Cheating in chess

[Paul McKeown]

When I had a wife, 3 kids but only 2 TV sets I could only dream of putting the remote down my underpants.

[Stewart Reuben]

Somemay not have seen this about Myanmar. It has happened before.
Dear Sir/Madam,

May I inform you about cheats made by Myanmar Chess Federation(Myanmar Chess Federation); as most of us know Myanmar has been committing many rating manipulation since decades ago. Thus MCF players met deduction of rating points for those actions. We, most Myanmar players, therefore do not wish to happen such irrelevant things again. But officials from Myanmar Chess Federation(MCF) continued to do such cheats and now more severe. Starting from October 2016, MCF restarted their plans to organize false tournament reports( six rated tournaments from 2016,October to 2017,November).Most of these six tournaments did not take place actually(only as reports). Some players listed in these tournaments had passed away many years before these tournaments. MCF also create two or more FIDE ID for some players and use their rating points in such tournament reports. MCF usually announces Tournament Schedules. As these tournaments didn't actually take place, Myanmar players knew about these tournaments only after releasing tournament reports from FIDE official website and we got shocked as MCF officials even abused ratings of already dead persons. MCF sold rating points(2400+) and therefore FIDE Master Title to three Myanmar players, Tha Zan(FIDE ID 13001612), Nay Win(FIDE ID 13001604) and Nay Soe(FIDE ID 13008080). Their ratings rose very rapidly after these tournaments from ‘unrated’ to 2400+

[Roger de Coverly]

But officials from Myanmar Chess Federation(MCF) continued to do such cheats and now more severe. Starting from October 2016, MCF restarted their plans to organize false tournament reports( six rated tournaments from 2016,October to 2017,November).Most of these six tournaments did not take place actually(only as reports). Some players listed in these tournaments had passed away many years before these tournaments. MCF also create two or more FIDE ID for some players and use their rating points in such tournament reports.

FIDE's anti cheating efforts need two targets. There's the problem of players using external assistance when playing, but also the problem of fake tournaments used for ratings manipulation and false awards of titles.

The second of these can be more difficult to tackle where the alleged cheaters are also the vote holders in FIDE elections.

[Stewart Reuben]

I deleted the second part of the post because I thought it wouldn't be of interest. You will see the accuser was not anonymous. Indeed you can phone him. Written in Tenerife - it is warmer here!
May I submit the list of fake tournaments organized by MCF; they are

(1) Yangon 3C Tournament 2016(5.11.2016-11.11.2016)

(2)Mingalar Chess Tournament 2016(5.11.2016-10.11.2016)

(3)Victory Land Chess Tournament 2016(16.11.2016-22.11.2016)

(4) Maymyo Chess Tournament 2017(23.3.2017-26.3.2017)

(5)Yadanabon Chess Tournament (18.9.2017-25.9.2017)

(6)Dagon Chess Tournament 2017(14.11.2017-21.11.2017)

Please therefore make investigation and punishment for officials of MCF and players involved in these fake tournaments. Many Myanmar players are willing to cooperate with FIDE for such investigation. General Secretary of MCF,IA Myo Zaw Min, offered me to join such fake tournaments but I rejected and objected him and their actions. He said that if I gave 40,000 Kyats per player in 16-men(15 Round Robin Tournament), I would get my rating increased enormously like Tha Zan,Nay Soe and Nay Win.

President of MCF,IA Maung Maung Lwin, always said that we needed ratings,norms and Masters therefore we had to do such things. Therefore many players are trying to impeach current officials of Myanmar Chess Federation for their intolerable actions. We all want our Sports and our Federation clean and fair. Please ged rid of those who are abusing their positions in local and international chess aspects as we don’t want further deduction of rating points from our Myanmar players. Please punish such officials and players involved in these cheats.

Best Regards,

Aye Win

+959 767234637

Of course collusion about fixing games is a much older prolem than using computers to choose one's moves. But Roger is quite correct. FIDE have to rely on federations to be honest and to oversee the honesty of the chess administrators and players. Some years ago, ALL Myanmar players had 100 points deducted from their ratings.
This year I had the opportunity to cheat in the last round of the European Senior Team Championship. We would have won the match anyway. My unrated opponent had 0/8. Had I lost to him, it wouldn't have affected my rating, but put him on the list. We could then have played a game next month and I have beaten him. I would then have gained rating points. He would still have had a very low rating.

[Roger de Coverly]

President of MCF,IA Maung Maung Lwin, always said that we needed ratings,norms and Masters therefore we had to do such things.

Ratings yes, but with the scale now down to 1000, in European terms that's minimum club standard. Norms and Master titles have to be earned.

[NickFaulks]

FIDE's anti cheating efforts need two targets.

