[ExI] Chess cheating crisis

[BillK]

In one chess tournament, five of the top six were disqualified for
cheating. In another, the doting parents of 10-year-old competitors
furiously rejected evidence that their darlings were playing at the
level of the world No 1. And in a third, an Armenian grandmaster
booted out for suspicious play accused his opponent of “doing pipi in
his Pampers”.

<https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/16/chesss-cheating-crisis-paranoia-has-become-the-culture>

Quote:
Chess.com, the world’s biggest site for online play, said it had seen
12 million new users this year, against 6.5 million last year. The
cheating rate has jumped from between 5,000 and 6,000 players banned
each month last year to a high of almost 17,000 in August.
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The most prominent of the recent disqualifications came in the PRO
Chess League when the St Louis Arch Bishops, a team made up of top
American players, lost in the final to the underdog Armenia Eagles.
The Eagles’ victory rested on the performance of Tigran Petrosian, an
Armenian grandmaster and the world No 260, who stunned commentators
with his victory over Fabiano Caruana, ranked second in the world.
Petrosian attributed his play to the gin he sipped during the game.
But suspicious observers suggested he seemed to be glancing away from
his screen frequently, and chess.com later overturned the team’s wins
and banned him for life.
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Looks like smartphone apps are really improving play standards!  :)

BillK