In Russian system it’s possible to have rated tournaments played online. But now we have AI cheating threats, and the federation introduces video recording.
Relevant parts are (reworded and shortened for brevity):
3.1. The possibility of cheating can’t be completely excluded. To minimize dishonest play it’s recommended to video record the game process of each player. If the judge requests the video from one of the players, and it’s not provided, then the player assumes all risks associated with possible doubts about cheating. A player who refused to video record the games can’t appeal about their opponents’ cheating.
Video recording
4.1. Blah-blah-blah. Recording must be with the sound on.
4.2. The beginning of the video should have an announcement about the tournament, the round, the pairing and the start time. Before fixing the camera into a stationary position a player makes a panoramic view of the playing room allowing to see people, equipment and furniture in there. Also the player’s appearance must be recorded to exclude outside communication methods like headphones.
4.3. The camera is fixed once for the entire recording and must show the player (or the team) together with the computer screen. The computer screen must be clearly seen with UI and all stones set during the game. All other windows must be hidden and irrelevant programs closed. The entrance to the game room should also be always in view.
4.4. The end of the video is made similar to the beginning and includes the result and finish time.
Perhaps there should be different rating classes for different levels of online anti-cheat security, like how there are different ratings for different time controls.
I’m talking about the rating classes of IRL tournaments. ie. a tournament with long games is A-class, a tournament with shorter games is B-class or C-class and will have less rating impact.
So a huge invasion of privacy and comfort of the players, expecting them all to have an external cameras capable of hours of recording and probably a tripod just to slightly lower the simplicity of cheating. Yuck.
Yep. This is just sick, imho.
But it fits very well other developments in Russia. Wasn’t there some news about facial recognition in Moscow only recently?
Well if it ensured legitimacy… maybe. I don’t think it does.
Also, I dare you to try and find a camera and an angle in your room, that clearly shows you, your screen and all the windows and stones on it, and the door to your room at once Upload for brownie points. Include a panoramic tour of your room, all the furniture, and all your valuables.
Shame on you. I might and then we’ll see what you’ll do. Since you didn’t specify dress code.
(also, granted their plan is subpar, it was an honest question, how could it be done? I haven’t faced a similar situation so I hadn’t thought about it.)
I understand their wanting to discourage cheating and applaud it. But I do not think these measures are adequate. Serious online tournaments will have to be proctored, including the bathroom breaks. One chess player was found checking key moves with a cell phone in the bathroom. It only takes finding a better move in one tricky situation to turn the tide of a game. And in a day and age of micro cameras, hidden hearing aides, or fancy software programs that could hide as u play online there almost no way to verify anti cheating with mere video cameras.
The best way is proctored, that is live fed and taped, with the player in front of a wooden board and stones with his moves entered by the proctor or better a 2nd proctor.
A recent US chess congress used metal detectors to discourage cheating. So yes we may soon have to be playing nude. But what about when we have AI and technology implants??
KAOSkonfused stated that this is sick and fits in well with other developments in Russia and the use of facial recognition in Moscow. I fail to see the connection. Also the US government is also using facial recognition, as is the EU and of course China. As someone who sees the benefits and the threats to our civil liberties in facial recognition. I am very concerned with the control and power that modern technology gives over the masses. Of which I am one. All governments and corporations are using such technology to gather information and power over us. And we willingly hand over much of it to them fb, cell phone anyone?
There’s a rule for that in there. A player can leave the room once during the game for less than 5 minutes.
I don't want you to think that Russia has such a big cheating problem that the federation scrambled and came up with these rules. Problems with online tournaments are rare, from what I can tell. Online tournaments in general are rare, and mostly for weak players.
But there’s at least one tournament that matters and last year (~February) a highly respected coach publicly accused one of the players of cheating. Chaos ensued. And this precedent put pressure on the officials of the federation to do something, I presume.
I think they already made anti-cheating board and came up with procedures about analyzing games to detect cheaters. But maybe they thought it’s not enough.
If you want to put on tinfoil hat with me for a moment, I think they made these rules specifically for this one tournament that matters I mentioned above - Russian Team Championship Preliminaries (very serious tournament, included in ministry of sports plan, top players competing). Russia is a big country and gathering all multiple-player teams in one place would be hard. It’s nice to conduct preliminaries online and only have few strong teams play face-to-face in the finals. But if we can’t rely on preliminaries to be legitimate, the whole tournament loses. Btw, the tournament starts in a month, coincidence? The rules were def made for this event. And in the tournament rules it’s explicitly stated that these anti-cheating rules apply.
And in my mind this is why rules seem so overreaching. They need to be strict when it comes to this very serious tournament. And the regular tournaments (where people play naked/on trains and such) are kind of collateral damage. Although they gave players at least some out. They say you are able to not record anything but then you assume all the risks, which could be a code-word for “don’t come to us complaining then”.
I feel these new rules are kind of not applicable to ordinary online tournaments. Unless you’re top player fighting for the prizes, you aren’t going to do all that. I wonder if whoever wrote these actually tried to test it in real life.
Upload for brownie points. Include a panoramic tour of your room, all the furniture, and all your valuables.