Cheating and Chess

 In July, 2006 two players were accused of cheating in chess
by using computer assistance at the World Open in Philadelphia. 
One player had a wireless device in his ear, claiming it was
a hearing aid.  The other player got rid of his wireless device
when he went to the bathroom.  Some users have been caught with
handheld computers such as Pocket Fritz.

In playing chess online, there are many cases where chess players
were using computers to play their games.  Programs on online
sites, such as Internet Chess Club (ICC), can now detect possible computer use.

In 1992, Grandmaster Pablo Zarnicki of Argentina was disqualified
from a Dos Hermanas Internet Chess Club tournament, accused of
cheating by using a computer, which he denied.  The same
accusation was made against a chinese player named Ni Hua.  Grandmaster Arkadi Naiditsch admitted his cheating in 2004 by using a computer in an Internet tournament, claiming that everyone else was
doing it.

In 1978, Korchnoi accused the Russian of cheating by sending
messages to Karpov in the form of which yoghurt to send Karpov during
their world championship match in Baguio.  The arbiter treated
the accusation seriously and imposed a fixed time of sending
up yoghurt to Karpov.  The flavors had to be in writing from
Karpov to the arbiter.

In 2005, one of the competitors in the San Luis World Championship
accused Topalov of cheating with a computer.  It was alleged that
Topalov's delegation was using a laptop computer in the playing hall
to analyze the moves and somehow signalling the moves to Topalov.

In 1994, at Linares, Kasparov made a move, took his hand of the
piece, then took the move back and made another move against
Judit Polgar.  The move was caught on tape.

In 1967, Milan Matulovic took a move back aginst Istvan Bilek at the
Sousse Interzonal.  He had put a piece en prise, and then took
the move back after saying "j'Adoube."  His opponent complained to
the arbiter, but the move was allowed to stand because there
was not enough proof.  Matulovic acquired the nickname
"J'adoubovic" following the incident.

A recent New Zealand championship made the news as a player
was accused of sneaking off to his room to consult a computer
duirng a coffee break.  The claim was investigated.  The suspect
had an alibi because three people said they were with him the
whole time and said he didn't cheat.

Some players sandbag or purposely lose games in small tournaments
to get a low rating, then play in larger tournaments with a low
rating to win their section where more money is involved.

Humphrey Bogart played a telephone match with a friend and bet some
money on the game.  Bogart won the game, but then later admitted he
cheated because at his house, he had former U.S. Champion
Herman Steiner who was helping him with the moves.

In 2001, Grandmaster Alexandru Crisan was accused of faking his
Elor rating of 2635 (number 33 in the world) by fixing matches
for his own benefit and falsifying chess tournament results.

In 1985, Nick Down, a former British Junior Correspondence champion,
entered the British Ladies Correspondence Chess Championship as
Miss Leigh Strange and won the event.  He was later caught and
banned from the British Correspondence Chess Association.

In 1964, Bobby Fischer accused the Russians of cheating by
drawing with each other in the Candidates' tournament.  Years
later, documentation showed that the Russians were cheating by
agreeing to draws to each other, or throwing their games so that
the leading Russian player would win.

The 2006 match between Topalov and Kramnik had accusations of cheating. Topalov accussed world champion Kramnik of cheating when Kramnik went to the bathroom.  Topalov's team thought that Kramnik was getting chess moves sent to him and analyzed by a computer. Kramnik visited the bathroom more than 50 times during one of the games.  The bathroom was the only room that did not have surveillance cameras.

 The rule is simple.  Don't cheat in chess.  What's next, drug testing of chess players?  Oh wait, that is now a FIDE rule.

For more, see

http://www.chessmaniac.com/index.php/2012/06/03/bad-luck-bad-ethics-and-cheating-in-chess/