Ivanov speaks out!

That part about beating Houdini was of course a joke if people did not catch it. The other stuff was of course cheating..

You have said this more than once. I have some Bulgarian friends who heard the interview and did not consider that Ivanov was joking. Just because the statement is outrageous doesn't make it a joke. In fact, it was part of his defense.

Ivanov's performance rating was 750 points lower this tournament, compared to the one he was suspected of cheating in. 750 point drop in, what, one month's time?

Bad day from the prodigal genius.

I said it more than once but people keep repating that he meant it. If you people believe that I don't think I can contribute more to this thread.. I will remove the mark for tracking comments..

The evidence cannot come from a thread in chess.com. As I said FIDE or the Bulgarian Federation (or the Croatian) must start investigation, and eventually propose a protocol, or share their findings.

Maybe such protocol already exist, and the one writing here are simply ignorant of it.

Maybe FIDE investigated and didn't find any proof, and concluded that Ivanov was just an outlier. The problem is not to convince me but to look at the facts.

Nobody here gave "facts," but just opinions.

Meanwhile we can see a player who has been slandered which is not accused by his own national federation, since he is playing chess. And FIDE, which is above also let him play. So the conclusion is that for these federations he didn't cheat or they didn't have any evidence.

Someone here says that the federations mentioned are corrupted and not reliable. Well then also the titles they give are not reliable either. Because the standard we set cannot be only in what is comfortable for us. Maybe FIDE gave some GMs titles which were not really GMs, if they are corrupted. And that would explain Ivanov's results too.

What is your opinion of the statistical analysis presented in Regan's article/letter?

It must be shown to other mathematicians, which also put their names on the line. Like it is generally done in science. Without peer review it is just an opinion.

I hope that will be an outcome of this situation

[Edit] : that cheat detection methodologies will become peer reviewed.

You are correct that it is just opinion.

However, one must respect the quality of the opinions. Regan is very detailed at presenting his methodology. If someone who was an expert in the field wanted to replicate and test the methodology, it should be quite doable. The titled players whose opinions I've seen have all agreed.

He probably just ran out of mentats.

Let's get this straight right now. Ivanov cheated. Nobody goes from beating 2600+ top grandmasters to losing to some 1900s within a month. There's no such thing as becoming 700+ rating points stronger because you're having a "good day" I'm 1700 uscf and there's no way in hell i could beat a 2400 Fm consistently as he beat those GM's. No matter how good of a day i was having, i simply lack the knowledge and preparation they have. So quit being complete morons defending ivanov. He doesn't just magically turn into a Magnus Carlsen for a day. He isn't Jesus, or god (as far as we know) To the complete freaking idiots yelling "oh ma goddd u all are stupid they never banned ivanov or proved it!" yeah, they also never probed his ear and searched his shoes and poked his eyes out for microscopic devices. The way he played was unhuman and wayyyyyyyy out of character. He cheated. Now I'm going to stop typing before i get carpal tunnel, to all you ivanov defenders. SHUT UP.

I think, for most of us 'defenders', its not that we actually think he is innocent. I'm fairly sure he cheated. It's more a question of jurisprudence. What does it take to 'prove' cheating? Its easy to jump to conclusions, even correct conclusions, but how does one establish a firmly objective standard? That's the real question. In defending Ivanov, we aren't saying he didn't cheat, we are saying that there needs to be a clearly defined process, which there currently isn't.

well, rusconi, if you're so hell bent on declaring ivanov 'not a cheater' because there's been no formal ruling, perhaps you could provide an explanation as to how his moves, during that brief period in time, matched up so closely with the houdini engine. 

I understand that, and i apologize if the audience my comment was directed at wasn't clear. I'm speaking to those who are saying he DID NOT cheat and he just had a really good day. Because that's just pure idiocy to think. Any expierianced player would look at those games and know something wasn't right.

I would bet the farm that the average rating of those who thinks he didnt cheat is several classes lower than those who think he did cheat .  

That's like saying oj simpson didn't kill his wife. Just because there was a loophole in the legal system doesnt mean he didn't kill her. He did. And anyone with an IQ greater than that of a shovel knows it. People these days.

I'm only a 1700 uscf player (rather low) and even I'm pissed off people are actually defending this clown. I think common sense has been replaced by a mentality that overthinks everything.

Again for the one millionth time: I'm not saying he is or he is not, I don't care.

I'm saying that the FACTS clearly show a different story from the one presented here, the story is the following:

1. FIDE didn't ban Ivanov and doesn't investigate him, he wasn't suspended either. But if you have proofs then why FIDE doesn't have them? Notice the difference, FIDE is the institution giving titles, and getting money from million of people around the globe for the tournaments, so they do have a vested interest, and an official responsibility all over the world.

2. The Bulgarian federation (or the Croatian contacting the Bulgarian) didn't ban or suspend Ivanov upon a possible investigation. But again, since you are so hell-bent saying that Ivanov is a cheater, then ask these federations why they didn't take any measure, and let the players who pay them to be cheated again.

3. Ivanov is playing the 35th Bulgarian Open, and I don't have any information which denies such FACT, which means he has not been banned or suspended for cheating, and the players there who shouldn't be blind or deaf or without internet seem they don't care, or don't have your proofs.

Now you can believe what you want, the facts tell a different story.

OMG you must be a genius (just joking, in case you have difficulties understanding satire)! If law would just worked that way! Ops no, I forgot law in your country works that way, since you lynched a lot of innocents especially in southern states. My 5 cent? I guess you must be from the south of USA, with that lynch mentality you clearly portrait, nothing changed there!

Continue to murder people who are innocents, that the way it goes in your country!

If it happens that you have libraries nearby, maybe go there and ask the librarian to show you the section about laws, justice, scientific method, it will open your eyes how far we advanced.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in taking part in this debate seriously, instead of just being arrogant and speaking of rating, then try to explain why FIDE doesn't think Ivanov is a cheater, since he wasn't suspended, and none of the national federations banned or suspended him either.

There are no investigations on his name, and strangely he is still playing in national tournaments.

You say "you" as if he personally did that. I'm sure reb didn't kill any innocent people, in fact i assure you he hasn't killed anyone at all. So randomly babling about his countries past is quite foolish. As to "Why FIDE doesn't THINK he cheated" Well, they did search him. So clearly they do THINK he cheated. They just don't have concrete evidence, because finding such evidence is almost if not IMPOSSIBLE in these circumstances. They aren't going to probe his eyes out, rip off his ears to find a microphone, there's only so much they can do. I guarantee you fide thinks he cheated, but they can't ban him because that would lay a rotton egg amongst the entire administration. Your rant and point are complete and utter bull****. He cheated, his performance rating was 700 points above his normal rating. He played 90+% 1st canidate houdini moves. An expieriences player would be able to tell that some of his moves made flat out no sense to a human mind. No point in arguing with a patzer who thinks he knows it all, goodbye.

Yeah, someone with the name "Serbian...", and the Syrian flag who vouches for an American he shouldn't know at all... lots of credibility!

Especially when you say that you know what FIDE thinks, does, and so on, but omit how you know, and share your FIDE sources with us.

You even mistake what a TD maybe did (did they really search him? Also that evidence is quite thin, bordering the hearsay, based on what you read, not on facts) with what FIDE does.