Another case of cheating?

[AdminX]

"Coqueraut had watched Ricciardi closely and noticed that the Italian behaved in a suspicious way. As the arbiter observed, Ricciardi did not once get up during the game and constantly had his hand under his armpit. He was also "batting his eyelids in the most unnatural way". Finally, the arbiter decided to check Ricciardi with a metal detector and it turned out that the player had a camera hidden in a pendant around his neck. The camera was connected to a small box under his armpit."

http://en.chessbase.com/post/another-case-of-cheating

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.08.30"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ferrari, Nicola"]
[Black "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A58"]
[WhiteElo "1979"]
[BlackElo "1829"]
[PlyCount "62"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 e6 6. Nc3 Nxa6 7. e4 Bb7 8. Nf3
exd5 9. exd5 Bd6 10. Be2 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14. Bg3 Qb6 15.
Qd2 Bxg3 16. fxg3 Ne4 17. Nxe4 Rxe4 18. Kh1 Nb4 19. a3 Rae8 20. Rfe1 Nxd5 21.
Bd3 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 23. Nxe1 Nf6 24. h4 gxh4 25. gxh4 Qe6 26. Qf2 Ng4 27.
Qg3 f5 28. Nf3 f4 29. Qxf4 Bxf3 30. Qxf3 Qe1+ 31. Bf1 Qxh4+ 0-1[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.08.31"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Black "Nastro, Federico"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "1829"]
[BlackElo "2029"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2015.09.03"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Bg4 6. h3 h5 7. d3 Qf6 8.
Nbd2 Ne7 9. Re1 Ng6 10. d4 Bd6 11. Kf1 Nf4 12. hxg4 hxg4 13. Ng1 g3 14. Ndf3
gxf2 15. Kxf2 O-O-O 16. Bxf4 Qxf4 17. Qc1 exd4 18. e5 Qxc1 19. Raxc1 Bc5 20.
Kf1 Rhe8 21. Rcd1 Ba7 22. Nh3 c5 23. Nf4 b5 24. e6 fxe6 25. Nxe6 Rd7 26. Nf4
Rh8 27. Kf2 c4 28. Ne5 d3+ 29. Kg3 g5 30. Nfg6 Rhd8 31. Nxd7 Rxd7 32. cxd3 cxd3
33. Ne5 d2 34. Re2 Re7 35. Rdxd2 Kb7 36. Kg4 Re8 37. Kxg5 Kc8 38. g4 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.09.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Zach, Andreas"]
[Black "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A45"]
[WhiteElo "2326"]
[BlackElo "1829"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 Ne4 3. Bf4 c5 4. f3 Qa5+ 5. c3 Nf6 6. d5 Qb6 7. b3 e6 8. e4
exd5 9. exd5 Bd6 10. Be3 O-O 11. Bc4 Re8 12. Kf2 Qa5 13. a4 Na6 14. Ne2 b5 15.
Bxb5 Nc7 16. c4 Nxb5 17. cxb5 Qd8 18. Nec3 Rxe3 19. Kxe3 Be5 20. Re1 Bd4+ 21.
Kd3 Bb7 22. Ra2 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Bxd5 24. Nc3 Bxc3 25. Kxc3 Qf6+ 26. Kc2 Qg6+ 27.
Kc1 Be6 28. Rd2 Qf6 29. Qc2 Qa1+ 30. Qb1 Qc3+ 31. Qc2 Qa1+ 32. Qb1 Qc3+ 33. Qc2
Qa1+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.09.02"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Black "Legky, Nikolay A"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "1829"]
[BlackElo "2407"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Qe7 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Be2 d5 6. O-O Qd8 7. Re1 Be7 8.
d3 Nf6 9. Nc3 O-O 10. d4 c6 11. Bf4 Bf5 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Nbd7 14. Re2 Bb4
15. Nd1 Nh5 16. Bg3 Nxg3 17. hxg3 g6 18. Ne3 Re8 19. c3 Bf8 20. Rae1 Nf6 21.
Ng4 Rxe2 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Qxe2 Rd8 24. g4 Rd7 25. g5 Qd6 26. Ne5 Re7 27. Qd2
Bg7 28. Nd3 Qd8 29. Rxe7 Qxe7 30. f3 f6 31. gxf6 Bxf6 32. Kf2 Kg7 33. Nc5 b6
34. Nd3 Qd6 35. f4 Qe6 36. Qe2 Kf7 37. Qf3 h5 38. Ne5+ Kg7 39. b3 c5 40. g3 Be7
41. Qd3 Bd6 42. Qa6 Bxe5 43. dxe5 Qd7 44. Qd3 Kf7 45. Qf3 a5 46. Qd3 Qc6 47. f5
Kg7 48. Qf3 gxf5 49. c4 Qe6 50. Qxd5 Qg6 51. Qd7+ Kg8 52. e6 f4 53. Qd8+ Kg7
54. Qe7+ Kh6 55. gxf4 Qc2+ 56. Ke3 Qc3+ 57. Ke4 Qe1+ 58. Kf5 h4 59. Qf6+ Kh7
60. Qf7+ Kh8 61. Kg6 Qg3+ 62. Kh6 Qg8 63. Qf6+ 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.09.02"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Black "Mazur, Stefan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C68"]
[WhiteElo "1829"]
[BlackElo "2378"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O Ne7 6. Nxe5 Qd4 7. Qh5 g6 8.
Nf3 Qxe4 9. Qa5 Qf4 10. d3 Qd6 11. Nbd2 Bf5 12. g4 Nd5 13. Nc4 Qf6 14. Bg5 Qg7
15. gxf5 gxf5 16. Rae1+ Kd7 17. Re5 b5 18. Kh1 f6 19. Rxd5+ cxd5 20. Bf4 Kc6
21. Rg1 Qe7 22. Re1 Qd8 23. Nd4+ Kb7 24. Re8 Bb4 25. Rxd8 Bxa5 26. Nxa5+ Kb6
27. Rd7 Kxa5 28. Bxc7+ Ka4 29. Bd6 b4 30. Rb7 a5 31. Nb5 1-0[/pgn]

