Chess (#1152)

The Maharashtra Chess League (MCL) got a publicity boost in its third year as it saw Viswanathan Anand play an exhibition game with Aamir Khan. The Bollywood star held his own until the 25th move. The MCL's auction is structured similarly to cricket's Indian Premier League though the sums involved are many zeros less. Every team fields two women and a minimum number of locals (meaning players who reside in Maharashtra).  

Board orders are arbitrary. So teams try to guess opposition order and work out complex maximisation problems. It's great fun. The website is superbly organised and well run (maharashtrachessleague.com)

Grandmaster Ian Rogers has written a thoughtful piece (gardinerchess.com.au/gm-rogers-paranoia/) about the accusations against Mihaela Sandu at the Euro Women's Championships in Chakvi, Georgia. The veteran Aussie GM called it paranoia.

As Rogers says, every proven case of cheating has involved odd behaviour by the cheat and strong correlation of moves with engine choices. The cheat must allow transmission/reception time for the computer to respond to a move.  This means unusual time allocation such as taking more time on obvious recaptures or only moves and taking less time in very complicated positions.  

Cheating also requires some form of communication to be established, whether it is via a mini earphone, or frequent visits to the loo, or tapping Morse code. This results in anomalous behaviour.

Neither odd behaviour in itself nor move correlation guarantees computer cheating. Strong players often play with total correlation, when the position has been analysed earlier. Players can also exhibit odd behaviour without cheating. Take Magnus Carlsen's grimaces or Vassily Ivanchuk's habit of gazing blankly at walls or ceiling, for instance.

At Chakvi, the concept of "intelligent cheating" was introduced by the accusers. This assumes a foolproof means of communication that does not involve odd behaviour. Given that premise, if computer help is taken sparingly, there will be low move correlation. Hence, intelligent cheating is undetectable.

The Diagram (Black to play) shows "perfect correlation".  (White: Aronian Vs Black: Anand,  Wijk aan Zee 2013). Black played 15.- Bc5! 16.Be2 Nde5 !! 17.Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 19.Nxf8 f5! 20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 Qxg6 22.Qe2 Qh5 23.Qd3 Be3 (0-1).

Black played multiple sacrifices and found a super finish (the threat is Qxh3#). Anand had pre-game computer aid. He recalled the evaluation as winning and calculated out a forcing finish.  Now, if black had been a 2300 player (like Mihaela Sandu), instead of a multiple world champion, he could presumably have been accused of cheating.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player