Cheating on result sheet at local tournament

We just encountered the weirdest things in a local tournament. Have anyone encountered similar cheating incidents result sheet?

 

My 8 year old son participated in a local tournament and played against much older kids. In second game, he won and recorded the whole game on score sheet. When we saw the posting showing a loss for him one round later, we talked to his opponent and the organizer. The opponent swore that he won the game and that my son wrote the result himself on final result sheet. We asked him to provide his scoresheet, he could not provide any.

 

Here's what we figured happened:

Both my son and the opponent went up to the front table and placed 1 for my son and 0 for his opponent. My son left the room eagerly to show me his scoresheet. The opponent went back behind my son and crossed the results then modified the result from 1/0 to 0/1. There is clear correction mark on the score sheet.

 

The organizer could not correct the results since the players record the result themselves without any monitoring and my son's score sheet could not be counted as evidence.

Chess tournament is an honor system relying on honesty of all players. My son could never imagine this kind of cheating happening in game of chess. Has anyone seen anything similar?

did your son and his opponent sign the sheet? if so and your son has his color circled for won then he should have gotten the point. if not then just take it as it is

The result sheet was marked as 1 for my son and 0 for his opponent when both are present. The 1 and 0 are crossed and smirched into 0 and 1. Also, it's a local tournament without signature requirement and no one at desk to monitor the result sheet.

Yes, we accepted the results and as an 8 year old he learned the lesson that there is dishonesty in chess. The organizer recommended that my son to take a picture of the result sheet right after marking results before anyone could change it.

Surely the tournament Director has the power to play through the game to determine who actually won. And then your son's opponent should be kicked out of the tournament for cheating.

Always always always keep the scoresheets during a tournament. Even in professional tournaments the arbiters keep copies of them.

I've never seen this happen before but I have been wary of it. It's important as a player to check the result sheet after every round to make sure the score is accurate as well.

That's unfortunate, but the TD was very incompetent, it sounds. Anyone should be able to figure out the real winner based on eye-witnesses, scoresheet, etc. 

As a USCF Tournament Director, let me tell you the TD is WRONG and incompetent. There have been many times I've have an argument about a position or a result and the TD has to go by the results of a player's score sheet if the other player can NOT provide one.  In fact, USCF Rule 15g requires that a player who can not provide a scoresheet be penalized!

I've been involved in Swiss Tournaments with scholastic teams where the coaches asked that players in their first tournaments be allowed to check off their move numbers on their scoresheets instead of writing the move.  In those cases, if ONE player does keep score, that player's scoresheet determines the outcome of any dispute.

It's not that simple unfortunately.

Say the two kids come up and when asked for the scoresheets one kid doesn't have his and the other "lost" his. How do you judge the result of the game? I don't know. Eye witnesses can't really be used reliably because you don't know if they're being objective or not. If it was a game between two 2700 players sure this wouldn't even be a problem since there would be some honor code that no one was going to break. But at the low levels sometimes people can be untruthful. That's why it's to important to keep scoresheets because it's actual proof.

Unfortunately the director disallows the sccoresheet my son recorded as evidence according to some new rules even though on-site coach went through and commented on the scoresheet right after the game.

I do not blame the TDs as they go by rules and are not accustomed to this kind of cheating. I am simple concerned and making every effort to prop him up and continue with chess despite of single event.

The director did mention that results will be recorded more professionally in higher level chess tournaments. I will bring my son need to Chicago Open in May as encouragement.

I wouldn't let this situation keep him from playing. It's rare and he'll be fine if he hangs on to his scoresheets. Most tournaments aren't like this at all.

i am not experienced in chess tournaments but am experienced in tennis tournaments, especially jr. tennis tournaments- where cheating runs with the territory; my advice would be to take it as a learning experience- 1st- you're son played well enough and nearly executed the victory (it isnt over until it is recorded in the officials records technically)- so how does once take an assumed victory on the chess table and make it official- this is the learning experience and it is part of learning one's chops on the tennis courts as well as, apparently, a chess tournament

these kinds of episodes are what season a tournament player and though hard to deal with in the heat of the moment are part of gaining invaluable experience which pays off later in one's career

best of luck

Well... if it's a game between two kids chances are that the winning side had an obvious advantage when his opponent resigned - as in being up a queen, or having a forced mate.

I've seen something similar happen.  Usually result-sheet cheating involves the loser "volunteering" to enter the result of the game and then putting that he won or that the game was drawn.  Whenever I play and win or draw, I always enter or at least watch the opponent enter the result.  I've never heard of someone erasing a result though.  Any easy way to prevent that is to write in pen so it can't be erased.

The above posters are correct that the TD should have counted the scoresheet as evidence and if a determination still couldn't be made, ask witnesses what happened.  If that still wasn't sufficient.  I would have set up a board and asked the players to play through the game the best that they remember it (or used their scoresheets) while I watched.  It would be pretty easy to tell by their reactions who was telling the truth

My son is more than encouraged after reading the message board and delighted there are more good folks out there.

I have pictures of his clean score sheet of the whole game as well as the result sheet with clear cross-out and modification marks by his opponent. Those photos will serve as souvenirs when he rise above anger and enjoy the game playing more with honest and fun folks.

Thank you all!

I'm also planning to go to the Chicago Open, what section is your son playing in?

@yunbai

It's common at tournaments for kids. There is always at least one case, so remind your son to say until the score is submitted. It's always better to stay safe.

The arbiters were quite incompetent, though. Most would have played through the game and then fixed the score.

so am I im playing in either u1300 or u1500 or maybe u 1700

Especially in scholastic tournaments it's rare that they actually sign the score sheets.

I've directed a few tournaments.

I wouldn't change the pairings if they were already posted, but the actual results (the ones sent to the USCF) are, at the earliest, done at the end of the day. Plenty of time to sort out who won. If your son had a score sheet, I'd play over the game. If the position was winning out of curiosity I'd show the game to his opponent to see his reaction... but at that point it's already pretty much decided. Your son has a score sheet, and the opponent doesn't.

If the position were losing for your son then it's a little tougher. Asking the kids to describe the end of the game to me separately, and showing the game to both kids at the same time should give a lot of clues based on their reactions and how believable the stories are.

However even if 1/0 is scribbled out and 0/1 is written over it that happens all the time when people mark their wins on someone else by accident, or similar mistakes. So if the other kid were a really good liar and the game ended in a losing position for your son (even if he did win on time) then I think you'd be out of luck.

You, personally, may hate fast time controls, but that doesn't mean the USCF is a joke.