Report on chess cheating by Jon Jacobs:
Chess friends,
At long last, my report on what was said at the Chess Cheating Town Meeting at the Marshall Chess Club earlier this month, is available for viewing. Click here to see the report.
Please accept my apologies for putting nothing out for more than 2 weeks after the (Dec. 4th) event. First my tape recorder malfunctioned leaving me with no recording of what was said; then my real life outside of chess intervened in various ways I won’t bore you with — which until now left me little time to reconstruct and boil down the various speakers’ remarks.
Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge there exists no complete audio or video recording of the event, so there is no Webcast that can be archived. I had contacted various mainstream and chess media organizations figuring that recording and/or broadcasting the meeting would align with their mission; it appears I figured wrong.
Gratitude is due to Bill Goichberg and the other panel members who volunteered their time, and to the Marshall and its president Douglas Bellizzi, for making this event possible. Credit for the idea of holding a public panel discussion about cheating issues belongs to Mr. Bellizzi.
Feel free to post any comments on the appropriate page of the above-mentioned site.
— Jon
I would like to thank Jon for providing this for all chess fans. What do you think about the cheating problem?
For people like me, who enjoy playing chess as one part of a full life, but are already turned off by the bizarre personalities, all this (no cell phones?!) just makes tournament play that much less attractive.
I would prefer to play in an under-2000 section with $20 entry fee, free coffee, and a nice shiny trophy as first prize.
Why pay 100’s of dollars entry fees to subsidise unappreciative GMs and tempt cheaters.
All I want is to play chess, not win money.
so no big prize money for amateur players and professional checking for professionals
It is disappointing to me that the majority of honest players will be forced to submit to these restrictions because of the few cheaters. I, for one, like having classical music on an ipod during my game.
I do agree with GM Stripunsky that there should be some sort of database that helps to identify patterns for suspected cheaters.
i have fear that one of the top players could use that…..in some situation power is the most important thing …and for that a Country could do everything….also in a worldchampionship….
iPods will be permitted, but no headphones? That’s a bizarre rule.
Big tournaments are too expensive to play in already. I’ll just stick to correspondence and online play, with the occasional local for spice.
Good read except for what Dr. Danny Kopec said. I do not feel that what he said contributed to chess. I also think he tried to sensationalize the situation. He was not objective on the issue.
The World Open provides an experience that is like no other. It is a World Class Experience. Everyone should play in the World Open at least once in their life. Before playing one must prepare. The preparation is just as much a part of the experience. A good year of preparation is appropriate.
With a year of preparation the total cost of a year of experience is low. The motivation of a full year of chess study is wonderful. It culminates with participation in the big tournament, The World Open. You are given the opportunity to be all you can be. To find out just how well you can do. It is really well worth the effort.
I would like to thank Jon Jacobs for a very good report. He is a good person to have in chess. Nice job Jon.
Nice job Jon, thanks for organizing the meeting. Speaking as a class player who enjoys playing in big money swiss events, I’m glad to see this issue being taken so seriously. I am all for instituting rules and active measures to detect and stop cheating. As long as the rules are applied consistently and fairly, I won’t object to device bans, searches, playing hall entry/exit restrictions, etc. After all, it’s my hefty entry fee that funds those big prizes that the cheaters are after.
This was a great report and very informative.
I agree, I want to play chess me against my opponent, not Rybka or Deep Fritz. It doesn’t matter if it is big money or no money, NO CHEATING should be tolerated EVER. I read one of the cheaters practiced and perfected cheating technique in 5 tournaments before the World Open. I feel it should be part of policy USCF that no electronic communication devices are allowed in tournament room period. If anyone is caught cheating a 5 year suspension first offense 10 years second and life for third! This will drive point of NO CHEATING ALLOWED EVER ANYWHERE!
I’m not interested in prize money. The thrill of winning, rating points and the satisfaction of having done my best are enough.
In the tournaments I’ve played in, the top prize may be $150 …not enough to change my life to any degree. I’d rather the prizes be a trophy, a chess book or something else chess-related so that the entry fees can be kept really low.
I agree completely with instituting bans. Something has to be done to discourage cheaters, but in the possible future scenerio described, the players are merely “stooges” for the real thieves and bans won’t have much impact.
The only thing that bothered me is the possibility that I could be disqualified if I ever beat a grandmaster. Not that this is a large possibility, but I’ve been trying for 35+ years and still study. Who knows, maybe one day it will take!
Conduct chess matches in isolation booths 6 feet (~ 2 meters) under water! Sweep the area for extraneous signals!
Lastly hire Bobby Fischer to report any alien extraneous signals!
Do like in medieval times: when a player is caught cheating put out an eye. After losing both eyes, take the ears. After the ears, cut out the tongue. After the tongue, take the hands, etc. etc.
I agree with anonymous about the under-2000 section, except let the under-2000 have their own league, like the minor leagues (A, AA, and AAA) in professional baseball.
A friend of mine has an unusual dilemma: He has an experimental Microprocessor implanted in his brain that sends and receives the same impulses as neurotransmitters normally do. It was implanted in his skull due to a bad head injury.
However, on several recall and reasoning tests he now scores what a perfect computer would: 100% accuracy. He now has a perfect 100% photographic memory. Should he be banned from playing chess because even though the device makes him human and not some lifeless vegetable, he can often play world-class chess?
Reply to Sr_Norton: Yes, your friend should be banned from chess. But the good news is that he should be able to easily get a job in the derivatives dept at Goldman Sachs on Wall St, where he will make more monye in 1 day than he could in a lifetime of playing chess. Keep us posted!