Assuming that he was cheating (which I find hard to doubt), why didn't Borislav Ivanov attempt to use similar means to cheat at blackjack or poker for higher financial stakes?
What will happen if advancing technology makes it even easier to cheat and harder to detect cheating, not only in chess, but also on school examinations?
[DM: The question about blackjack and poker is easy to answer: casino security would have rearranged his face and his internal organs. Your general point in the second paragraph is a good one, though. One answer is that technology improves both for cheaters and for detection as well, so one can hope that things don't get worse than a rough parity in the future.]
Good riddance. I hope the FIDE lifetime ban is forthcoming as you cannot take him at his word,
I am amazed at all the sane voices on the web clamoring that Borislav Ivanov should be considered innocent until the smoking gun is found. Even in our justice system circumstantial evidence is used to administer the death penalty.
Here are some of the facts before we turn him into a martyr. Borislav skipped at the last minute an invitation by he Bulgarian Chess Federation to submit to a test to clear his name and opted for a 4 month suspension instead. He enters a tournament after his suspension and agrees to comply with searches request than he refuses to remove his shoes because of his smelly feet.
How can you force a player to produce to produce the smoking gun?
In the case of Falko Bindrich he simply refused to show his cell phone to the TD after complaint that he was visiting the restroom too often.
If Ivanov hadn't been so greedy he'd have been harder to spot. But maybe the whole point wasn't necessarily to cheat his way to a higher rating but to flaunt the ease with which he was able to get away with it, especially with all his braggadocio.
As for Yak's question about what might happen if it becomes possible to cheat without detection...well, I suppose there's always the distasteful option of embracing it. I was suddenly reminded of an argument I've actually seen put forth once or twice that the computer and the resources available through it ought to be regarded merely as an component of one's own intelligence. The reasoning goes something like this: if I can at a moment's notice look up (say) the atomic weight of thallium online then that's functionally equivalent to having memorized that information so really I "know" it just as well as anyone who's stored the info in his own head. By this logic the chess cheater could claim that he actually "knows" (say) how to play a tricky Rook ending because the computer's knowledge is simply an extension of his memory. I think it's a poor sort of "knowledge" that disappears if the power goes out but, who knows. Maybe ideas like that will gain greater currency in the future.
I think that I will become a grandmaster by regular means before I learn how to use a smartphone with my foot, not least if the phone has to be in my shoe... I am not trying to say that Ivanov didn't cheat, but if if he did so with a shoe phone, it's quite impressive... Sort of, at least...
Ivanov is clearly guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Extraordinary that some people could think otherwise. Good job Dlugy!
I think if Ivanov played in any more tournaments, there is a fair chance he would "have his face and internal organs rearranged" by the participants themselves. Probably as much a reason as any other that he is retiring.
It is unlikely that FIDE will give him a lifetime ban. After all, we wouldn't expect FIDE to act any more competently in this area than they do in any other now would we?
It is amazing how long it has taken to suss this ivanov out, thank goodness for Max Dlugy.
The thing is ivanov made it really obvious like with his scoresheet, IMHO for each one caught there could be a dozen more subtle cheaters. I can think of 4 to me suspicious players of renown with no effort at all.
Meanwhile Ivanov should take up dancing with this footwork.
More blitz based tounaments are needed, though I think ivanov did pull this off in a rapid tournament too.
No proof. This guy left because he was sick of being harassed. If you are going to strip search one guy who time and again has agreed to these searches, and no device is ever found - then you need to strip search everyone. He was forced to leave because of the ongoing harassment. An ounce of proof he cheated would have been welcome, but I still don't see it.
[DM: Asking him to take off his shoes isn't really a "strip search". Given his extremely improbable history, the computer correlations that exceed what the world's best players achieve together with his extremely odd gait, the request was far from unreasonable. There are unreasonable searches and there is such a thing as harassment, but this doesn't seem to be the case here.]
Reader Comments (9)
Assuming that he was cheating (which I find hard
to doubt), why didn't Borislav Ivanov attempt to use
similar means to cheat at blackjack or poker for
higher financial stakes?
