April 8, 2007
Chess
As Technology Leaps Ahead, Concerns About Cheating Grow
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Concerns about cheating, and ideas about how to stop it, have become a preoccupation of the chess world in recent months.
While cheating is not new — for years, some Soviet players were suspected of colluding at international tournaments — more attention is being paid now because of recent incidents and because of the increasing sophistication of computers and communication devices.
In July, two players at the World Open in Philadelphia fell under suspicion. One, Steve Rosenberg, who was winning his section, was found with a wireless receiver in his ear. He was expelled and subsequently banned from tournaments by the United States Chess Federation for three years.
The other, Eugene Varshavsky, a low-ranked player, was searched thoroughly before each game after he beat a strong grandmaster by playing 25 consecutive moves that matched those suggested by a computer program. (Efforts to locate Varshavsky, or to find a phone number where he could be reached for comment, were unsuccessful; people in the chess world say they have not seen him recently.)
At the world championship in October, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria insinuated that Vladimir Kramnik of Russia might have consulted a computer during frequent bathroom trips. The bathrooms were locked and the match was suspended. Subsequently, the bathrooms were reopened and the match resumed, and no proof of wrongdoing was found.
Here is the full article. Special thanks to NY Chess Mom for pointing this article out to me.
leaves out suggestions about Topalov cheating
posted previous comment before reading the full article rather than the excerpt
The article goes on to mention the Corus “signalling” incident, and the incidents involving Sharma and Singh. Really, the only news to me in this story was that Rosenberg had been banned. Last I’d heard no action had been taken and it wasn’t clear if it ever would be.
One interesting comment on the Smirin-Varshavsky game:
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The opening was the open variation of the Ruy Lopez. It is well known and heavily analyzed, so it was not surprising that Varshavsky played the first moves accurately.
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Whether or not that’s a surprise is an interesting question. A lot has been made about the Smirin-Varshavsky game, but very little attention has been paid to the two games he played after that (i.e. after he stopped wearing “the hat”.)
However, 7 of his 9 games from that tournament are available on worldopen.com, and the last two are particularly interesting.
[Event “34th Annual World Open”]
[Site “Philadelphia, PA”]
[Date “2006.07.04”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Varshavsky, Eugene”]
[Black “GM Najer, Evgeny”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “B23”]
[WhiteElo “2158”]
[BlackElo “2697”]
[PlyCount “64”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 g6 4. d3 Bg7 5. Nge2 e6
6. Bf4 d6 7. a3 Nge7 8. O-O O-O 9. Qd2 Re8 10. Bh6 Bh8
11. Ng3 d5 12. Ba2 d4 13. Nce2 Ne5 14. Qg5 N7c6 15. Qf4 Bf6
16. Kh1 g5 17. Qd2 Ng4 18. Bxg5 Bxg5 19. f4 Bh6 20. h3 Ne3
21. Rf3 Kh8 22. Nf1 Nxf1 23. Raxf1 Rg8 24. Qe1 Bd7 25. Rg3 Qe7
26. Qf2 Rxg3 27. Nxg3 Qh4 28. Qf3 Rg8 29. Kh2 Rg7 30. e5 Ne7
31. Nh5 Bc6 32. g3 Bxf3 0-1
[Event “34th Annual World Open”]
[Site “Philadelphia, PA”]
[Date “2006.07.04”]
[Round “9”]
[White “GM Panchanathan, Magesh C”]
[Black “Varshavsky, Eugene”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C60”]
[WhiteElo “2558”]
[BlackElo “2158”]
[PlyCount “57”]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4. O-O a6 5. Bc4 h6
6. c3 b5 7. Bb3 Ng6 8. d4 d6 9. a4 Bb7 10. Qe2 Na5
11. Bc2 c6 12. Na3 Be7 13. b4 Nc4 14. Nxc4 bxc4 15. dxe5 dxe5
16. Qxc4 O-O 17. Be3 a5 18. Rfd1 Qc7 19. b5 Kh8 20. b6 Qc8
21. Rab1 Kg8 22. Rd2 Qb8 23. Rd7 Rc8 24. Bb3 Rf8 25. Ba2 Bc8
26. Rc7 Be6 27. Qe2 Bc8 28. Rxc8 Rxc8 29. b7 1-0
If you’ve seen the Smirin game, it’s almost incredible to think that the same person played these games in the same tournament. Far from the deep opening preparation shown against Smirin, these two are incredibly sloppy and contain similar kinds of errors. In Round 8 he gets a Bishop trapped and captured on the King’s side. In Round 9, he gets a Knight trapped and captured on the Queen’s side.
