English Chess Forum

Roger de Coverly wrote:If the watches can be defined as an electronic means of communication then they would be covered.

During play, a player is forbidden to have a mobile phone and/or other electronic means of communication in the playing venue.

That's what I thought, but I never heard of any tournament where the use of smartwatches has been policed.

Paolo Casaschi wrote: That's what I thought, but I never heard of any tournament where the use of smartwatches has been policed.

The opponent or arbiter would probably notice if the watch was being consulted repeatedly during play, either to use an engine or receive a message from an accomplice. But what of when the player was out of eyeshot of the opponent and arbiter? Can they even be switched off, so as to demonstrate they are out of use? The cheaper ones are effectively mostly input devices to mobile phones, so provided the mobile was off, the watch would be harmless.

I googled "Chess on a smart watch" which found this
https://apps.getpebble.com/applications ... b90f000034

So it's possible.

You wouldn't notice it being consulted because you'd put the communication device under it next to skin..... Tiny electric shock, or heat it slightly or something according to a given on/off signal.

Its such an easy thing to do that they really should just ban watches from being worn in genuinely serious tournaments.

First, they came for your phone. Then they came for your watch. And then they came for your Mars bar. Before long, they'll want your shoes, then your socks. History is our guide. You know where this leads

"Before long, they'll want your shoes, ..."

I wonder if Ronnie O'Sullivan read this thread and misunderstood?

Perhaps chess will become like the ancient Olympics.

Yesterday during the fifth round of the inaugural Dr. Hedgewar Open chess tournament at the Thyagraj Stadium in India, Dhruv Kakkar was caught with two mobile phones strapped to his legs, and a micro-speaker inserted in his left ear soon after he upstaged Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay.

If you read the full story from The Hindu you'll see that there were a number of red flags which led to him getting caught. The biggest red flags were the 900 rating difference and the guy turning down Thipsay's draw offer. Worrying thing is that these events are becoming more prevalent or is it just that the cheats are getting caught a bit more often?

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-spo ... 155674.ece

Chris Rice wrote:Worrying thing is that these events are becoming more prevalent or is it just that the cheats are getting caught a bit more often?

Hopefully the latter, but I don't suppose we know

Not the most subtle attempt at cheating, what an idiot! At least take a few draws along the way to make it look a little realistic. I think alarm bells ring pretty loudly when a 1500 grade wins 4 games in a strong Open and proceeds to crush a GM after refusing a draw offer

Jon Mahony wrote:Not the most subtle attempt at cheating, what an idiot!

Is it a scheme similar to one used in India previously?

http://en.chessbase.com/post/india-play ... r-cheating

That was nearly ten years ago.

It's likely that someone who cannot play chess at a level even to credibly enter Open tournaments is likely to be rapidly spotted by clues like not making instant recaptures.

That goes back over twenty years.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=46706

Well, the basic way of getting move data to his 'remote' computer terminal operator is actually quite intelligent in principle. Suspect you could do something like this that would be genuinely quite hard to detect in physical terms. The seemingly limited engineering resources do then leave it looking markedly unsubtle!

The two minute wait/move a bit of non trivial issue of course and quite the wrong sort of event for it in terms of safe monetary return.

Players caught consulting engines during a game should not be banned for 2 years. They should be banned for life.

You can't stop technology. You can just make the consequences unpalatable.

Ray Sayers wrote:Players caught consulting engines during a game should not be banned for 2 years. They should be banned for life.

You can't stop technology. You can just make the consequences unpalatable.

100% agree. Only way to stop it, caught once and out of chess, simple.

Jon Mahony wrote:

Ray Sayers wrote:Players caught consulting engines during a game should not be banned for 2 years. They should be banned for life.

You can't stop technology. You can just make the consequences unpalatable.

100% agree. Only way to stop it, caught once and out of chess, simple.

Banning players is easy. Stopping them playing while banned is rather more difficult.

IM Jack Rudd wrote:

Jon Mahony wrote:

Ray Sayers wrote:Players caught consulting engines during a game should not be banned for 2 years. They should be banned for life.

You can't stop technology. You can just make the consequences unpalatable.

100% agree. Only way to stop it, caught once and out of chess, simple.

Banning players is easy. Stopping them playing while banned is rather more difficult.

Not if they are in prison ie should it be criminalised along the lines of the Charles Ingram/Who Wants to be a Millionaire case? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ingram

Full story with pictures on how Kakkar did it

http://en.chessbase.com/post/yet-anothe ... g-in-chess