Cheating in chess

[JustinHorton]

Not sure I'm with you there, especially given that libel laws are not as strong in the US as they are in the UK

[NickFaulks]

Not sure I'm with you there, especially given that libel laws are not as strong in the US as they are in the UK

That's true in theory, and does apply to the whopping high profile cases we read about. In practice, the US has developed a thriving industry within which middling level personalities sue each other over social media comments.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"In practice, the US has developed a thriving industry within which middling level personalities sue each other over social media comments."

US does seem to be overly-litigious at times, but it's frequently rich bullies doing it. But, UK is getting a reputation for libel tourism as well.

[JustinHorton]

"As well"?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"As well"?

Ah, I left out money-laundering.

[JustinHorton]

No, that's not the point. Your used the term "libel tourism".

[Wadih Khoury]

Pretty impressed with Naka reinventing himself as an anti-cheating expert, something of a change of pace there

I feel he may be close to the edge of what you can get away with, particularly in the US. He must be worth suing by now.

I feel he was pretty non committal, and not once accused of cheating.
He said most games.are natural moves, and only in one he thought something was unusual. Not necessarily cheating, but a move too deep for this time control.

[NickFaulks]

Not necessarily cheating, but a move too deep for this time control.

He pointedly did not suggest any other explanation.

[Matthew Turner]

I think it was absolutely clear that Nakamura was accusing the player of cheating. Why talk about the player having a break and then coming back stronger or his team mates 'disappearing' from chess.com.
I am not sure that focusing on two moves (qd2 and f5) is particularly helpful. You could reject the idea of f4 and Qf2 on a geometric idea that this puts the Q and both R in line for a fork so gives Black the resource of Nc5. Once you reject f4 what else are you going to play? Maybe Qd2 becomes perfectly sensible and not so difficult to find.
Similarly f5 seems very thematic, I understand that it fractures White's pawn structure and could turn out to be a big mistake, but it could be that White simply got lucky, or that White must play f5 at some point so Nakamura's suggestions of preparatory moves like g4 are simply a waste of time.
I am not seeking to defend the Armenian player, but simply saying that there are counters to Nakamura's arguments.

[Nick Grey]

All online chess seems to allow cheating IMO.

[NickFaulks]

I think it was absolutely clear that Nakamura was accusing the player of cheating.

Yes, of course he was. Half a dozen times.

I am not seeking to defend the Armenian player, but simply saying that there are counters to Nakamura's arguments.

Then I think you are defending him, and quite rightly. You don't have to be certain of his innocence ( how could you be? ) to feel that he should not have to be exposed to such tendentious accusations.

[Gerard Killoran]

One point. Wesley So claimed that Petrosian never played the Caro Kann but beat Caruana with it - as if this was a totally absurd thing to have happened.

1. Here's a counter-example.

[Event "Asrian Memorial"]
[Site "Yerevan ARM"] [Date "2019.06.12"] [EventDate "2019.06.11"] [Round "2.3"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [White "Maria Gevorgyan"] [Black "Tigran Levonovich Petrosian"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "2293"] [BlackElo "2612"] [PlyCount "82"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h5 5. c4 e6 6. Nc3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 Nd7 8. Be2 Ne7 9. Bxh5 c5 10. Bf3 cxd4 11. Qxd4 Qc7 12. Kf1 Nc6 13. Nb5 Qa5 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Nd6+ Bxd6 16. exd6 Qa6+ 17. Ne2 Bd3 18. Qxg7 Bxe2+ 19. Kg1 O-O-O 20. Qxf7 Qc4 21. Qf4 Qd5 22. Qg3 Nf6 23. Bg5 Ne4 24. Qe3 Nxg5 25. Qxe2 Qxd6 26. Qe3 Nf7 27. Qxa7 Ne5 28. Qa6+ Kd7 29. Qb7+ Ke8 30. Qg7 Nf7 31. Rh3 Qd4 32. Qg6 Rh6 33. Qc2 Rd6 34. Re1 Rxh4 35. Qf5 Rxh3 36. Rxe6+ Rxe6 37. Qxe6+ Kd8 38. gxh3 Ne5 39. Qf6+ Kc7 40. b3 Qe4 41. Kh2 Nd7 1/2-1/2

2. Isn't this a standard suprise ploy to avoid your opponent's preparation and upset his equilibrium? Fischer playing the Queen's Gambit against Spassky is the most famous example.

3. Nakamura conceded that Caruana had a winning position and blundered it away.

4. In the games against Domiguez and So, TP played the KIA, an opening in which he has a lot of experience. Here he uses it to take down PenguinGM no less in a rapid game. Note the very similar structure to the Dominguez game.

[Event "PRO League Group Stage"] [Site "chess.com INT"] [Date "2019.02.27"] [EventDate "2019.01.08"] [Round "8"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Tigran L Petrosian"] [Black "Andrew Tang"] [ECO "A08"] [WhiteElo "2598"] [BlackElo "2487"] [PlyCount "78"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. d3 Be7 5. Nbd2 O-O 6. e4 c5 7. O-O Nc6 8. Re1 b5 9. e5 Nd7 10. Nf1 a5 11. h4 b4 12. N1h2 a4 13. Bf4 a3 14. b3 Ba6 15. Qd2 Nd4 16. Nxd4 cxd4 17. Nf3 Qb6 18. Bg5 Bc5 19. h5 Rfc8 20. h6 g6 21. Rac1 Rc7 22. Qf4 Rac8 23. Bf1 Qa7 24. Red1 Bb5 25. Rd2 Nb8 26. Nxd4 Be8 27. Nf3 Nc6 28. d4 Bf8 29. Bd3 Qb6 30. Re1 Na7 31. Nh2 Bb5 32. Ng4 Bxd3 33. Rxd3 Nb5 34. Ree3 Qb7 35. Kg2 Rxc2 36. Rf3 R2c7 37. Bf6 Nc3 38. Bg7 Be7 39. Qxf7# 1-0

[Wadih Khoury]

I watched the entire Nakamura review, and if you are a neutral party (don't care for either protagonist or Naka) I don't think he was accusing if cheating.
Or it shows how much a message can be perceived differently depending on the recipient.

He was toying with the idea, flirting with it, but never outright. Naka on stream is an entertainer before being a chess player. His goal was to keep it as interesting as possible, not burn bridges or get sued, but still give a bone or two for the fans on both sides of the fence.
He never said the one single suspect move was impossible. Just that he would not have been able to find it.

[Roger de Coverly]

4. In the games against Domiguez and So, TP played the KIA, an opening in which he has a lot of experience. Here he uses it to take down PenguinGM no less in a rapid game. Note the very similar structure to the Dominguez game.

In his book Flank Openings, Ray Keene sometimes tried to give the impression that the KIA was a forced win for White, particularly in the French/Sicilian version where White plays e5 coupled with the Knight tour Nb1-d2-f1-h2 and the h pawn march. It's a variation where similar structures recur in repeated games, so pre game study of the patterns can be rewarding.

[Richard Bates]

I reckon I would have played Qd2