03/04/2026
CHEATING @ CHESS
The Pensacola Chess Club
Meets every Thursday and every Sunday at the Books-A-Million on 6235 N. Davis Highway.
I was at the Pensacola Chess Club a few weeks ago. (I did not stay too long - I could not readily get a game and I had things to do.) I heard this young man - I don't think he was 15 - tell his friends: "Cheating at chess is a relatively new problem. Its caused by technology!" (Then he proceeded to show his friends links and stories on his laptop. I was covertly peeking over his shoulder ... so I saw some of the stories that they were looking at. One included the famous case of a FIDE GM who stashed his phone in the restroom. He made frequent trips to the toilet ... presumably to look at his phone. He was caught ... and banned from tournament play.) And I have heard people say this kind of thing a lot recently.
CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION ... cheating at chess is a very old problem!! (It goes back centuries!)
Here is the best overall article on cheating in chess that I have ever seen:
Inside the chess cheating scandal and the fight for the soul of the game - ESPN https://share.google/OjokJpP6kkrlKHPYv.
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I decided - after I posted this - to add my part of the story.
I was at the World Open in 1993. (I was playing in the section for players under 2200. My rating had dropped below 2200 ... some falsely said I was purposely sandbagging, and I won a prize ... but I had many friends who played in the top/open section; I followed the Open section intently.) Moshe Khatena played in that tournament, you can find some of his games in just about every database.
The article - while technically correct about some of the details about John Von Neumann - does NOT tell the whole story!!!!!
(To be continued.)
Addendum: My account of the cheating incident at the 1993 World Open.
As I have already stated, I was at the 1993 World Open in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I IMMEDIATELY noticed one player ... because he was so unusual and out of place!!
His name? "John Von Neumann." [Even my friend - Joe Hodge, the former night manager of the Manhattan Chess Club - knew right away ... that this guy's name was fake! (J. Von Neumann was a deceased and famous Dutch mathematician.)
A.) He was a black male ... with dreadlocks.
B.) He spoke with with an accent ... to me, he sounded like he was born in Jamaica.
C.) He had ZERO chess skill! He wandered by the post-mortem of one my games. I asked him - setting him up for failure & exposure - to suggest a move. The move that he suggested was NOT EVEN POSSIBLE!! (It was an illegal move.)
D.) At the chess board, he looked bored. He picked his nose, twirled a length of hair, kept examining his fingernails, stared at the ceiling, etc. In short ... he never even looked at the chess board.
E.) I immediately went to the TD's with the announcement: "This guy is cheating! He MUST be playing chess by remote control!"
(Titled players, {FM's, IM's, even GM's} ... told me: "You are crazy!" Or: "There is no proof that he is cheating."
F.) He became the hottest topic of conversation in the entire tournament. "Who is this guy - who has no record of ever playing in a USCF rated tournament before - who is killing titled players?"
G.) I used to play and/or attend the defunct tournament: held annually in Mobile, AL. I got to know ALL the programmers of various chess-playing machines and programs. (Like Fidelity Electronics' famous "Chess Chalkenger." When I was stationed at Minot A.F.B. in the 1980's ... I continuously honed my chess skills by practicing my game against my Chess Challenger.) When the tournament was over ... who should show up to help Von Neumann claim his prize? One of the country's top programmer of a chess machine. (I won't use his name.)
I ... CONTINUOUSLY!!! ... went to the tournament organizers and directors with my case that Von Neumann was a hoax and a chess cheat. I noticed him fooling with a buzzing device in his pocket ... very early on. He also kept tapping on his thigh, I suspected that he had a remote keypad ... I routinely used these devices in the missile field ... taped to his leg.
But the real kicker? In the last round ... the air conditioning system failed completely. EVERYONE ... (eventually) was soaked in sweat. I noticed that Von Neumann had like an electronic antenna taped to his back ... once his back was wet, you could see the device quite clearly. (When his thin shirt was wet with sweat ... it was almost transparent!)
But the final straw was in the last round. After I began to drag TD's over to see the device on his back ... he disappeared to his hotel room ... presumably to get rid of his electronic devices. He now had to receive his moves via messenger. (Several times, I witnessed a third party ... bringing Von Neumann a piece of paper. I saw him read it - and then walked over to the trash and threw it away. (I fished it out of the trash and saved it.) I took the incriminating evidence to Mr. Bill Goichberg, the main TD & organizer of the tournament. Thereafter, Von Neumann would read the slip of paper ... pop it into his mouth and eat it! (The slip of paper - that I retrieved from the trash - was in long algebraic notation. It was also how Von Neumann recorded his chess game.)
By the time the tournament was over and it was time to pay out prizes ... suspicions had been aroused. When asked to solve a simple mate in two moves, (MY IDEA!!!); Von Neumann continually failed to solve the simplest mates. He also kept looking at the programmer because he clearly did not know what to do.
The good news? The story has a happy ending! Von Neumann (and his prommer boss) were denied any prize at all. They appealed to the U.S. Chess Federation. (The USCF people called me... I gave a detailed description ... over several long phone calls ... of what had occurred.) In the end, the appeal failed as well.
QED
