Alleged 'Cheater' Kicked Out from Bulgarian Chess Federation

[M ANSARI]

He was kicked out by the Bulgarian CF because he is an embarrassment to other honest Bulgarians that are competing professionally in chess. I think if there was even a slight chance he was innocent, his own federation would fight for him tooth and nail. His case is so obvious that I think it is laughable that some are trying to defend him. Either that or they simply have not gone through the wealth of information and evidence that PROVES beyond a doubt that Ivanov was cheating. Plus he WAS caught with an electronic device in Spain although the reports do not mention that clearly. He immediately decided to withdraw from the tournament when the searcher felt something taped under his chest. He had no problems taking off his shoes and trousers, but going topless was too much for him. By law the searcher had no authority to continue to check him if he stopped consenting and withdrew from the tournament, so unfortunately he was not forced to reveal all. If it was me I would have done much more, but the guy doing the search was more interested in just removing him from the tournament and avoiding further scandal that could affect their tourney negatively, and am sure did not want to break any possible laws. To use that episode as an excuse that NOTHING WAS FOUND THUS HE IS NOT GUILTY is just silly. I think it is imperative that other honest competing professional chess players be protected from dick heads like Ivanov, and if it requires removing shoes or some other procedure that tries to circumvent cheating ... then all should be for it! Some might think it ridiculous that you have to be thoroughly searched and scanned before a flight, but it is now unfortunately a way of life and we accept it. I certainly would not want to get on a flight today that had zero search of passengers and their belongings!

[Modern Times]

Plus he WAS caught with an electronic device in Spain although the reports do not mention that clearly.

I did not read that. All along my position has been that physical evidence is absolutely necessary in addition to statistical evidence. If they found the physical evidence, then things are more clear.

An airport type scanner (massively expensive though they are) makes sense to catch instances like this.

[michiguel]

Plus he WAS caught with an electronic device in Spain although the reports do not mention that clearly.

I did not read that. All along my position has been that physical evidence is absolutely necessary in addition to statistical evidence. If they found the physical evidence, then things are more clear.

An airport type scanner (massively expensive though they are) makes sense to catch instances like this.

Hand held detectors do not seem to be that expensive.
http://www.metaldetector.com/garrett-su ... l-detector

The precedent set by the Bulgarian federation is dangerous, for many reasons.

Miguel

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

He was kicked out by the Bulgarian CF because he is an embarrassment to other honest Bulgarians that are competing professionally in chess. I think if there was even a slight chance he was innocent, his own federation would fight for him tooth and nail. His case is so obvious that I think it is laughable that some are trying to defend him. Either that or they simply have not gone through the wealth of information and evidence that PROVES beyond a doubt that Ivanov was cheating. Plus he WAS caught with an electronic device in Spain although the reports do not mention that clearly. He immediately decided to withdraw from the tournament when the searcher felt something taped under his chest. He had no problems taking off his shoes and trousers, but going topless was too much for him. By law the searcher had no authority to continue to check him if he stopped consenting and withdrew from the tournament, so unfortunately he was not forced to reveal all. If it was me I would have done much more, but the guy doing the search was more interested in just removing him from the tournament and avoiding further scandal that could affect their tourney negatively, and am sure did not want to break any possible laws. To use that episode as an excuse that NOTHING WAS FOUND THUS HE IS NOT GUILTY is just silly. I think it is imperative that other honest competing professional chess players be protected from dick heads like Ivanov, and if it requires removing shoes or some other procedure that tries to circumvent cheating ... then all should be for it! Some might think it ridiculous that you have to be thoroughly searched and scanned before a flight, but it is now unfortunately a way of life and we accept it. I certainly would not want to get on a flight today that had zero search of passengers and their belongings!

There are 2 types of institutions: institutions that care for the people, and institutions that do not care for them. In the present case BCF belongs to the second category.

If you intend playing in many tournaments, you would do good to save some money for a couple of spare pairs of shoes, as with time and many take-offs they will quickly wear off.

What the proponents of Ivanov guilt basically say is: 'He is cheating' Why? 'Because it is impossible to do that. Why is it impossible? Because it is impossible. What an argument, great evidence. I think there are 2 possibilities: either he performs without cheating, and in that case he would be due a Nobel for sensational performance, or he is cheating with the help of some device, and in that case he is still due a Nobel for inventing a device even CIA and NASA do not have. If you ask me though, the probability that he invented such a device is much lower than the probability that he is simply talented and progresses very rapidly given some circumstances. In either case, however, he is winning.

Norm talked here about circumstantial evidence. Let us face the reality.

Direct evidence against him: zero, no one found a device on the many occasions he was checked. (and we know for certain that he has nothing implanted into his body, as he conducted tests in a specialised hospital, and the conclusion was there are no external objects into his body; he has a certificate for that, so the implant theory simple crumbles)

Circumstantial evidence: zero.

1st circumstantial evidence refuted: he plays exactly the same moves as Houdini, based on the Lilov analysis. Wrong. Lilov simply does not have a way of knowing what hardware Ivanov used for Houdini that would match the Lilov hardware, and on different hardware engines choose different moves. Therefore, Lilov analysis is fake, but it did a lot of damage.

2nd circumstantial evidence refuted: His performance is statistically unreliable, as he performs worse in the 1900-2100 elo category than in the category immediately above. As I posted somewhere, there could be an easy psychological explanation for this: he has some 20% score against women, losing and drawing too many games, women that pertain to that category, so obviously chivalry or some other psychological factors influence the statistical trend.

