her) dishonorable crime. But who would accuse a 6 year old of cheating at chess??? From the Sault Star LETTER — Six-year-old child should not have been accused of cheating at chess challenge — COMMENT Posted By Letters Posted 9 hours ago I was fortunate to be a spectator at the terrific Regional Canadian Chess Challenge Tournament over this past weekend. Unfortunately I witnessed a situation where a pair of overprotective parents blamed a six year-old child of cheating. In reality they witnessed him castling, which is one of the basic moves in chess. While even Sidney Crosby has spent time in the penalty box, the same cannot be said about chess. Chess is a game of honour. Players for the most part officiate themselves, and cheating is a terrible offense. I hope that parents like this would learn the rules of a game before questioning the integrity of a child. Brian Bengert, Sudbury

Fraud by Chess Players in India

Oh my - I do not know what to make of this story. It does seem suspicious to me that so many girls would be cheating as to age, but no boys? Just what, exactly, is being examined during these medical examinations to determine age? Is there something else really going on here - discrimination against the girls, a way to force them out of the game? From The Hindu.com Sunday May 4, 2008 National champion found over-age in under-9 chess tourney New Delhi (PTI): In an embarrassing revelation, the under-7 girls' national champion -- along with five others -- has been found over-age in the ongoing under-9 National Chess Competition here. National under-7 champion N Madhumita, Akhila S, H Tejaswini, Sagarika ILVK -- all from Andhra Pradesh -- and Orissa's Shovna and Sonali Jena were declared over-age after the Delhi Chess Association (DCA) conducted medical examination of 14 players on Saturday suspecting the correctness of their submitted birth certificates. DCA President and All India Chess Federation (AICF) treasurer Bharat Singh Chauhan said if the organising committee has doubts about players' age, they can subject them to medical examination to verify their age. "We found it strange that some of the candidates who were born in 1999 got themselves registered only last month. As per the rules, it is the authorities' responsibility to register the child born in their hospital within 45 days of the birth," Chauhan told PTI. "How could they not do it in these cases was a bit difficult to understand and raised suspicion," he said. Chauhan, however, said they were still "open" to a second opinion if the AICF instructs. Here is the prior story I saw yesterday and meant to post here earlier: From The Hindu.com Four AP girls among five debarred Special Correspondent Includes last year’s National under-7 champion Tests on eight boys proves to be inconclusive NEW DELHI: The age-old malady of older children being made to play in the younger age-groups competitions in chess surfaced again when five girls, including last year’s National under-7 champion, were found ineligible to play in the on-going Parsvnath National under-9 chess championship here on Saturday. Andhra Pradesh, under the scanner of the All India Chess Federation for some time now, has done its reputation no good. Out of the six girls medically examined, four AP girls — National under-7 champion N. Madhumita, I.L.V.K. Sagarika, H. Tejaswini and S. Akhila — along with Orissa’s Sovna Sonali Jena were found “above 10 years of age” by the doctors of Fortis Hospital here. According to the AICF joint secretary and organising secretary of the National under-9 championship, Bharat Singh Chauhan, eight boys were also medically examined. “The boys were found to be between the age of eight and 10. The doctors could not conclusively prove whether these children were overage,” he said.[But they could conclusively prove that 4 of 5 girls examined were overage? Seems a bit strange to me, more than a coincidence, wouldn't you say?] “We have debarred these five girls from the tournament. One other girl, Priyavada Karmcheti, also from AP, was earlier removed from competition following complaints of her being ineligible. “We conducted enquiries and found out that she was a student of Class VI. Priyavada’s mother also admitted to this fact,” said Mr. Chauhan.