What will happen if advancing technology makes it
even easier to cheat and harder to detect cheating,
not only in chess, but also on school examinations?
[DM: The question about blackjack and poker is easy to answer: casino security would have rearranged his face and his internal organs. Your general point in the second paragraph is a good one, though. One answer is that technology improves both for cheaters and for detection as well, so one can hope that things don't get worse than a rough parity in the future.]
Good riddance. I hope the FIDE lifetime ban is forthcoming as you cannot take him at his word,
I am amazed at all the sane voices on the web clamoring that Borislav Ivanov should be considered innocent until the smoking gun is found. Even in our justice system circumstantial evidence is used to administer the death penalty.
Here are some of the facts before we turn him into a martyr. Borislav skipped at the last minute an invitation by he Bulgarian Chess Federation to submit to a test to clear his name and opted for a 4 month suspension instead. He enters a tournament after his suspension and agrees to comply with searches request than he refuses to remove his shoes because of his smelly feet.
How can you force a player to produce to produce the smoking gun?
In the case of Falko Bindrich he simply refused to show his cell phone to the TD after complaint that he was visiting the restroom too often.
If Ivanov hadn't been so greedy he'd have been harder to spot. But maybe the whole point wasn't necessarily to cheat his way to a higher rating but to flaunt the ease with which he was able to get away with it, especially with all his braggadocio.
As for Yak's question about what might happen if it becomes possible to cheat without detection...well, I suppose there's always the distasteful option of embracing it. I was suddenly reminded of an argument I've actually seen put forth once or twice that the computer and the resources available through it ought to be regarded merely as an component of one's own intelligence. The reasoning goes something like this: if I can at a moment's notice look up (say) the atomic weight of thallium online then that's functionally equivalent to having memorized that information so really I "know" it just as well as anyone who's stored the info in his own head. By this logic the chess cheater could claim that he actually "knows" (say) how to play a tricky Rook ending because the computer's knowledge is simply an extension of his memory. I think it's a poor sort of "knowledge" that disappears if the power goes out but, who knows. Maybe ideas like that will gain greater currency in the future.
I think that I will become a grandmaster by regular means before I learn how to use a smartphone with my foot, not least if the phone has to be in my shoe... I am not trying to say that Ivanov didn't cheat, but if if he did so with a shoe phone, it's quite impressive... Sort of, at least...
I really hope the chess world is done giving this person publicity. (and I don't mean you, Dennis.) Let's hope he's really retiring.
Ivanov is clearly guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Extraordinary that some people could think otherwise.
Good job Dlugy!
I think if Ivanov played in any more tournaments, there is a fair chance he would "have his face and internal organs rearranged" by the participants themselves. Probably as much a reason as any other that he is retiring.
It is unlikely that FIDE will give him a lifetime ban. After all, we wouldn't expect FIDE to act any more competently in this area than they do in any other now would we?
It is amazing how long it has taken to suss this ivanov out, thank goodness for Max Dlugy.
The thing is ivanov made it really obvious like with his scoresheet, IMHO for each one caught there could be a dozen more subtle cheaters. I can think of 4 to me suspicious players of renown with no effort at all.
Meanwhile Ivanov should take up dancing with this footwork.
More blitz based tounaments are needed, though I think ivanov did pull this off in a rapid tournament too.
No proof. This guy left because he was sick of being harassed. If you are going to strip search one guy who time and again has agreed to these searches, and no device is ever found - then you need to strip search everyone. He was forced to leave because of the ongoing harassment. An ounce of proof he cheated would have been welcome, but I still don't see it.
[DM: Asking him to take off his shoes isn't really a "strip search". Given his extremely improbable history, the computer correlations that exceed what the world's best players achieve together with his extremely odd gait, the request was far from unreasonable. There are unreasonable searches and there is such a thing as harassment, but this doesn't seem to be the case here.]
The retirement didn't last long.
http://en.chessbase.com/post/ivanov-restarts-his-chess-career