This doesn’t constitute physical evidence, of course, and other explanations could be concocted as to why he played like a 1500 player in the last two games (emotional distress at having been suspected, or some such), but most of us in Smirin’s shoes would probably feel the same way.
It’s interesting that Chess Life’s recent cheating article went out of its way to avoid mentioning either R or V’s names, which is a nice thought, but if the New York Times is broadcasting them, the cat’s out of the bag.
It’s going to be a real problem if people start switching chess engines for each move. That would be impossible to detect 🙁
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http://theriseandshinegoodknight.blogspot.com/
Finally the New York Times is discussing the circus in Elista, maybe now we will get some action!
D.McClain wrote:
{
“Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria insinuated that Vladimir Kramnik of Russia might have consulted a computer during frequent bathroom trips.”
}
Topalov “insinuated”? In the weeks after Topalov lost to Kramnik in Elista 2006/10, Topalov went beyond mere insinuation in his repeated accusals that Kramnik cheated. For instance…
/**************
December 2006
The spanish daily newspaper “ABC”
Interview with Veselin Topalov.
**/
[Interviewer] Do you believe that Kramnik continued cheating after the scandal was unleashed?
[VT] Personally I think yes, and that the new method was better.
[Interviewer] Also in the tiebreak games?
[VT] There they had a foolproof system. … Kramnik made a move that would only occur to a computer.
…
The definitive proof for me is the cable.
————
How would other grandmasters feel if Topalov made accusations like this against them? How would V.Anand feel? How would J.Polgar feel, or Z.Polgar? How would G.Kasparov feel?
How is V.Kramnik supposed to feel?
Perhaps more disappointing to Kramnik is that most people in the grandmaster and T.O. communities shrunk from publicly defending Kramnik against Topalov’s accusations (tho there were a few brave voices). The Kitty Genovese case comes to mind.
GeneM
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Finally the New York Times is discussing the circus in Elista, maybe now we will get some action!
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Not likely. It’s kind of a Chess Cheating for Dummies kind of story, and is more interested in cases where evidence of cheating turned up. They mention Elista for the sake of completeness, but kind of whitewash the whole thing. Notice that bit about how Topalov “insinuated” that his opponent was cheating. They don’t really tell you that he went way beyond insinuating, to issuing press releases to all major media, breaking the Ethics Rules in the process, because that kind of unethical behavior isn’t what the article is about.
Which is a shame, actually, since the problem of false accusations is at least as big a problem as the cheating itself. The first time at a major open when somebody publicly accuses his opponent in the middle of a packed tournament room (thinking it’s okay because Topalov did it), there will be pandemonium.
They kind of brush past the signalling at Corus, because no concrete evidence was found there either. The World Open and Sharma cases are where they found smoking guns.
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How would other grandmasters feel if Topalov made accusations like this against them? How would V.Anand feel? How would J.Polgar feel, or Z.Polgar? How would G.Kasparov feel?
How is V.Kramnik supposed to feel?
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A better question is how would Topalov feel? After all, he had experience on the other side of this issue long before Corus. Kasim and Moro conducted a whisper campaign against him after San Luis. Apparently, Topalov’s reaction was to take the Low Road, and try to outdo them. And he succeeded. Kasim and Moro kept their misbehavior quiet enough to more or less escape public censure. Topalov pasted his all over the front pages, and in so doing, probably put a permanent stain on his reputation.
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Perhaps more disappointing to Kramnik is that most people in the grandmaster and T.O. communities shrunk from publicly defending Kramnik against Topalov’s accusations
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I wouldn’t say that. As I remember, the GM response was loud and universally in support of Kramnik. Not a single GM (even Bulgarian GM’s) were willing to support Topalov’s behavior. This was the only case I can think of in which even Karpov and Korchnoi agreed with each other.
Can anyone tell me which version of Shredder GM Larry Christiansen tested? I have Shredder 9.1, but Shredder 10 was released in late May 2006, about 6 weeks prior to the game.
You may post here, or send me e-mail at regan@cse.buffalo.edu. With thanks in advance, —Ken Regan
I grew up with Rosenberg. Just today I did a web search for him to see what ever happened to him, and now I arrived at your blog. It does not at all shock me to hear what had happened to him. Steve was always up to sneaky things like this. I just wondered if he would ever grow out of it, and now I know the answer is no.