Ridiculous new "anti-cheating" rule for the World Open.

I got an email ad from USCF about the upcoming World Open and they have a link to the new rules and policies in place.  The following caught my eye.

"Players whose games have finished are also not allowed to use or possess cellphones or other electronic devices in a bathroom; the penalty is at the Director's discretion."

Really?  Gathering all of my stuff and walking into the bathroom after my game is over can get me thrown out of the tournament?   What exactly do they think they're preventing here?

They are clearly preventing you taking pictures of your privates.

I'm guessing that the subtext reads:

"Leave your phone and electronic devices in your hotel room, or the hotel safe. They have no place in a chess tournament."

I suppose that they don't want you assisting another player, whose game has yet to finish.

Seems sensible to me, especially so given the sums of money involved.

Very sensible indeed. If you want to analyze after the game is finished with your electronic devices, you can go back to your room to do so.

And in all honesty, there really is no place for a cellphone (smart or not so smart) in a chess tournament. At best they will start ringing, at worst they will start calculating.

Their is no reason to have a cell phone in a bathroom.

I will always welcome and support such a rule in any tournament I will ever play in.

How does this, in any way, prevent someone from helping his buddy?  I can walk over to the skittles room and analyze his game then communicate the move to him somehow.  There's nothing sacred about the bathroom.  In fact, it would be harder to assist another player there than the skittles room.  Bathrooms at chess events have a constant stream of people in them.  Two guys looking at an ipad in the corner would attract a ton of attention.  Don't get me started on two guys in a stall together.  

But I can sit outside the tournament hall somewhere and analyze his game on a laptop and position the screen in such a way that he can see it as he walks by.   Piece of cake and well within the rules of electronic device use.

There's no need for subtext.  If you don't want any electronic devices in the playing area while games are in progress, then say that.  No phones in the bathroom after your game is over is just silly and worthless.

Really? Who says?  If I'm leaving and have my gear loaded up I can't put my cellphone in there? After the game there isn't any reason for there to be an inane rule.  It's bad enough that you have to leave a $500 phone behind you when you head for the can. Can I take it with me to my car? How come. There isn't any reason to have a cellphone in your car. 

Incredible. Strange. That people actually support this sort of fascist restriction is even more incredible.  It's a game of chess not a trans-Atlantic flight.

What next? Forcing people to take off their shoes and clothes? Oh, wait, they did that already.

I keep my cellphone and tablet in my bag during the games.  Both are turned off and I never take the bag with me when my game is in progress.  After the game is over, I can use it in the skittles room or outside the playing hall to go over my game. After the game is over, I might actually have to use the bathroom for bathroom-related reasons.  Why is my going there with my cell phone in my pocket suspicious somehow?  How is going to the bathroom with my cellphone aiding in cheating, but taking it to the hall outside the playing area not aiding in cheating?

You're right.  It doesn't stop cheating.  When we start hearing about people having their bags stolen with new iPads, iPhone and Beats by Dre headphones getting ripped off this may turn around.

There's allways this chorus of "leave it in your hotel room". Why?  Because some 0.5% of the whole of us are going to cheat?  Is this really going to stop someone who wants to cheat? Not really.  It's just going to make it all that much more inconvenient for the rest of us.  At some point people are just going to decide it isn't worth the hassle. 

Is this a new USCF rule or just for this tournament?

It's a Continental Chess Association rule, so all of the big US tournaments like Philly Open, World Open, North American Open, Chicago Open, etc.

I'm all for anti-cheating rules.  But this rule is silly because it doesn't do what it purports to do.  And my argument was that I can analyze in the skittles room WITH assistance and relay the move to a player who was still playing.

I think a lot of people aren't actually reading what is posted and what the rule is and are just making up counter arguments to arguments that don't exist.

1. Telling players it's against the rules to have an electronic device on their person at any time/place while any game is ongoing would be an anti-cheating rule.
2. Telling players they can't have access to electronic devices while THEIR game is ongoing would be an anti-cheating rule.
3. Telling players they aren't allowed to leave the tournament area while their game is ongoing would be an anti-cheating rule.
4. Telling players they can access an electronic device anywhere they want except the bathroom after their game is over is just silly and does nothing to prevent cheating.

But that's not what this rule does.  You can analyze anywhere you want after your game is over, EXCEPT the bathroom.  I've seen people sitting at the back of the tournament hall where there's extra space with their laptop out and looking at games.  None of that is restricted.  I can sit there all day and analyze my buddies game and he just has to walk by to get a cup of water to see it. 

Oh ho! But there you'd be wrong! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdemFfbS5H0

For some of the people who aren't from the US and might be making assumptions about the conditions, here are the rules generally.

1) No access to electronic devices while you're game is ongoing.  You can have them, but you can't leave the playing area with them.  The gist is, you can have it as long as you're in the general view of tournament directors.  Keeping your cellphone off in your pocket is okay.  Getting up to get a drink of water is fine.  Walking into the bathroom where you have privacy is not.  Leaving to go back to your room is not.

2) Once your game is over, you can do whatever you want.  If you've played in these, you'd see dozens of people in the area outside the playing hall sitting against the wall eating, looking at game analysis, whatever.  Same thing in the skittles area.  There's no restrictions.

There's supposed to be a general ban on using electronic devices as a scoresheet if they aren't USCF approved, but I see people using their cellphone or a tablet for this purpose all the time, even at the major tournaments.  It's kind of strange, but it happens. 

It's not only in the bathrooms.

Read the full rules here, as regards electronic devices:

http://www.chesstour.com/devices.htm

I read the full rules.  There is a specific clause for players whose games are finished, not being allowed to use them in the bathroom.  That clause wasn't listed anywhere else but there.

Rule #1: You can't access an electronic device during play.  Pretty obvious reason for this rule.

Rule #2: You can't possess an eletronic device outside the playing area or in a bathroom.  IOW, you can't go to another floor or the bathroom with your phone.  Pretty obvious reason for this rule.   Also, players whose games are finished can't possess electronic devices in the bathroom.  That clause is VERY specific.  It applies only to the bathroom.   Going anywhere else in or out of the playing area is okay.  

That clause is silly and ineffective at preventing cheating.   Once my game is over, I can go anywhere but the bathroom and use an electronic device.  

If it's the same bathroom for players with finished and players with ongoing games, the purpose of the rule should be obvious.