Chess Player Strip Searched

[Stewart Reuben]

I played J C Thompson.
He did not use a computer during play.

[Chris Rice]

In the final round Ivanov was White v Vasil Vaklinov (2144) on board 8. His new socks don't seem to be performing very well and I think we can safely say it was all his own efforts as he struggled to draw what was a very poor game. A stronger player as black would surely have won that. Here's the link http://chess-results.com/partieSuche.as ... 08160&rd=9

But I guess the question is why was he allowed to play at all? Ivanov was surely caught red-footed but can now look to redeem himself by strategically playing a few games without computer assistance. He should have been kicked out of chess as Kotainy was at Dortmund. A few questions should be asked of the Blagoevgrad tournament organisers as to why they took the actions (or inaction) they did.

[Geoff Chandler]

The game from the above link.

Borislav Ivanov (2324) - Vasil Vaklinov (2144)

1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 e5 5. e4 exd4 6. Nxd4 Ne7 7. Be3 Nbc6 8. h4 f5 9. h5 fxe4 10. hxg6 hxg6 11. Rxh8+ Bxh8 12. Nxe4 Bf5 13. Ng3 Qd7 14. Qd2 O-O-O 15. O-O-O Bxd4 16. Bxd4 Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Nc6 18. Qd2 Qf7 19. Nxf5 Qxf5 20. f4 g5 21. g3 gxf4 22. Bd3 Qg4 23. gxf4 Rf8 24. Rf1 a6 25. Be4 Qh3 26. Bg2 Qe6 27. b3 Qf6 28. Bh3+ Kb8 29. Kb1 Nd4 30. Qd3 c5 31. f5 Qe5 32. Bg2 Rxf5 33. Rxf5 Qxf5 34. Qxf5 Nxf5 35. Kc1 Kc7 36. Kd2 b5 37. a3 Nd4 38. Kc3 Ne2+ 39. Kd2 Nf4 40. Bh1 Ng6 41. Kc3 Ne7 42. Bg2 d5 43. cxd5 Kd6 44. Kd3 Nxd5 45. Bf3 a5 46. a4 bxa4 47. bxa4 Nb6 48. Bd1 Kd5 49. Bf3+ Kd6 50. Bd1 *

[Leonard Barden]

Ivanov has retired from chess:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211 ... 51013.aspx

A pity that we still don't know the mechanics of exactly how his toe waggling Houdini worked, especially in blitz games.

[MartinCarpenter]

It'd be well worth knowing, because while sending moves from a computer to the player via feet is just about plausible, it seems very problematic to send the moves to the computer reliably. If he did have some sort of working pin hole camera it'd be well worth knowing.

[Graham Borrowdale]

I am with Leonard Barden on this one. He was never caught cheating, he was defaulted for refusing to cooperate, and has now 'retired'. In a strange way, I hope he reveals all some day - a modern day 'Turk'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turk

[Roger de Coverly]

If he did have some sort of working pin hole camera it'd be well worth knowing.

Organisers looking for live coverage without DGT boards or Monroi electronic score-sheets might be interested if there's a camera with software that can resolve images into pgn files.

[Geoff Chandler]

"A pity that we still don't know the mechanics of exactly how his toe waggling Houdini worked...."

if indeed that was his method and if indeed he was as most suspect, including me, using foul means.

If he did, ( and let us try to stay open-minded and be prepared to admit we were wrong. ),
then the alarming thing is he has perfected a perfect way to cheat and this could be passed on
(for a split of the profit) to a more sensible player with a higher rating but a lower profile
who would control this sudden burst of good form to make it look more natural.

I'd go for a female accomplice.
Who amongst us is going to accuse a female chess player of cheating?
The White Knights would come galloping over the hill with banners a waving and teeth a gnashing.
The great and the good would castrate the poor fellow in print.

Hypnotic devices in chairs, messages in yoghurt, computers in the tolets and
now two way walkie-talkie shoes..........So what could be next.......What can you hide in a breast implant?

[Kevin Thurlow]

Ivanov has given us something to think about, but he must be under pressure in every tournament. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

[Matt Mackenzie]

He seemed to find it a laugh, if anything - until Dlugy finally unmasked him. Good riddance

("wouldn't want to be in his shoes" - was that deliberate?? )

[Chris Rice]

A team from the Association of Chess Professionals ("ACP") presented a set of proposals to the FIDE Anti-Cheating Committee a few days ago. Below is a high level summary from the head of that team, the devil will of course be in the detail. For example while they are unsurprisingly proposing that all electronic devices be banned in pro tournaments they are ok that in amateur ones that mobile phones for instance be only an arms length away as long as they are stored in bags etc:

"Dear friends,

Please find below the report of Yuri Garrett, the leader of the ACP team in the Anti-Cheating Committee.

