Alleged 'Cheater' Kicked Out from Bulgarian Chess Federation

[IGarcia]

You just pretend to be stupid and don't understand.

The only stupids here are the one acusation a person without proof.
If you (or any) had the device, then there is no necesity on speculation about imaginary implants in the ears and so.

To be clear: Ivanov case is very rare, his lately performance increase, but you have to proof he is cheating.

I will be very happy if some solid proof appears, because I'm very against people going against rules and been disrespectful on others. But we need the proof. Or are you the one pretending to be stupid?

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

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.

He won the court case in June this year against the ban of BCF and, allegedly, one of the pieces of evidence supporting this decision was an enclosed certificate from a specialised hospital that he is clean of any subcutaneous devices. Now, I have not witnessed the case, or seen the documentation, but, if even a Bulgarian court would consider that the Federation ban was not justified, then obviously this rests on something and the certificate enclosed must be real. Otherwise, he would have lost the case. Who would rule he is innocent if the certificate says he has implants into his body.

Now, everything is possible, for example in Bulgaria, just like in Serbia, you could pay money or pull some strings with doctors so that the required certificate is issued, however, the responsibility for proving guilt always rests with the prosecution, and if he had not been found cheating until now, I presume he is innocent.

[michiguel]

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.

If you are right, it is even worse, because the reports we have is that when he was searched, the agent noticed something in his armpit and saw something going from side to side in his chest. If you are right, the agent was completely lying (or being confused). So, what is it? something strapped to his chest or an implant in his ear?

My point is that if that agent had metal detector, his assertion about having something hidden would have been confirmed and we would have closed this case (and if it was baloney, it would have been dismissed). Instead, speculations are continuously fed.

I am more concerned with he inability of chess federations (including FIDE) to deal with real problems rather than trying to fix what is not broken (doping tests, for example).

Miguel

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.

[M ANSARI]

I really don't understand what the fuss is all about, Ivanov WAS CAUGHT with a device that was under his shirt which caused him to immediately say he was withdrawing from the tournament and refused to consent to further search. Before that he had taken off his shoes and was even willing to take off his pants and seemed OK with the search UNTIL it came to the search that would expose him. Add to that the tremendous amount of proof that was taken from the games that he played, and even more notable are his losses which were obviously mistakes made due to operator error. This guy is a dick head because he is stealing and cheating from his other honest opponents. This BS trying to make it seem like he is a victim is ridiculous, he is a cheater and the victims are his honest opponents that have to endure a humiliating loss. It is as if trying to get in a boxing match with someone that has an AK-47 ... your only chance or hope is that the gun jams. Nobody should have to face that!

[IGarcia]

I really don't understand what the fuss is all about, Ivanov WAS CAUGHT with a device that was under his shirt which caused him to immediately say he was withdrawing from the tournament and refused to consent to further search. Before that he had taken off his shoes and was even willing to take off his pants and seemed OK with the search UNTIL it came to the search that would expose him. Add to that the tremendous amount of proof that was taken from the games that he played, and even more notable are his losses which were obviously mistakes made due to operator error. This guy is a dick head because he is stealing and cheating from his other honest opponents. This BS trying to make it seem like he is a victim is ridiculous, he is a cheater and the victims are his honest opponents that have to endure a humiliating loss. It is as if trying to get in a boxing match with someone that has an AK-47 ... your only chance or hope is that the gun jams. Nobody should have to face that!

Ansari: So he took of the shirt or not? How he was caught with a device under his shirt if he does not take out the shirt?

Do you understand simple logic, beside the ones related to chess moves?

[carldaman]

It seems that something was spotted under his shirt, if only a glimpse of it. Elsewhere a bulge was detected under his shirt.

The problem is that B. Ivanov refused to be searched further once something was spotted, and then preferred to be disqualified rather than clear his name.

This makes him that much more suspicious, to the point that people are concluding he is a cheater, given the body of all other prior circumstantial evidence, as well.

[gerold]

It seems that something was spotted under his shirt, if only a glimpse of it. Elsewhere a bulge was detected under his shirt.

The problem is that B. Ivanov refused to be searched further once something was spotted, and then preferred to be disqualified rather than clear his name.

This makes him that much more suspicious, to the point that people are concluding he is a cheater, given the body of all other prior circumstantial evidence, as well.

I think i read early on that he was using Houdini. His moves matched that engine the most. If you are going to cheap best to use the best engine. . I could be wrong on his choice of engines.

[Terry McCracken]

It seems that something was spotted under his shirt, if only a glimpse of it. Elsewhere a bulge was detected under his shirt.

The problem is that B. Ivanov refused to be searched further once something was spotted, and then preferred to be disqualified rather than clear his name.

This makes him that much more suspicious, to the point that people are concluding he is a cheater, given the body of all other prior circumstantial evidence, as well.

I think i read early on that he was using Houdini. His moves matched that engine the most. If you are going to cheap best to use the best engine. . I could be wrong on his choice of engines.

People who defend cheats usually are....

[M ANSARI]

Look ... if this was the only instance where Ivanov was caught cheating I would hold any condemnation. But he has been doing this stuff earlier and his games have been analyzed extensively. It is the accumulation of data that makes this absolutely clear that he is cheating, and his latest episode in Spain where he was absolutely willing to remove his shoes and even his trousers (they told him not necessary) but when they noticed and felt (through pat down) he had something strapped under his shirt he refused to remove that and said he would disqualify himself. Forget that episode and look at the data, I have compiled some of it here. Read up on it and educate yourself before defending someone who has been stealing and cheating against his honest opponents. I leave you with his hilarious famous quote

"I practiced a lot with the computer, and after beating Rybka and Houdini by 10-0 each, I was absolutely sure that no-one was gonna stop me winning."

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~regan/chess ... report.pdf

http://en.chessbase.com/post/a-game-of- ... ain-230313

http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-show-g ... dil-160613

http://en.chessbase.com/post/ivanov-mie ... est-120713



http://en.chessbase.com/post/ivanov-in- ... -real-deal

http://www.chessvibes.com/official-stat ... anov-story

[M ANSARI]

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.

at the recent Navalmoral de la Mata tournament the organizers found a device with wires on his back, but Ivanov refused to show it and instead left the tournament even though he was topping the standings at that point

http://www.chessvibes.com/ivanov-again- ... federation


Of course you could say that since they did not pull it out and show it to the cameras then it did not exist. But they did catch him and his refusal to continue the initial consent he gave for search which included removing his shoes and his offer of removing his pants (somehow seems a lot more invasive than removing shirt). Also he had previously refused to remove his shoes in other tourneys because "his feet smelled bad" but somehow now he doesn't mind because his feet smell good?

IMHO he is most likely using several different means of cheating, and he had probably read that the most likely mentioned thing was that he was hiding something in his shoes and so he decided to evolve his setup. This is the type of creep he is and it really is amazing that some are trying to defend him. The Bulgarian Chess Federation did not ban him for no reason, they had setup a meeting with him where they would check his chess ability in a controlled testing procedure but he did not show up. I wonder why as that would have totally demolished any doubt and was a good chance for him to show the world that a new improved Bobby Fischer was here! It is not one thing but just the vast collection of different data that proves beyond ANY doubt that the guy is a fraud and has been humiliating his honest victims unfairly. It would be incredibly easy for him to prove that he was innocent, just consent to a set of chess quizes that show his chess ability or have him play several games in a controlled environment .... this is what the Bulgarian Chess Federation wanted to do ... he refused ... thus was banned!