The Code : 06-01-52-54-37, 06-01-57-55-99, 06-02-71-63-84,

[AdminX]

French Chess Federation suspends players accused of cheating

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7094

How it was perpetrated

"From Jean-Claude Moingt and from others involved in the investigation we have learnt the technicalities of the alleged cheating in Khanty-Mansiysk. According to Moingt the system, as revealed in the meeting of October 11, 2010, was as follows:

Cyril Marzolo, who was in Nancy at the time of the Olympiad, sent SMS texts with phone numbers

The first two digits of the numbers were always 06
The next two were the move number
The fifth and sixth were the "from" square
The seventh and eighth were the destination square
The final two digits were random and of no importance
For example: 06-01-52-54-37, 06-01-57-55-99, 06-02-71-63-84, 06-02-67-65-43 are the first moves of the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5).

Arnaud Hauchard had two phones on him, his and that of Sebastien Feller. He would consult them at the bar and then come back to the playing hall. The moves were transmitted to Feller as follows:

The opponent of Vachier-Lagrave was A and 1
The opponent of Fressinet was B and 2
The opponent of Tkachiev C and 3
The opponent Feller D and 4
Feller himself was E and 5
Tkachiev was F and 6
Fressinet was G and 7
Finally Vachier-Lagrave was H and 8

Arnaud Hauchard would move around the tables and stop for some time behind different players, e.g. behind the opponent of Tkachiev and then behind Fressinet to signal the square c2. Incidentally it is usually sufficient to signal the destination square – a 2600+ (or even much weaker) player is easily able to determine which piece should be moved there."

[Albert Silver]

FWIW, this code is the notation used in international correspondence chess.

[Tom Barrister]

I always thought International Correspondence Chess used this notation:

M. DSASP

M is the move number
DS is the departure square
AS is the arrival square
P is a promotion if a promotion is made on that move (1=Queen 2=Rook 3=Bishop 4=Knight)

Anyway, it's plain that they were using a badly-camouflaged version of the same essential thing.

[Albert Silver]

I always thought International Correspondence Chess used this notation:

M. DSASP

M is the move number
DS is the departure square
AS is the arrival square
P is a promotion if a promotion is made on that move (1=Queen 2=Rook 3=Bishop 4=Knight)

Anyway, it's plain that they were using a badly-camouflaged version of the same essential thing.

Well, the move number and promotion are obviously unimportant for the purpose being used.

[M ANSARI]

This is definitely not a very sophisticated setup, and I can think of a million better ways with much less effort and less chance of getting caught. This makes you wonder if cheating is much more common than we all think. What I do think is that ANY mobile device should definitely not be allowed anywhere near the playing area. And also I think that people should not be allowed to walk around the tables, but rather should be behind reflected glass (similar to what squash glass is). Cheating is so incredibly unfair to the players who are playing solo, especially with the combination of software + hardware being so strong. Also if caught, the punishment should be a life ban.

[slobo]

This is definitely not a very sophisticated setup, and I can think of a million better ways with much less effort and less chance of getting caught. This makes you wonder if cheating is much more common than we all think. What I do think is that ANY mobile device should definitely not be allowed anywhere near the playing area. And also I think that people should not be allowed to walk around the tables, but rather should be behind reflected glass (similar to what squash glass is). Cheating is so incredibly unfair to the players who are playing solo, especially with the combination of software + hardware being so strong. Also if caught, the punishment should be a life ban.

Be careful not to harm your friend, Vasik.

[Hood]

All the proves are very doubtful. It is an interpretation of facts not the prove.
The moves can be sent for other purpose.

Prosecutors were judges.

Rgds
Hood

[Tom Barrister]

I can also think of several better ways to cheat without risking much detection. If I can think of them off the top of my head, others certainly have thought of them before me, and it wouldn't surprise me if several people are using some variant of this. At the grandmaster level, it wouldn't be necessary to do this every move. Assistance could be asked only in critical positions. I would venture that knowing Houdini's (choose your favorite engine) best move at three or four well-chosen stages of the game----just the move, mind you, not the analysis----would be a huge edge to a strong player.

[Albert Silver]

All the proves are very doubtful. It is an interpretation of facts not the prove.
The moves can be sent for other purpose.

Prosecutors were judges.

Rgds
Hood

Well if the moves on the board and those on the phone match (remember, move numbers are also there!), that would be a miraculous coincidence.

That said, I wonder how the vice president got to read those SMS messages. I don't think they were displayed on the screen with the phone left on the table.

I can't say, but I do know the number of messages and times when they were sent were in the bill. The messages may easily have been left on the phone, and of course the captain openly admitted they had cheated.

[Hood]

Coincidence not miraculously there can be many reasons for transmitting moves i.e. concurrent live presentation in the club.

I am interested if we analyse games of other GM's what will be the coincidence ?
The other matter if for some moves many engines agree that means that it is the best move one good selection and it is not prove that there were computer supported play