Just out of curiousity, how many here have attended some kind of tournment?

Currently, I'm at the Las Vegas International Chess tournament (as a spectator), where the National Open is being held. And I must say, it's been a great experience. I've met and seen all kinds of people, and I've been able to discuss chess with people without getting the response, "Chess? That's so boring!"

I was also pleasantly surprised to see many international professionals attending as well. I've seen several grandmasters here: Susan Polgar, Varuzhan Akobian, Dmitry Gurevich, Loek Van Wely, Jaan Ehlvest, Evgeny Bareev, Giorgi Kacheishvili, Tigran Petrosian, and Irina Krush, just to name a few. Seeing and meeting these players has been a great morale booster.

If you haven't attended anything like this, I would highly suggest you do.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KHollister,

I must admit I have never been to one. I regret not visiting the 2002 Chess Olympiad when it took place in Bled, Slovenia

You know what surprised me the most? Players talking with others (but not their opponents) between moves during the game. I knew that they got up, walked around, got a drink of water, visited the lavatory, and other such things; but with the discussion of cheating recently, I wasn't prepared to see players conversing with others (even those observing).

After the second round, I asked one of the arbiters about this... he said that players are allowed to talk with others, but not about the game in play. The arbiter also said that cheating happens mostly with lower-level players and is more "high-tech"... Cheating among high-level players is nearly unheard of, because they have respect for game, as well as their opponents.

That made sense to me; although it doesn't explain the Topalov/Kramnik "Tolietgate" debacle.

But how do the arbiters know that they are not discussing the game? Are they ear-dropping to player conversations

I asked the same thing... they don't know, but that the players are expected to be honest and not discuss the game.

The arbiter did say if there is strange movement, such as gestures, finger pointing, etc. that they will step in, stop the conversation, and investigate what was said.

So until someone is proven guilty, then players are given the benefit of the doubt.

Lately there have been quite some top tournaments that had live video streams of the playing hall. I never seen any of the players to talk with anyone. They were just walking around, kibitzing other games,.....but never said a word to anybody.

Of course the camera doesn't cover the whole "playing area" where the players are allowed to go, so maybe they were talking somewhere else. Which makes sence, since it would distract others if you would be having a conversation near the chess boards.

Also the rules are certainly more strictly enforced on the highest level, than on lower levels.

I haven't entered a tournament in over 10 years, but I have no recollection of players talking to others during play. That surprises me too. Obviously at that point cheating is very simple; you just put a low-tech interface on high-tech cheating.

More recently I've attended my son's scholastic tournaments, and nothing like that would be tolerated.

I think it's naive to assume that the honor rule works at higher levels of play. First, in an honor system, only the honorable get screwed. Second, I've thought that beneath the suits and titles, GMs are a fairly immature bunch. Just one example would be the reaction of Kasparov and fans to his final battle against Deep Blue.

So you had Kasparov accusing IBM and Karpov of cheating, you had Fischer constantly accusing the Soviets of cheating (and Karpov admitting that they did, at least to the extent that they would fake a game to a draw to save their energy). Either they're perfectly willing to cheat at that level, or they're a bunch of immature whiners. (Or both).

It would be better to prevent cheating wherever possible, giving all the players one less distraction. That's better than maintaining an illusion of honorable conduct.