We believe it is very important to treat the issue properly, and ACP invests a lot of time and resources in order to fight this plague. We hope you will be satisfied with the results of our work!

On Oct. 2 and 3, the ACP Anti-Cheating delegation composed of ACP Board Director IO Yuri Garrett (ITA), IA Laurent Freyd (FRA), GM Konstantin Landa (RUS) and IM Prof. Kenneth Regan (USA) joined FIDE Vice President Mr. Israel Gelfer, Chairman of the joint ACP/FIDE Anti-Cheating Committee, for what proved to be two very successful days of meetings in the premises of the French Federation at Elancourt. Mr. Gelfer was exposed for the very first time to a rather lengthy and well detailed set of proposals elaborated by the ACP Anti-Cheating group in the course of several previous meetings, and appeared to be very favourably impressed by the amount of work that had been done.

The ACP proposals include, among other things:

- two sets of requirements, more stringent at the top/professional only level (World Championship Cycle, Olympiads, Round Robins, etc.) and amateur/professional level (FIDE Opens). This was increased to three levels, upon suggestion of Mr. Gelfer, to include special regulations for Youth Tournaments.

- an anti-cheating approach based solely on the violation of existing regulations and not on finding final evidence of cheating

- changes to the law of chess to the effect of determining sanctions for behaviors that can lead to cheating or may appear to be leading to cheating;

- other changes to the law of chess required for integrating the new anti-cheating effort;

- establishing the different roles of tournament director, arbiters, Anti-Cheating Commission, players, others;

- a new and more active approach to the role of arbiter, by increasing arbiter duties and powers;

- an obligation for players to withstand searching in the playing area or during play if requested;

- a very sophisticated and scientifically verified statistical tool elaborated by Prof. Kenneth Regan for detecting suspicious play.

- procedures for detecting fraud by means of: a) physical + statistical evidence; b) physical evidence only; c) statistical evidence only;

- different procedures for filing cheating allegations, both during the game and after the game; for a) players; b) arbiters; c) Anti-Cheating Commission; d) others.

- an equally rigid system of sanctions for both cheaters and witch-hunters;

- creation of a permanent Anti-Cheating Commission within FIDE, endowed with special powers.

- suggested use of scanners and scramblers where suitable;

- separation of prosecuting and judging bodies;

By way of example, the ACP proposed that all electronic devices should be banned in top level tournaments, whereas in amateur/professional tournaments they should only be away from the player's reach. This means that, in minor tournament, electronic devices can be taken into the playing hall and separately stored (e.g. in a bag), but no player will be allowed to carry them with him (in a pocket, in a jacket, in a bag etc.) during play, even if turned off.

The inspiring principle of the ACP proposals was that of a reasonable and effective approach to anti-cheating, with a view to avoiding major burdens on the vast majority of honest players and organizers alike and bearing in mind the ultimate goal of not hindering the growth of chess while fighting the plague of cheating. The ACP position was almost integrally conveyed into a working paper that will be debated and improved over the next few months, with a new meeting of the FIDE-ACP Anti-Cheating Committee to be staged early next year. The goal of the Committee is to approve the new set of rules and regulations at the FIDE General Assembly in August 2014.

On behalf of the ACP, I wish to thank Mr. Israel Gelfer for his very proactive attitude and for his openness towards both the ACP members of the Anti-Cheating Committee and their proposals."

[Stewart Reuben]

The Ken Regan talk on his matching players' choices to the computer choice was very enjoyable and most illuminating.
I expect the changes in the Laws of Chess regarding elctronic equipment will be passed on the 7th when I present the Laws to the Executive Board.

[Kevin Thurlow]

("wouldn't want to be in his shoes" - was that deliberate?? )

Of course!

At least the ACP proposals recognise that not everybody is playing in a top-level event.

[Andy Howie]

A technical investigation I have been doing at work recently got me thinking. I bet when they have been using signal blockers and scanners, they are using 2.4 GHz and 5GHz, no one has checked the 60GHz band which is fairly new. It is very fast but short ranged so would be perfect. Devices already exist.

[Chris Rice]

Well that retirement didn't last long. Apparently Borislav Ivanov tried to play in Skopje but was refused by the organisers. Instead he played the National Students tournament in Sofia but things didn't go so well…. http://www.chess-results.com/tnr115597. ... =821&snr=2

Apparently he won this title in 2012 which is why the organisers allowed him in. I fail to understand why Ivanov, Jens Kotainy and German Merkin and the like are still allowed to play.