There is a guy who goes to a lot of tournaments. During his opponent's turn, he reads a book. It is not a chess book, but I still believe that this is cheating. I am sure that somewhere in the USCF rules it says it is illegal to refer to material printed before the game. My friend played him and called him for cheating, but the judge says it's not illegal. If you have the USCF book, look this up. Next time I played him, I'll get him one step closer to being banned from tournaments (he has a very bad reputation, but has never been proved cheating).

USCF Rule 20B States:

"Use of recorded matter prohibited. During play, players are forbidden to make use of handwritten, printed, or otherwise recorded matter. While the penalty is at the discretion of the director, a forfeit loss is usually ruled if the material is relevant to the game while a lesser penalty or warning is common otherwise. For example, a player on move five of a King's Indian Defense would usually be forfeited for reading a book on the King's Indian but given a warning or time penalty for reading one on rook endings."

 

 It also gives the TD tip noting that listening to music through headphones is not a violation, although the TD has the right to make sure that the recordings are unrelated to the game. After the latest edition of the rules were published, a few widely publicized cheating episodes have led some TDs to ban all electronics from the playing room.

 

I personally find reading at the chessboard rude to one's opponent. While I have often thought I'd like to be reading a novel during a game, I have restrained myself. Leaving the playing room and sitting in a nearby lounge reading the newspaper while waiting for an opponent to move, on the other hand, is common behavior. I'm certain that I've done that once or twice. I recall reading some law journals that the TD had with him in a few cases as well (over in a corner of the playing room where the TD was set up). 

 

 

BasicLvrCH8r wrote: So is it cheating?

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 No

It's a Halo book, but for all I know he could have written notes in it or bound pages of a chess book in the middle.

BasicLvrCH8r wrote: It's a Halo book, but for all I know he could have written notes in it or bound pages of a chess book in the middle.

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 The TS has the right and responsibility to check.

I heard of a guy who recorded his own CD with the moves of different openings 20 moves deep. So while you are playing him, you think he's listening to music when in reality, he's listening for what move to play against you. I also figured, you could easily do this with an mp3 player too.

KingLeopold wrote: I heard of a guy who recorded his own CD with the moves of different openings 20 moves deep. 

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 And you believe this?

After four moves, there are 988,187,354 possible unique positions. How many of these does this chap have on his CD? Does his CD aid in recognizing transpositions? How would it have helped him in this opening?

 

Probably the instruction should be "If he plays a6 please insert CD number 1'822 track 3 and follow Rybka's analyses"

Ziryab wrote:

USCF Rule 20B States:

"Use of recorded matter prohibited. During play, players are forbidden to make use of handwritten, printed, or otherwise recorded matter. While the penalty is at the discretion of the director, a forfeit loss is usually ruled if the material is relevant to the game while a lesser penalty or warning is common otherwise. For example, a player on move five of a King's Indian Defense would usually be forfeited for reading a book on the King's Indian but given a warning or time penalty for reading one on rook endings."

 

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 To me that rule means that if he's reading a chess book, he has to foreit, but if he's reading another book, such as a Halo book, he'll get a warning or time penalty.

If he's not reading a chess-related book, why do you even care? 

Personally, I'd be glad he wasn't using his time constructively.

 

Ziryab wrote:

For example, a player on move five of a King's Indian Defense would usually be forfeited for reading a book on the King's Indian but given a warning or time penalty for reading one on rook endings.

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Usually...lol

 

Last week a Dutch player got banned for using a PDA during a league game. He was caught "getting some fresh air" outside, using his PDA with the current position of his game on the screen (with Pocket Fritz). He claims it was just to input the game and not for analyzing, but he got banned from any official games with the Dutch Chess Federation for 2,5 years (so that includes the Team League, Dutch Open etc. but not unofficial tournaments).

 

I guess using a chess book is no better than that, and although the penalty may be less, if you're trying to hide you're using a chess book, you'll still be punished.

 

But it usually just depends on the situation. Is he hiding somewhere reading a book related to chess, or is he just sitting behind the board reading a book that may be related to chess but unrelated to the game in any way, unaware that it's not allowed? 

Even if your opponent was reading a chess book would it matter? There's that many openings that the chance of them bringing the right book are nil. Unless it was the Batsford complete chess openings of course, but i think he'd need another seat for that tomb. Plus by the time they'd actually found the opening position in that thing they'd have lost on time anyway.

jona004 wrote: Even if your opponent was reading a chess book would it matter? There's that many openings that the chance of them bringing the right book are nil. Unless it was the Batsford complete chess openings of course, but i think he'd need another seat for that tomb. Plus by the time they'd actually found the opening position in that thing they'd have lost on time anyway.

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I'm not sure what games you are used to, but "real-life" games can sometimes just be 2 hours each for the first 40 moves, with another 1 hour added after the 40th move. I think 2 hours is more than enough to look up anything in a book

 

Also, I play "unorthodox" openings mainly (the Bird's Opening, the Scandinavian Defense, the Old Indian) and then I usually get the opening I want. If I'm white and I want to play the Bird's, then I'm quite sure I and my opponent will play a Bird's game, whether he likes it or not. And if my opponent plays 1. e4, then he'll have to deal with the Scandinavian as well, whether he likes it or not

So the probability of bringing the right book is alot higher than nil in my case.