online cheating in chess article

[Javaness2]

Lack of interest in L19 doesn't mean lack of interest everywhere. There are many venues of online Go activity these days:
...
The kibitz on OGS has been pretty lively (remarkable for a usually kibitzless server). The publication of when the games will be could be improved, but for the last few weekends I've logged in and there's often a game to watch with top Europeans kibitzing.
...

Indeed there are plenty of other places were you will see some discussion, but not here. 260 Observers is a bit lower than I was expecting, I'd have thought with Covid-19 locking people in that they'd have punched above that number. Maybe the viewing figures have to be adjusted if there are those who prefer to watch just on Twitch and not on OGS.

[Uberdude]

From https://eurogofed.org/egc/2020.html

October 18th 6:00pm CEST (exception to the schedule): Ali Jabarin (6) vs Lukas Kraemer (22) (lukas.kramer.739)

October 19th 10:00am CEST: Artem Kachanovskyi 2p (2) vs Tanguy Le Calvé 1p (10)
October 19th 4:00pm CEST: Mateusz Surma 1p (5) vs Anton Chernykh 7d (13)

[Bill Spight]

A few brief comments on the Guardian article.

Gerard Le-Marechal, the head of the site’s fair play team, said he had brought in three new members of staff to deal with the problem. “I think it’s to do with people being cooped up. It’s just so easy to do, so alluring, and it’s without doubt creating a crisis.”

I have been online since 1983 and IMHO it has more to do with being online than just being cooped up. The social aspect of being online is not what humans are used to. Being online is solitary, even if you are using your phone in public. And most of the social cues with those you are communicating with are missing. Misrepresentation, lying, lack of empathy, and even aggressiveness have always been a part of online communication. Can cheating at a game be far behind?

(BTW, one reason I use smilies so much is my experience in the 1980s. I try to add social cues to my remarks. )

Also, taking a cue from Taoism, perhaps the ubiquity of rating systems is part of the problem. Winning a game has higher stakes than just winning a game, it has effects on your status, even your self-esteem.

While chess.com is reluctant to reveal details of its system, Regan describes his as “a model that detects cheating as the deviation from the proclivities of an honest human player”.

Regan is right, OC. It is not the similarity to the play of the engines that counts (which is confirmatory evidence) it is the deviation from honest human play (which is disconfirmatory).

Such controversies have been replicated even in the lower-stakes world of junior play. Sarah Longson, a former British ladies’ champion who runs the Delancey UK Schools’ Chess Challenge, said at least 100 of 2,000 online participants cheated.

5% is not much of a surprise. Among adults I would have expected about half that rate, but youngsters are less morally developed. As we have been discussing.

“It’s the children from the private schools, sadly,” she said. “When I ring their parents they just get angry with me. They’re under such pressure to succeed.”

This is as I suspected, but did not want to say anything without proof. The privileged are more likely to cheat than regular people. I am sure that there are a number of reasons for that. In the U.S. the anger of parents at the tournament organizers or at teachers is a new phenomenon. When I was growing up parents would have been angry at their children.

Without a significant culture change, most say, the cheats are unlikely to go straight.

I agree. Culture matters. As I indicated, IMO American culture has changed for the worse in this regard, I don't know why. And I don't think that I am suffering from the illusions of old age about that.