Top French Chess Players Suspended For Cheating

cf18 writes "The French chess federation has suspended three top players for violating sporting ethics at a chess olympiad in Siberia last September. The allegation claims while the first member was playing, a second member would watch the game via internet, use software to find the best move, and send it to the third member via SMS. The third member would then sit himself at a particular table in the competition hall. Each table represented an agreed square on the chess board."

Hand gestures

[denshao2]

Would have been much easier and less obvious than changing seats for every move.

Re:naughty naughty

[vux984]

You've obviously never played MMORPG. :)

People will PAY EXTRA to cheat depriving themselves of any glory in accomplishment... for the empty bragging rights that come with having something you didn't earn, and which has no inherent real world value.

But they still do it in droves.

Re:Is chess solved, or were these guys midlevel?

[Jappus]

They don't 'see' the position, they have to do math to get it. Having said that, I do use the computer to practice and analyse my games.

And, pray tell, what do you think the brain does when it "sees" a position? There's no such thing as insight raining down from the heavens like manna. Even your brain needs to first realize how the board looks, then cross-reference that with that else it has seen in the times past and then choose an appropriate action it deems worthwhile.

The approach to steps 2 and 3 may be slightly different, as the human brain most likely uses more heuristics, but in the end, both computers and brains follow the same logic ... and have to follow the same logic.

There is no such thing as a free thought, to abuse a popular saying.

Re:Top chess players are douchebags

[ultranova]

Science isn't in itself any more noble than chess. We have the most advanced science in the world but our society hash't changed much has it?

Well, it did got rid of smallpox. And polio. And famine. And backbreaking farm work. And cities get clean drinking water and their waste is purified before being released.

But apart from medicine, plentiful food, clean water, warm houses, comfortable clothes, fast transportation, long-distance communication, contraceptives, weather forecasts, food preservation, insect repellants, electric light, sunglasses, robots, tractors, waste disposal, fire, wheel and beer... what has science ever done for us?

It disturbs me that Monty Python seems to be such an accurate portrayal of the world.