3rd circumstantial evidence refuted: it is impossible to perform that well, starting from a very low elo level. And when I ask you why is it impossible to perform well, the answer is simply 'Because it is impossible'. Well, this is not an answer and any proof whatsoever. Again, look at his elo growth graph at the FIDE ratings site: he progressed 400 elo from 1700 to 2100 just in 1 or 2 years. This is very fast and speaks of talent. Has he been cheating also then to be able to beat 1900 elo players? What engine did he use for cheating? You understand that this is simply hilarious. He progressed because he was talented. Then his progress came to a halt for a period of 1-2 years and then he started rapidly progressing again at the end of 2012. What would explain this new surge of progress? Well, as he himself claims, he bought a computer to train at home that he did not have beforehand, and this helped him enormously. Very easy to understand.

4th circumstantial evidence refuted: people at the Navalmoral say that they found some device. Player Holgado says that he spotted a lump on his back, and then suddenly the lump becomes a flat tape. Obviously lying (and this what I call cheating, this is what I call lying, because the person simply contradicts himself). Bermejo, who checked Ivanov for a device, relates that 'when a button of Ivanov shirt was unfastened by chance, he saw a strap/tape running from side to side of the chest'. Now, obviously he is lying, obviously he is cheating, as it is simply impossible to see an object running from side to side of the chest, if a single shirt button is unfastened. You could see just a small portion of a tape, but you could never know it is running from side to side. It is just a contradiction. Therefore he is lying, and that happens when you invent a story and you forget about the details. Why did they need to check him so thoroughly and invemt that false statement? I am sure a call was made from Sofia in advance of the events.

So, what we have? Direct evidence against Ivanov: zero; circumstantial evidence against Ivanov:zero. Now, why on Earth should I consider him guilty and even try to impose sanctions? That is why they sanctioned him for bad behaviour, but that is not serious.

I would very much like to have some serious counterarguments exposed, but the only one who did something sensible was Uri. I like such arguments, because I know the person making them really believes in them. All other people are just bringing up continuous accusations with no proof at all.

[Milos]

Hand held detectors do not seem to be that expensive.
http://www.metaldetector.com/garrett-su ... l-detector

The precedent set by the Bulgarian federation is dangerous, for many reasons.

Miguel

Metal detector is just red herring. He is not using cellphone or any other metallic device. He is using small passive receiver probably implanted in his ear and a small transmitter being totally passive until activated (pressed) mounted somewhere on his body. These are miniature devices containing usually a single SMD chip in ceramic package and also miniature batteries too small by any means to trigger any metal detector.
He needs to be prevented from transceiving and for that you need either Faraday cage which is expensive and really impractical or active jammer which is illegal.
What could help would be this full body scanner used in bigger US airports. Problem is that is expensive like hell and no chess event, even world title match organizers would be able to afford it.

[Milos]

The methods used in airports should suffice in chess tournaments as well. You are not required to take off your clothes in airports, why should you take them off before chess tournaments? The risk in those cases is surely not comparable, yet you require more in the less risky situation?

Not to mention that any cheating device used could be acquired after the search, with the help of e.g. a fellow player who has not been searched. At this moment you arrived at the point where all players should get off their clothes!

You seam not to fly much, do you?
Ever been strip searched with all body cavities on some US airport just because your skin is darker? Obviously not...
Some ppl really live in a bubble.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

Hand held detectors do not seem to be that expensive.
http://www.metaldetector.com/garrett-su ... l-detector

The precedent set by the Bulgarian federation is dangerous, for many reasons.

Miguel

Metal detector is just red herring. He is not using cellphone or any other metallic device. He is using small passive receiver probably implanted in his ear and a small transmitter being totally passive until activated (pressed) mounted somewhere on his body. These are miniature devices containing usually a single SMD chip in ceramic package and also miniature batteries too small by any means to trigger any metal detector.
He needs to be prevented from transceiving and for that you need either Faraday cage which is expensive and really impractical or active jammer which is illegal.
What could help would be this full body scanner used in bigger US airports. Problem is that is expensive like hell and no chess event, even world title match organizers would be able to afford it.

Did you understand that he was thoroughly checked at a specialised hospital (scanned, x-rayed, etc.), and no external implants to the body found at all? Does he undergo surgery 2 times per week, or before and after each tournament round?

[Milos]

Did you understand that he was thoroughly checked at a specialised hospital (scanned, x-rayed, etc.), and no external implants to the body found at all? Does he undergo surgery 2 times per week, or before and after each tournament round?

He was not checked in any hospital and you are just lying plain and simple.

[Adam Hair]

Did you understand that he was thoroughly checked at a specialised hospital (scanned, x-rayed, etc.), and no external implants to the body found at all? Does he undergo surgery 2 times per week, or before and after each tournament round?

He was not checked in any hospital and you are just lying plain and simple.

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2013/06 ... g.html?m=1

From the article:
"Last month he subjected himself to CT scans and X-rays, which reportedly ruled out implants in his head or body, as he tries to overturn a ban from competition."

I do not know if this has been confirmed or debunked. But it is enough to confirm Lyudmil is not lying.

[IGarcia]

Did you understand that he was thoroughly checked at a specialised hospital (scanned, x-rayed, etc.), and no external implants to the body found at all? Does he undergo surgery 2 times per week, or before and after each tournament round?

He was not checked in any hospital and you are just lying plain and simple.

I doubt he was checked in a hospital.

The argument against him is: He used the "humiliation excuse" to not undress and avoid get caught with a device.

Your description of a micro-device implanted in his body is nonsense, or at least contradictory to previous argument. If that where true, the micro-device not even caught by a metal detector, Why he will refuse to undress?