I know that Live Chess tournaments have been discussed for a long time and are "under development" and have been for a long time...

I assume that they have also been delayed due to the new anti-cheating initiative in place to avoid tournaments being filled with cheats.

But, I think there comes a time when you have debugged enough and you need to implement.

My idea is to implement the live chess tournaments now (or very soon) as a way of "drawing out" the remaining MASS of cheaters and hammering them immedietely once they show their pathetic faces.

The initial tournaments would be VERY closely monitored by chess.com staff (hopefully those with decent chess understanding, for example IM Preuss), or those with access to the "statistical screening" or whatever the chess.com anti-cheating technology is...

After some time, less and less cheaters (in theory) should be in the tournaments and only minor checking by staff plus follow up of complaint will be needed.

This idea will speed up the process and lead us towards truly fair live chess tournaments...

Anybody agree?

Obviously these would have to non prize tournaments, because even with monitoring, cheating will still occur. I suggest that Chess.com actually organize some real live events (could be at a school or a mall) where cheaters would never show up, because they would then expose their real skill.

Or, the prizes (always non-monetary anyway) could simply be reversed and any match results zeroed, should a participant be selected as a cheater by the site later on.

Officially, word is Live Tournaments are coming 'in the Fall'.  I interpret this to mean (since they've been 'in development' for two years), as likely meaning by early 2012 or shortly after.

sftac

Please visit my topic at:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/suggestions/live-chess-tournaments-today

sftac