Counterplay / Readers Respond Dimensions of Cheating ELECTRONIC RECORDERS = CHEATING?


Like many older chess players, I decided to return to Over the board (OTB) tourna- ments after being away from the game for quite a while. I think I speak for many of us when I say I was shocked to see elec- tronic score sheets which display a picture of the board during the game. I am a low- rated beginner, so I am often paired with children who often use these devices.


Like all of us I have incorporated a great deal of exciting new technology into my learning and preparation. Databases, engines, and tactics trainers have raised the level of play for all of us. These tools use 2D boards to display positions, not unlike chess books and magazines. Many of my instructors (from NMs to GMs) have suggested that it is much easier to solve tactical problems from a 2D picture than from a position setup on a real board. Even trainers like Dvoretsky and Yusupov require students to use a physical board to do exercises.


In my last tournament, the North Amer- ican Open, half my opponents (adults and children) used MonRoi devices. Sev- eral of them used the 2D board to solve tactical problems that were being played out in the game. One opponent looked solely at the 2D board, only looking up to make their move. I cannot understand how this is legal—it is equivalent to note- taking which has never been allowed.


MonRoi devices are expensive and allow a chess player to look at two versions of the position, sometimes to their advan- tage. By endorsing this type of electronic score sheet, the USCF has inadvertently introduced an unfair advantage to players who cannot or chose not to use these devices. Does the USCF really want the OTB experience to turn into the equiva- lent of online chess? I understand the good intention, and I understand that at higher levels it may not be much of an advantage. However it is probably true that below USCF 1800 most games are decided by tactics. Anything that can help here will affect the game.


Electronic devices which allow the display of a second board during the game should be banned—they are not fair.


Randall K. Julian, Jr., via e-mail 6 February 2014 | Chess Life


Chess Life asked National Tournament Director Tim Just, who authored the long-running “TD Corner” in the printed Rating Suplements, to respond:


Your observation is very astute regarding how useful those 2D boards are in chess training. Having a database filled with your own games, along with games from the world’s best players, has had a real impact on chess knowledge and training for the studious player. Entering those games in a database from paper and pen- cil scoresheets is a real chore. Often the scores are imperfect and hard to read. Those electronic scoresheet devices made the job of game entries a breeze; thus, their popularity. The developers of the MonRoi kicked it up a notch by allowing those electronic wonders to broadcast contests live over the Internet. Chess fans across the world can now spectate at just about any important event anywhere.


The USCF weighed those benefits against the disadvantages, pointed out here, before approving the use of electronic scoresheets. To help nullify the “2nd board” effect they require that moves be made first on a 3D chess board before being entered and viewed on the 2D board. And let us face it; those 2D-style boards have been around and used by players long before the elec- tronic age. Remember demo boards? More than one GM spent most of their game looking at the demo board and not at the chess army on the table in front of them.


And there are ways to deal with the “anti- electronic scoresheet” point of view. First, organizers can advertise that those devices can’t be used at their events. Next, players can get a Delegate to introduce a motion at the annual convention to ban such devices. Or, players can make that same motion directly at the annual USCF mem- bership meeting held at the U.S. Open.


Besides the MonRoi there are other USCF approved score keeping devices: DGT Boards, eNotate, and Plycounter. More information about the rules that govern their use, or about each of the devices, can be viewed and downloaded at: www.uschess.org/


docs/gov/reports/eScoresheets/Certi- ficationGuidelines.pdf


HELP THE HALL OF FAME!


In the summer of 2014, the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) will present an exhibition exploring the history of the U.S. Open Chess Championship. We are seeking programs, photographs, articles, and other related memorabilia for possible inclusion in the exhibition. Do you have ephemera from any of these events that may be loaned to the WCHOF for this show? If so, please send photographs and descriptions of the objects to Shannon Bailey, Chief Curator, at shannon.bailey@ world- chesshof.org to determine if the objects can be used in the exhibition.


Shannon Bailey Chief Curator,


World Chess Hall of Fame


CORRECTIONS


In “Benko’s Ultimate Truth,” October, 2013, we indicate that Alexander Alekhine only played the Alekhine’s Defense three times in his career. The correct number is 15, with a score of +7, -1, =7. Thank you to reader Peter Hardman for the correction.


The move 44. ... Kd5?? is missing from the game Wainscott/Cooper in “Beyond the Basics” in the January 2014 issue.


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