In a breaking story from the 2011 German Championship as player has been expelled from the tournament for using his smartphone to assist him during his final round game. FM Christoph Natsidis was questioned following the completion of his final round game against GM Sebastien Siebrecht, and was found to have a smartphone on his person, with a position from his game still in the chess engine. He then confessed to using the program during the game and was expelled from the event.
While it is too early to know what final punishment awaits Natsidis, he has already lost the IM norm he scored in the event. In fact he had already wrapped it up by round 8, and the result of his final game in fact did not matter (except for final placing/rating points/ prize money).
There is a full report on Chessvibes including quotes from Siebrecht. In one quote Siebrecht claims the arbiter 'did nothing', during the game, but then says that after the game the arbiter then questioned the player, with Siebrecht present. Given the outcome I would tend to think the arbiter instead did the right thing, as the burden of proof in such situations should be necessarily high (unless of course players are willing to be searched by arbiters at any stage during the game!).
The final sting in the tale is that Natsidis is a law student, so I suspect his behaviour may end up having ramifications beyond the world of chess.
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7 comments:
Very dad indeed...
SAD
I had my smart phone in my pocket at the doeberl (switched off) because I didn't want to leave it in my old car. Its not really safe there. I have stockfish and shredder on it, both of which could easily win the Under 1800 section. I also take lots of toilet breaks (suspicious?) because I drink alot of water when I play. So the whole issue of mobile phones, as they become more sophisticated, seems to be very difficult. It would be inconvenient in the extreme to leave my phone at home. At the same time, I would probably support a ban on phones in the hall if it meant an end to cheating -PP
Cell phones should be turned off at tournaments...Fortunately the T.D.reminds us before the round. With new technology cheating will be more prevalent I think ...
Shaun
20 years ago we didn't have mobile phones why are they a necessity now. Leave em at home!
GI
I suspect that this is where the whole phone-cheating issue is heading. Mobile phones and other such devices will eventually be banned from playing halls, and a player found with one, even if it is switched off etc, will be assumed to be cheating, and penalised accordingly.
This then opens up another can of worms with regard 'burden of proof' etc
I agree, phones that are switched off can easily be turned on. Perhaps they could all be left with the DOP at the start of each round and returned as games finish.
AO
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