[pgn]
[Event "57^ Imperia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.09.03"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Passerotti, Pierluigi"]
[Black "Ricciardi, Arcangelo"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A03"]
[WhiteElo "2264"]
[BlackElo "1829"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2015.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2015.09.03"]

1. f4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. d3 d5 6. O-O Bg7 7. c3 O-O 8. Qe1
Qb6 9. Kh1 Re8 10. Na3 e5 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. fxe5 Rxe5 13. Bf4 Rh5 14. Qd2 Bh3
15. Bxh3 Rxh3 16. Rf2 Re8 17. Rg2 h6 18. Be3 Ng4 19. Bg1 Qc6 20. Qf4 h5 21. Rf1
Qd7 22. Nc2 Bh6 23. Qf3 Re5 24. e3 h4 25. d4 Rh5 26. dxc5 Nxh2 27. Bxh2 hxg3
28. Rxg3 Rxh2+ 29. Kg1 Qf5 30. Re1 Qxc2 0-1[/pgn]

[Sean Evans]

Hello Ted, Nice to see you posting in the new forum, I was wondering where you were

It would be interesting to hear/read this chess players reason for cheating. Understanding "why" these people cheat is an important part of stopping this problem.

Simply stating: "Oh they do it to increase their ELO" or "Oh he just wanted the prize money" is not much help.

I think the issue for these people is much deeper psychologically.

Fernando is a psychiatrist, perhaps he has some insights

Cordially,

Sean

[fern]

Sorry, pal, but I am not Psyquiatrist....

[Ferdy]

A quick run in move error evaluator. The average error of that guy is indeed low. DECnt is low means he is not in trouble most of the time and high EECnt means his move is better than sf6 at 0.3s/pos in 2 threads.

Code: Select all

Move Error Evaluator v9.5

Moves Error calculation based from Stockfish 6 64 POPCNT and players from
Event: 57^Imperia, after round 6.0

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Analyzer id name Stockfish 6 64 POPCNT
Hash 128 MB, Threads 2, MoveTime 0.30 sec/pos
Analyzer error margin: 10 centipawn

 Rank                       Players  AveDepth  TotalPos  AveError  DECnt  E300CP  E200CP  E100CP  E50CP  E20CP  EECnt   EERate    W    L    D  Games  Score  SRate

    1          Ricciardi, Arcangelo        19       158      6.15      2       0       0       2      1      4     10    6.33%    5    0    1      6    5.5   91.7%
    2                 Zach, Andreas        16        20     29.00      5       0       0       0      2      3      0    0.00%    0    0    1      1    0.5   50.0%
    3              Legky, Nikolay A        18        46     42.85     18       0       0       2      0      6      2    4.35%    0    1    0      1    0.0    0.0%
    4               Ferrari, Nicola        15        20     69.55      5       0       2       0      1      2      3   15.00%    0    1    0      1    0.0    0.0%
    5         Passerotti, Pierluigi        14        17     92.53      6       0       1       0      2      1      1    5.88%    0    1    0      1    0.0    0.0%
    6                 Mazur, Stefan        16        17     94.24      4       0       1       0      2      0      0    0.00%    0    1    0      1    0.0    0.0%
    7              Nastro, Federico        15        25    132.72     13       0       0       2      3      5      1    4.00%    0    1    0      1    0.0    0.0%


