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[Ray Sayers]

Ahh, tragically a 2094 was too high a hurdle to climb. Our hero went down and now has a TPR of 1942

[Roger de Coverly]

Ahh, tragically a 2094 was too high a hurdle to climb. Our hero went down and now has a TPR of 1942

Unless you are one of the top seeds, it's a really bad tournament if you only play people when you are the ratings favourite.

[Roger de Coverly]

But Ivanov's playing strength seems to be lower than the Elo with which he started the Zahar tournament. So if he cheated there, it was not the first time.

He did well in some Bulgarian local event. That's a problem in itself, if trying to detect the method, as live coverage would have been unlikely.

[John McKenna]

Followed Paul's link above and was confronted by a gallery that seemed to include a number of rouges.
As for Ivanov - one earlier post reminded me of the theme song to a once popular TV series - Ivanhoe, oh. Ivanhoe, oh, from adventure to adventure watch him go, oh, oh...

[Ray Sayers]

One has to be very careful with libel, particularly in the UK. cf http://www.libelreform.org/.

But Ivanov's playing strength seems to be lower than the Elo with which he started the Zahar tournament. So if he cheated there, it was not the first time.

Lucky for me then that in this thread I have been his fan club!

As they said in Wayne's World: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl!

[Chris Rice]

Thanks Ray, so let's summarise Ivanov's "achievements" in this tournament. He was never paired with anyone less than 250 Elo points below him. His best results were draws against two players graded 273 and 357 Elo points below him. His best win was in Rd 3 against a player graded 518 Elo points below him. He had three losses to players graded 248, 359 and 373 points below him.

I can't wait for the explanation that Ivanov is going to come up with to explain his "loss of form". Could it be:

(a) He was worried about that little asteroid hitting the earth somewhere near Plovdiv?
(b) The organisers refused to let him bring in his prawn and lettuce sandwiches?
(c) His opponents were all using anti-computer opening systems?
(d) The pressure of suddenly having attractive women continually harrassing him proved too much?
(e) He didn't consult Stewart Reuben initially before the tournament started?

Here's the full tale of the tape:

Ivanov Borislav
Starting rank 34
Rating national 2193
Rating international 2342
Ratingperformance 1942
FIDE rtg +/- -45.2
Points 5
Rank 88
Rd 1 Tsvetanov David 1696 BUL 1
Rd 2 FM Ioannidis Evgenios 1969 GRE 0
Rd 3 Kartalov Kiril 1824 BUL 1
Rd 4 Minas Ioannis 1985 GRE ½
Rd 5 Todorov Yavor 2069 BUL ½
Rd 6 Petrov V Sergeev 1983 BUL 0
Rd 7 Sotirov Ilia 1770 BUL 1
Rd 8 Zisiadis Dimitrios 1699 GRE 1
Rd 9 Veselinov Dimcho 2094 BUL 0

[Matthew Turner]

Ivanov doesn't seem to be that worried about looking a bit silly. He has generated a lot of publicity about his bizarre claims, so I expect we will see another installment. It looks to me as if he is paving his way for a book, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Ivanov "How I fooled the chess World" hitting the shelves shortly.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Thanks Ray, so let's summarise Ivanov's "achievements" in this tournament. He was never paired with anyone less than 250 Elo points below him. His best results were draws against two players graded 273 and 357 Elo points below him. His best win was in Rd 3 against a player graded 518 Elo points below him. He had three losses to players graded 248, 359 and 373 points below him.

I can't wait for the explanation that Ivanov is going to come up with to explain his "loss of form". Could it be:

(a) He was worried about that little asteroid hitting the earth somewhere near Plovdiv?
(b) The organisers refused to let him bring in his prawn and lettuce sandwiches?
(c) His opponents were all using anti-computer opening systems?
(d) The pressure of suddenly having attractive women continually harrassing him proved too much?
(e) He didn't consult Stewart Reuben initially before the tournament started?

Here's the full tale of the tape:

Ivanov Borislav
Starting rank 34
Rating national 2193
Rating international 2342
Ratingperformance 1942
FIDE rtg +/- -45.2
Points 5
Rank 88
Rd 1 Tsvetanov David 1696 BUL 1
Rd 2 FM Ioannidis Evgenios 1969 GRE 0
Rd 3 Kartalov Kiril 1824 BUL 1
Rd 4 Minas Ioannis 1985 GRE ½
Rd 5 Todorov Yavor 2069 BUL ½
Rd 6 Petrov V Sergeev 1983 BUL 0
Rd 7 Sotirov Ilia 1770 BUL 1
Rd 8 Zisiadis Dimitrios 1699 GRE 1
Rd 9 Veselinov Dimcho 2094 BUL 0

In a way, this confirms my idea that computer cheating, especially at the lower levels, is just a temporary problem and it will just go away if a very little care is taken.
True, any patzer now could use computer cheating to achieve a rating 500 points more than he deserves, but what would be the point? Would you then continue playing chess and continue using computer cheating just to keep up appearances? A little bit too much if you ask me.

[John McKenna]

What's the difference between a burglar and an armed robber - one robs in the privacy of homes the other in public. Both are driven by certain needs both material and psychological. Those who cheat at correspondence and otb are no different and will continue their activities as long as they gain satisfaction from their successes. Ivanhoe may be a slightly different fish in that he has virtually unmasked himself in public and shouted LOOK AT ME!

[Roger de Coverly]

Those who cheat at correspondence and otb are no different

By over the board standards, correspondence players cheat and always have done so. No external assistance is or should be easily enforced over the board, but impossible and never contemplated in correspondence.

[John McKenna]

Sorry Roger, your post above is off centre - it is all a questiom of following or breaking the rules. I do not consider correspondence players to be cheats if they play accordingly.

[Roger de Coverly]

it is all a questiom of following or breaking the rules. I do not consider correspondence players to be cheats if they play accordingly.

On ICCF you can use computer assistance. On chess.com and redhotpawn.com and others you cannot. Even worse if your move choice coincides with that of chess engines you will be considered guilty without a defence. Were I to play on such a server, I would, I presume be allowed to consult my personal history of OTB games. But what if I had annotated such games with engine suggestions? It's far from black and white in the way the OTB chess ought to be.

[Chris Rice]

Using computers to assist a player in a game, unless its Advanced Chess, is cheating. thought that was clear.

Difficult to see what personal enjoyment you can really get from Advanced Chess knowing most of the moves aren't yours.

Correspondence chess seems to have become accepted as Advanced Chess by default simply because there's no effective way of policing it.

Correspondence chess titles are therefore worthless, perhaps there are one or two genuine players actually follow the true spirit of the game but the vast majority are chess engines in disguise.

[Roger de Coverly]

Using computers to assist a player in a game, unless its Advanced Chess, is cheating. thought that was clear.

That is completely clear. But it's also the case that over the board, referring to your own past games, other people's past games or the opinions of authors is also cheating. That isn't so in correspondence , even on sites that try to filter for computer usage.

[Chris Rice]

I see what you are saying and wouldn't disagree with it.

it's like saying that in athletics if the organising committee said, look, we don't care what drugs you take and how much you take, whether you cut the corners off the bends or go around the hurdles instead of jumping over them. It's a level playing field for everyone. Just make sure you don't make it too obvious that you're cheating and force us to do something about it.

That's the equivalent of modern day correspondence chess minus the health risks and the lucrative prize money.