What is the biggest story in chess so far in January?
– Radjabov, Aronian and Topalov tie for 1st in Corus?
– Akopian wins Gibraltar ahead of Adams?
– More cheating allegations?
– Boris Spassky turned 70?
– Something else?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Spassky and Radjabov!
For me cheating in chess is a big problem in our days,and it will be worse and worse.
I have desktop computers since 1981.My first comp works yet and it is in a box on my garage.It has 64K of memory(a floppy disk is about 25 times more)
Yes,the chess programs in the old days were really weak and probably very big to hide.
Today the Fritz 10 engine can win to everyone(it is rated 3000) and could be working on a mobile phone or something with the same size.
Of course I am not going to be surpised if a master outplay me,but if a player with 400 points less do that…I surely will think he/she is cheating.
We must try to find the way to stop that danger without scandals(they are very bad for possible sponsorships).
Topalov cheating is the big story to be sure.
Jose: I’m just a fish, but I’ve had many 400+ point upsets. So do many others. I don’t appriciate the insinuation that I might be cheating. Low ratings often are a sign of a lack of consistency, not a guarantee of result in a particular game.
Lets keep cheating accusations to cases where somebody commits a greater sin than improvement or inconsistency.
For example, if somebody 400 points lower wins, and is wearing odd headgear, the headgear is what is suspicious, not the winning.
In my area ratings are deflated because there is a high proportion of scholastic players. These players improve very fast. So we often see 1800s beating 2200s. These scholastic players rarely stay in state. They go off to college on the east coast and take those ratings points with them, so many of our masters get stuck at their rating floor. I’d hate to see people accused of cheating for these reasons.
Also, people who assume they should win against people 400 points below are often the ones to give up those upsets, because they are susceptible to playing for simplistic traps that “(s)he won’t see.”
Cheating. Everywhere.
What is funny is when you play online BLitz and your opponent plays 1.e4 and I respond 1…c6 you get that … long pause.
Of course, it’s taking him a few extra seconds to look up the Caro-Kann in his opening book…
No matter. Opening cheats get their due in the middlegame from lack of understanding.
I think the biggest story is on the cheating at the top level. The story just seems to grow around Danailov and Topalov. FIDE must act to end this rampant speculation.
I know if FIDE does an investigation they will want to say there is no cheating because if there is cheating then FIDE is mostly at fault. It will be Fide finding itself negligent. We really need an independent body to do the investigation now.
Just take a look at it. Fide allowed Danailov to sit there close to Topalov running a PC with analysis of the game during San Luis. Obviously Fide has responsibility for allowing that. Even during the San Luis event, GM’s were complaining about Danailov running the computer and Fide did nothing about it.
The real scandal is the corruption in Fide. Sometimes I wonder if Kirsan gave Danailov the OK to cheat.
Glad to see that Nigel Short has helped to bring this issue to everyone’s attention because it is not going to just go away.
I lost a blitz game to a blitz player 400 points below me on ICC a few days ago. He did not cheat but he played well. I lost the game. We got into an opening I hate to play because I really dont know how to handle it properly. And he knew how to handle it. I really need to learn how to play against that.
But I had another game against low rated player and I blew a piece. Later won the piece back and the game. I just hung in there. Against a high rated player I might have resigned with the loss of a piece.
I also won a game against a guy 200 points above me. Wow, That win really energized me. It was a good game. I almost lost, was down in a bad position but kept fighting and managed to get my pieces into a good position. I was close to getting mated and managed to get a position where I could mate him.
Chess is lots of fun. I play for fun on internet every day. I do not work too hard to improve. I like to enjoy chess. I used to work real hard on the game.
Susan the verification does not work well since the site change. It takes several trys to get the message accepted.
Sam Sloan getting on the USCF board.
Paris, I agree with you in this case.
Anyway, I do not use traps if they are not part of my general planning(the move must be good and if it puts a trap then is better.But it must be first good positionally and tactically speaking)…I try to play the best moves with everyone and to give not chances to my opponent.
And I do not care about rating,age,gender,etc…but really I think that these type of upsets do not happen so frecuently.400 is a very,very big distance.Sorry but I believe it is only possible if the stronger player did a blunder or the other was cheating.
mark, as a patzer I would have to think for a moment after e4 c6. I’m so used to seeing e5 / c5 /d5 or maybe Nf6 but not so much c6.
maybe I should get an opening book…
The Corus tournament containing the world’s top 3 players, including both participants of the recent World Championship match.
Something that the so-called “World Championship” in Mexico won’t.
I think the escalation of the cheating accusations.
Yea, playing online I won’t appreciate cheating accusations, especially if they’d come when I manage to play especially well. I don’t cheat; all it could do would be to ruin the game for me, since winning or losing it wasn’t me anymore.
In the Caro-Kann I play d4 without thinking, but there are other situations. Say when the opponent decides to decline the king’s gambit, have to recall what to do so as not to be too passive despite the annoying e5 pawn. As black d4 e6 is automatic for me, but sometimes when I want a relief from the dutch I have to decide which defense to take after c4, am I up to a benoni, or just play a queen’s gambit, or dutch after all. Though those are for rapid games, I don’t play blitz.
Busted Topalov and Danailov is the biggest story.
Topalov and cheating.
Top athletes cheat to move from 4th in world to “best” in world (Ben Johnson).
Why should Chess players be considered as exempt from these temptations.
In Athletics Johnson cheated for years before being caught. he had his fans and apologists criticising anyone who raised doubts about his performance.
Maybe Toplaov did not cheat but the anecdotal evidence is pretty strong and mounting that he did. He is a strong 2730 ish player but not 2800+.
People are willing to lie to protect themselves and to make money. Topalov’s earnings were dramatically higher after winning San Luis.
That is the motivation to cheat.
Lets have the investigation.