Legend:
Rank     - ranking based on low average error
AveDepth - average depth reached by the Analyzer in analyzing those positions
AveError - average difference between the analyzer and player score, in centipawn (1p = 100)
DECnt    - count of positions where player move score is below zero and analyzer move score
         - is better than player move score. This is called Dangerous Error Counts
E300CP   - count of positions where player has blundered by 3 or more pawns
E200CP   - count of positions where player has blundered by 2 to 2.99 pawns
E100CP   - count of positions where player has blundered by 1 to 1.99 pawns
E50CP    - count of positions where player has blundered by 0.5 to 0.99 pawn
E20CP    - count of positions where player has blundered by 0.2 to 0.49 pawn
EECnt    - count of positions where player move score is better than analyzer move score

Notes:
1. Analysis of positions start at move 12.
2. If best score of Analyzer is already 6 pawns and above and the score of player move
   is also 6 pawns and above then error for this position is set to zero. The more cases
   like this only proves that that player is able to maintain its advantage and this
   will minimize its average error at the end.
   On the other hand if the best score of Analyzer is already below minus 6 pawns, no further
   analysis will be done, and this position will not be included in error calculation.
3. When a player move is a blunder that brings down the score below minus 6 pawns,
   error for this position is set to -6 pawns in the calculation. The reason being once
   the opponent found the refutation, the succeeding positions will no longer be evaluated.
   It is just fair to penalize this heavily to also reflect on the average error which
   should be high for players that have more game loses or fatal blunders.
4. move_error = analyzer_score - player_score.
   analyzer_score = score returned by the analyzer after searching for a given amount of time.
   player_score = score returned by the analyzer after searching the player move for a given amount of time.
   AveError = sum of [move_error] / totalPos.
5. Error is increased if the score of position after player move is below zero.
   6x error if &#40;score <= -200 cp&#41;, 5x error if &#40;score <= -150 cp&#41;, 4x error if &#40;score <= -100 cp&#41;,
   3x error if &#40;score <= -50 cp&#41;, and 2x error if &#40;score < 0 cp&#41;.
   The idea is only those errors which will result to inferior position should be penalized more.
   If the increased error penalty is more than 6 pawns, error is set to 6 pawns.
6. Regarding EECnt or Analyzer/Engine error counts, this is a counter check to analyzer where the human move
   is sometimes better than the analyzer move, this is because the analysis time given to the analyzer is
   shorter and also perhaps the position is complicated that bigger depths are required to determine
   correct assessment of the position.
7. DECnt or Dangerous Error Count is an info to see which player is probably always in trouble.
   See also DECnt in Legend section. Strong players usually have low count of this.
8. Analyzer error margin is a value that is used to decide whether to save the position or not
   when player move score is better than the analyzer move score. If this is set to zero then
   all positions will be saved. If this value is set to 10cp, then only those position which the player score
   is higher than analyzer score by more than that margin will be saved.

I have uploaded the evaluator somewhere here. You may use it to run the epd below, to get the summary based from your setting.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/cvs25 ... vo/arc.epd

[Guenther]

Below is what the cheater told later to the press after he was caught with
a hidden box in his armpit and a minicamara wired under his t-shirt:

=>Link to the source

Ricciardi was removed from the tournament and his games declared lost. However, he denies that he cheated.

“It's only envy,” he told La Stampa in a follow-up article. “I always knew my potential, but I was never able to express it. It's all false. I've played for 30 years, it's a genuine passion. But only now, thanks to yoga and self-training I managed to free my mind from tensions and emotions.”

There are countless examples of cheating in chess, and only this year there were two clear examples that were reported on by international media.

In April, at the Dubai Open GM Gaioz Nigalidze was caught using an electronic device in the toilet. The player, who happened to be the reigning champion of Georgia, was expelled from the tournament.

In the same month an amateur chess player was caught cheating at the Dr. Hedgewar Open in New Delhi. The 1500-player, who beat several much stronger opponents, was caught after round five carrying two mobile phones strapped to his legs.

GM Emil Sutovsky, the President of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP), on Facebook expressed his worry about this development that affects chess very negatively.

“I keep repeating it — we have to enhance the fight against this plague of the modern chess. Those rare successes, catching several primitive cheaters with their gun smoking shall not mislead us — it is just a tiny pinnacle of the iceberg. It is THE PLAGUE, and it presents a deadly threat to chess.”

[AdminX]

I think a lot of chess players at the bottom are inspired my grandmasters at the top. So when strong players cheat, it sets a bad example for lower rated players.

[Guenther]

A quick run in move error evaluator. The average error of that guy is indeed low. DECnt is low means he is not in trouble most of the time and high EECnt means his move is better than sf6 at 0.3s/pos in 2 threads.

Code: Select all

Move Error Evaluator v9.5[/quote]

Ferdinand I looked around and tried several CCC searches but the latest version I found was 9.0. Would you mind to post again a link for the newest version of MEE?

P.S. It would be nice to have all your interesting tools together somewhere for download.

Guenther