An Uplifting Story and a Horror Story

A poor married couple in Turkey change their mind about having an abortion and give birth to a rising chess star. From The Turkish Daily News Monday January 7, 2008 Gülizar Öztürk was convinced that she should not have a third baby when she was pregnant with Kübra. Just on the road to the doctor to get abortion, she and her husband Durak had a change of heart. They got out of the minibus and returned to their single-room house, the house that Kübra was brought up in. Kübra Öztürk's life changed drastically in 1998 when she was in the second grade in Ankara's Kayaş Elementary School. After the foundation of a chess club in the area, chess teacher İslam Osmanoğlu scouted for talent in schools, and that was when Kübra was marked for her talent. Eight months after she started playing, Osmanoğlu took her to her first tournament, the World Championship in Spain, where Kübra finished 44th. “When I took the 44th spot, I felt that there was something weird,” recalled Öztürk. “I was an eight-year-old playing with 10-year-olds!” It became “weirder” when she finished third in age-10 category in the Turkey championship the following year, when she was nine. After 1999, she clinched six titles in Turkey, and in the last two years, she has won two European titles. Rest of story. ****************************************************************************** When I checked my "chess" email addy this morning (I usually don't check it over the weekends) I found a press release from Chessdom.com. Evidently it was sent to everyone who has anything to do with chess - bloggers, website owners, etc. So, I'm sure that by now, it's been heavily reported by bloggers and (I assume) chess news websites. Still, I'm reporting it, as an example of a chess horror story. All of the following was reported at Chessdom.com. Unfortunately, none of the stories seem to have dates on them, but since I received the press release email on January 6, 2008, I assume the story(ies) was/were released on and since that date: Ugly story at Vandoeuvre Open false accusations, refusal of shaking hands, and ridiculous behavior by players IM Oleg Krivonosov, GM Vladimir Lazarev and IM Ilmars Starostits make accusations of cheating against Anna Rudolf Interview with Anna Rudolf Interview given after Vandoeuvre Open, where she earned WGM and IM norms They know I'm going to play on the Cappelle-la-Grande Open, so Krivonosov promised to accuse me there as well. The tournament hasn't even started and I'm already cheating! There's an update today (tonight) at Chessdom: Anna Rudolf's Case Update Personally, I don't care about a player refusing to shake hands with another player. There may be issues of personal hygiene involved, for instance (I sure wouldn't shake hands with some of the male players I've seen photos of, YECH - and everyone knows according to published surveys that most men don't bother to wash their hands after using the washroom). FIDE, after making some noises in the direction of propriety, probably won't make a big issue of this "non-shaking of hands" in Ms. Rudolf's case because, frankly, FIDE doesn't give a rat's butt about the rank and file players or the people who write about them. Hell, FIDE doesn't care about its bread and butter players, the "super GMs". Why would it do anything for Ms. Rudolf? The issue that I think has so far not been adequately addressed is the fact that an accusation of cheating can be made with inpunity and WITH NO EVIDENCE. The player who makes the accusation with no evidence to support the accusation gets away with it, and the player who is accused evidently has no recourse, but has to suffer through the slander, slurs, and ongoing suspicion every time he or she plays a good game! This has nothing to do with male and female players, per se, but it has everything to do with deliberate manipulative, vicious behavior on the part of the accuser. The psychological impact of an accusation of cheating against an innocent player is devasting. For the record, Anna Rudolf who plays under the Hungarian flag, has an ELO of 2273. She finished in 9th place in this tournament, with 6.0, after losing the last game (Round 9), to one of her accusers, IM Starostits. Just take a look at the draws that were given out among the top five or six players in the final crosstable. I'm no expert, but it looks to me as if the "old boys' club" was at work to block out Anna Rudolf from finishing in the top ranks. The fact is, without his win over Anna Rudolf in Round 9, IM Starostits would have ended up with either 5.5 (if he lost) or 6 points (if he drew), and Anna Rudolf would have finished ahead of him in the final standings, with either 7 (if she won) or 6.5 points (if she drew). In the hardscrabble world of the tournament circuit where so many no-name IMs are trying to make a living competing for a limited pool of prize money, why NOT accuse an opponent of cheating? What does an accuser have to lose by such behavior in the present climate? NOTHING. Those girlie men chess players - can't take a whupping by a woman. Geez!

Chess Player/Author Paul Hoffman on Cheating

From The Washington Post: DEPT. OF GAMBITS Winning by Rook or by Crook By Paul HoffmanSunday, November 18, 2007; Page B02 It's been a banner year for cheating scandals in sports. In baseball, allegations of steroid use and a federal indictment on charges of lying to a grand jury tainted Barry Bonds's record-breaking 756 home runs. In football, the New England Patriots got caught videotaping the defensive signals of the New York Jets. In cycling, the Tour de France became the Tour de Pharmacie when officials stripped Floyd Landis of the 2006 title after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. In Formula One racing, the leading team, McLaren Mercedes, was fined a bracing $100 million for stealing confidential technical specifications about rival Ferrari. I'm not much of a sports fan, so my couch-potato juices started flowing only when the cheating epidemic spread to chess. I've been playing since I was 5 years old and have spent untold hours practicing sequences of moves such as the Fried Liver Attack and the King's Gambit Accepted. Chess, I'd always thought, is an ennobling cerebral contest between two determined players armed only with their intellect and free of all drugs, except perhaps caffeine. So you can understand my chagrin when Azerbaijani adults attending the European Union children's championship last month accused the 8-year-old Russian winner of receiving illicit help from a third party during the game. Tournament organizers ultimately rejected the allegations and berated the adults for smearing the child's good name. Rest of article.