Things you don't need to know...

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Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but how does one cheat in chess? I don't quite understand what it is exactly that they're being accused of.
 
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Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but how does one cheat in chess? I don't quite understand what it is exactly that they're being accused of.
Using computers, which now handily outplay humans. For online games that's obviously easy, but for real games people have used hidden earpieces, things strapped to their legs, and all sorts.
 
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And the clue is if a human plays a lot like a computer would.

pibbuR who mostly plays against a computer. When he plays. Which is not very often.
 
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They also have signals from someone in the audience somehow apparently. But I don't fully understand it.
Sometimes one bit of information in certain situations can be enough to give you an advantage in said situations. For example, if you opponent offers a draw, it would be good to know, whether you should do that or if you have a good chance to win, if you don't. An accomplice in the audience, who gets this info from a chess computer, could signal this bit by moving to another position in the room, for example, or by a gesture. Another bit would be: In the actual position you have a chance to sacrifice a piece or not. Is it good to do so? Knowing this could be the deciding info in such situations. Edit: Obviously such things have really happened in the past.

There are at least three ways of cheating in chess:

1. An accomplice in the audience signals info.

2. You get info e.g. by radio transmission to a small receiver.

3. You have a chess computer with you. There are demonstrations, that you could have a computer strong enough for that in the sole of your shoe. Also you can have one in a body cave.

So in order to prevent cheating you need:

1. No audience allowed.

2. Playing in a Faraday cage. Unfortunately that will not be enough, since the are also ways to transmit info e.g. by ultrasound and even without a receiver (allegedly there are ways to target such signal to a specific person, so they hear something as normal sound. I don't know, how exactly that works, but may be you send two ultrasonic signals from different directions, and their superposition in a very specific spot result in normal sound). So you need measures to prevent or detect all kinds of signals potentially usable for signaling.

3. You need to use a body scanner and let the players play naked or with clothes provided by the organizer of the tournament.

To implement all of these seems unrealistic, so instead of preventing cheating they try to prove it after the fact, by analyzing, how many of your moves are the same a computer would have made (probably they use a selection of the best computers for that). This can be compared to a drug test, where you also do not prove the act of taking the drug as such, but the results it leaves in your body.

Somehow the world is funny...
 
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My brother plays chess, online and in small clubs, has done since his teens. He says at his level cheating really isn’t a problem. Club members play for the enjoyment of a brain work-out with a few beers and some socialising.

In some clubs, there are rules about not touching the board during thinking time and once you touch a piece, it has to be moved. Players should not say aloud what move they may do, so there can’t be any coughing or electronic wobbles sent to intimately hidden devices. I suppose an external person can tap out a code of Kpe4 or whatever.

Online, if he suspects he is not playing a genuine player he just gives up. Theres no money at stake so it's just irritating. There are patterns that make him suspicious but some players will favour a certain style.
 
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1. No audience allowed.

2. Playing in a Faraday cage. Unfortunately that will not be enough, since the are also ways to transmit info e.g. by ultrasound and even without a receiver (allegedly there are ways to target such signal to a specific person, so they hear something as normal sound. I don't know, how exactly that works, but may be you send two ultrasonic signals from different directions, and their superposition in a very specific spot result in normal sound). So you need measures to prevent or detect all kinds of signals potentially usable for signaling.

3. You need to use a body scanner and let the players play naked or with clothes provided by the organizer of the tournament.
I find that a little far-fetched. If there is some surveillance personnel and a careful positioning of the audience, it should be enough to deter those attempts.

The ultrasonic signals seems right out of sci-fi. I see how it may work by constructive interference and modulation but with the wavelength of ultrasound and the precision one could get, there should be other nodes where this would be heard in the room. Then you'd have to need people at very precise location in the same room with the transmitting equipment because it would not get passed windows (not without losing the precision and the desired effect).

As for a computer in the shoe, I don't see that as being practical at all. The other player is right in front of you and you're on the clock, there's no easy way to do anything suspicious without being spotted by him or an arbiter. Cheaters may get lucky once in early rounds but they need it most at the end when all the focus is on them.
 
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The president of the Norwegian chess association has admitted to cheating while playing for the "Norway Gnomes" group under an online chess tournament in 2016/17. He got help from another person in the room. The other members of the group is not under suspicion.

No surprise, he resigned today.

pibbuR who admits that the only way he could win a chess game would be by cheating, and AFAHR he has never won a chess game.
 
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I find that a little far-fetched. If there is some surveillance personnel and a careful positioning of the audience, it should be enough to deter those attempts.

The ultrasonic signals seems right out of sci-fi. I see how it may work by constructive interference and modulation but with the wavelength of ultrasound and the precision one could get, there should be other nodes where this would be heard in the room. Then you'd have to need people at very precise location in the same room with the transmitting equipment because it would not get passed windows (not without losing the precision and the desired effect).

As for a computer in the shoe, I don't see that as being practical at all. The other player is right in front of you and you're on the clock, there's no easy way to do anything suspicious without being spotted by him or an arbiter. Cheaters may get lucky once in early rounds but they need it most at the end when all the focus is on them.
Of course it is far fetched. However, a computer in your shoe could give you signals by small electro-shocks used for morse code and you could give input by tapping with the foot.

Anyways, until now they were very lax with their security in tournaments, for example the player, who is now accused of cheating, could wear a wrist watch during the game. And my science fiction feeling tells me that it could be possible to build a computer into a wrist watch. May be I patent this idea? I could call it smart watch or something like that...
 
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Awe c'mon, the concept of naked chess doesn't appeal to you? ;)

Of course it is far fetched. However, a computer in your shoe could give you signals by small electro-shocks used for morse code and you could give input by tapping with the foot.
Aye, those are great ideas! Actually I think I'll get back to playing chess. Now I only have to find a club where one can play naked and receive electroshocks. :LOL:


Anyways, until now they were very lax with their security in tournaments, for example the player, who is now accused of cheating, could wear a wrist watch during the game. And my science fiction feeling tells me that it could be possible to build a computer into a wrist watch. May be I patent this idea? I could call it smart watch or something like that...
Indeed, an accomplice could send inconspicuous messages to a Wear OS watch. I don't think it would have enough power to beat a grand master offline though, besides you'd need very high stealth skills to enter the move without being spotted (even just watching it would be difficult).
 
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Aye, those are great ideas! Actually I think I'll get back to playing chess. Now I only have to find a club where one can play naked and receive electroshocks. :LOL:



Indeed, an accomplice could send inconspicuous messages to a Wear OS watch. I don't think it would have enough power to beat a grand master offline though, besides you'd need very high stealth skills to enter the move without being spotted (even just watching it would be difficult).
You cling to the standard input/output methods too much. A watch can give vibration signals and you can trigger it by moving your wrist slightly. Probably you could even use existing interfaces for that. In addition the game is televised online, also in the internet, so the watch can probably receive the moves directly from official transmission channels. I am also not sure about the computing power thing.

But what I would agree to: With accomplices in the auditorium there are much simpler methods for cheating, of course.

Edit: Of course there also exist sex toys meant to be put into a body cave and to be remote controlled by your partner. So there is no limit for your planned club visits...
 
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