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Move over, cycling: Cheating at chess may be next

Before the round began, Goichberg said, a tournament director noticed that Rosenberg was wearing something in his ear and asked to see it. Goichberg said Rosenberg told the director it was a hearing aid. The director wrote down the name and the serial number and looked it up on the Internet.

Goichberg said the device was called Phonito and it was described on a Web site as a wireless receiver that was ideal for undetected communication between two people. Part of the paraphernalia of the device, Goichberg said, was additional equipment that had to be worn elsewhere on the body to bolster and receive signals.

Goichberg said Rosenberg was wearing a heavy sweater and declined to be searched.

Goichberg said the information did not prove that Rosenberg had cheated, but he felt he had no choice but to expel him from the tournament.

"He had things on him that could be used for cheating," Goichberg said.

Before the World Open, Rosenberg had been the No. 2 official at ChessLive, an online chess-playing site, according to Chris Fitzgerald, the site's chief administrator.

"I know Steve personally, from online use, and he's basically a nice guy," Fitzgerald said.

After the World Open, Fitzgerald said, Rosenberg called him to tell him that he had been accused of cheating and to resign his position. Fitzgerald said he spoke to Rosenberg and that he was not willing to talk to a reporter. Other efforts to contact Rosenberg were unsuccessful.

Goichberg said he planned to take countermeasures to try to catch people who might be using hidden electronic devices but he would not be specific for fear of tipping his hand.

Steve Immitt, another tournament director working at the Open, said the latest incidents made him concerned about directing tournaments, particularly ones with bigger prizes.

He said he expected he would hear more accusations of cheating. In the end, he said, "it is going to be more and more unpleasant to direct tournaments."


Accusations of cheating at the largest tournament of the year have the chess world buzzing - and have tournament directors worried about what they may have to do to stop players from trying to cheat in the future.

The suspected cheating occurred at the World Open in Philadelphia over the July 4 weekend and involved two players in two sections of the tournament. In each case, the player was suspected of receiving help from computers or from accomplices using computers.

Neither player was caught cheating, but one player, Steve Rosenberg, was expelled. The other, Eugene Varshavsky, was allowed to finish the tournament but was searched before each round, then watched closely during games.

Chess has always been considered a gentleman's game, with an unwritten honor code. But the advent of powerful and inexpensive chess-playing computers and improved wireless technology has made it easier to cheat.

Although rare, cheating at chess is not new. For years, players who wanted to cheat would leave the board and ask other players for advice, or consult chess books or magazines for suggested moves. Cheating at chess may seem like a twisted exercise in ego gratification, but growing prize money has made the rewards more meaningful. At the World Open, the total prizes were $358,000, with first place in the top section worth as much as $28,000.

Bill Goichberg, director of the World Open and of the Continental Chess Association, an organization that sponsors many big tournaments, said that, if true, the incidents at this year's tournament were troubling because of the players' stealth and effectiveness.

"Before, a player might have discussed the position with someone who is a grandmaster," Goichberg said. "That sounds terrible, but if the grandmaster hasn't seen your position, I don't know if that is going to be much help. What is happening now is that the cheaters are concealing the fact that the moves are being transmitted to a computer."

Goichberg said the older methods of cheating were easier to spot, but there are signs to indicate when someone may be using a computer program.

Programs often play sequences of moves that are different from what a player would do, and they rarely make mistakes. Another signal is if a player shows a significant improvement over a short period of time, something that is rare among adult players.

Goichberg said he became suspicious of Varshavsky at the Open because he displayed those tendencies.

Varshavsky was among the lowest-ranked players in the top section of the tournament. In his first four games, he beat three high-ranked masters and played another to a draw. Then After losing to a grandmaster, he played almost flawlessly to beat another grandmaster in his next game.

Larry Christiansen, a grandmaster who did not play at the Open, ran the moves of the game through a commercially available chess-playing program called Shredder. He found that the last 25 moves of Varshavsky's victory against the grandmaster matched those played by the program.

Goichberg said he asked to see Varshavsky before the next round, but that Varshavsky hurried off to the bathroom. Goichberg waited 10 minutes outside a stall until Varshavsky came out. Varshavsky consented to be searched, and Goichberg said no device or transmitter was found.

Varshavsky was allowed to proceed in the tournament.

Meanwhile, directors went to search the bathroom stall and found it occupied. Goichberg said they waited 45 minutes before a director peeked under the door and saw Varshavsky's shoes. After Varshavsky left the stall, nothing was found in it.

In the last two rounds, Varshavsky played against two grandmasters and lost each game quickly.

Attempts to reach Varshavsky by telephone were unsuccessful.

Goichberg expelled Rosenberg, the other player under suspicion, because he was found with a wireless earpiece.

Rosenberg, who played in a lower section than Varshavsky, was leading going into the last round.

A victory would have been worth about $18,000.

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