A point I made repeatedly when I was on the original Anti-Cheating Committee. Unfortunately, computer cheating was the hot topic about which FIDE felt they needed to look as if they were doing something, and there was no enthusiasm for anything else.

The second of these can be more difficult to tackle where the alleged cheaters are also the vote holders in FIDE elections.

I haven't seen evidence of that, for instance when the major downward review of Myanmar ratings was done in 2008. The problem is that the system relies upon trust in the federation officials who report results, and it is a very big step to accuse them of dishonesty. Having said that, it is easy for anyone to see that Myanmar players generally underperform their ratings when playing abroad, which it is legitimate to investigate.

[IanCalvert]

FIDE's anti cheating efforts need two targets.

A point I made repeatedly when I was on the original Anti-Cheating Committee. Unfortunately, computer cheating was the hot topic about which FIDE felt they needed to look as if they were doing something, and there was no enthusiasm for anything else.

The second of these can be more difficult to tackle where the alleged cheaters are also the vote holders in FIDE elections.

Maybe the simplest solution is to try to isolate Myanmar, with the agreement and help of China: after all the problem is easier than North Korea albeit that i believe it goes back over 20 years. Specifically no overseas invites for Myanmar players until the title questions are resolved, Great work by our own dynamic duo!

[Stewart Reuben]

I was quite surprised to receve this statement from the Myanmar CF. It just goes to show one msutn't be too ready to jump to conclusions.
I am writing for Tenerife.

Sorry to learn that somebody used a Myanmar name "Aye Win" and sent an email of complaint to FIDE and many email addresses with title "Information about cheats by Myanmar Chess Federation".
I called to the mobile number (+959 767234637) shown the name "Aye Win" below and someone answered that this number is not Aye Win's, you got the wrong number.
In fact, Myanmar chess family is very united and we never have any problems. After learning this news, the players are very upset and angry to the sender.
There's only a player named "Aye Win" and he didn't send this email. He just played the last month tournament and had a new FIDE ID 13009478.
I think that the motive of this email is to damage the image of Myanmar Chess Federation and some political moves behind. This just happened after Myanmar Chess Federation received the letter from the Russian Embassy of Myanmar requesting to support FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in next year FIDE Election via Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ministry of Health and Sports asked about this and Myanmar Chess Federation answered about the support and will follow the instructions from the head of the country. This information was spread among the chess players.
All the tournaments shown in the list were organized according to FIDE Laws and Regulations.
We are ready to cooperate with FIDE, ACF and chess family members.
Gens Una Sumus!
Best Regards,
Maung Maung Lwin
President
Myanmar Chess Federation

[NickFaulks]

FIDE's anti cheating efforts need two targets.

A point I made repeatedly when I was on the original Anti-Cheating Committee. Unfortunately, computer cheating was the hot topic about which FIDE felt they needed to look as if they were doing something, and there was no enthusiasm for anything else.

The second of these can be more difficult to tackle where the alleged cheaters are also the vote holders in FIDE elections.

Maybe the simplest solution is to try to isolate Myanmar, with the agreement and help of China: after all the problem is easier than North Korea albeit that i believe it goes back over 20 years. Specifically no overseas invites for Myanmar players until the title questions are resolved, Great work by our own dynamic duo!

Please correct this post. It suggests that I made the final comment, which I most certainly did not.

[IanCalvert]

Nick

Public apologies for any inadvertent confusion caused by my paragraph "Maybe ...dynamic duo": I blame the technology .

[NickFaulks]

I blame the technology.

Thanks, and I ran into that too. I had to override it manually by adding an "[/quote]"

[Christopher Kreuzer]

May be of interest, given the track record of use of shoes in the topic of this thread:

Morse code shoes send toe tapping texts at MWC 2018 (BBC News)

[MartinCarpenter]

Sigh. I suppose it has been technically possible for quite a while - and genuinely useful for some things - but having it off the shelf makes it much more likely to get used.

[Nick Grey]

Chris - do not wear them tomorrow. I'm trying to work out what to wear because of weather. Possible icy conditions into the venue.
If I am tapping my feet annoyingly it is more likely to be trying to keep them warm. Lots of foot-tapping & table shaking at an earlier match this year at the same venue but at least they had tea/coffee and biscuits and we bought cakes in too. Sometimes distracting and annoying but not cheating. Especially when both sides players are doing it!

[Stewart Reuben]

I was on my way to Gibraltar for the chess, two days in advance. The youngish man siting next to me was a typical knee-jerker. So I asked him whether he was a chessplayer. Indeed he was coming for the congress - from Madagascar.
I prefer, where feasible, to set up a chess area with one game per table, because of this common problem.