Ermacora Update: New Way to Cheat

I don't know if you were aware of it but there are TWO women playing in the Men's teams. This is allowed by FIDE, but not the reverse. Playing a woman for many men is a psychological handicap I think. I lost to a little girl once, a game published in the daily newspaper but delicately handled: they put NN instead of my name!

I watched the Russian No1 woman play the other day. I stopped because whereas games at almost all other tabled were finished, the Russian women were all still at it. Alexandra was holding her head tightly, screening out side vision. Well she might, she was in trouble with K + R vs K + R and 2 pawns. In the interview in Italy she had been asked which piece she liked best. The pawn she said, because it has this won derful dream of becoming a Queen! Well Alexandra tried very hard in that game to stop this pawn dream coming true but in the end she had to give up. Unlike the loose hair in the glam photo o her I sent you, she had a very long pony tail and very high heels, definitely the model type. Must make the girls with the burkas a bit envious perhaps.

Putting your hands over your ears or the long hair could hide a micro listening device in ear, ear-ring, have you thought of that? At least that has occurred to me. With games moves instantly available on the Internet, players could get real time help in some hidden way. I don't say that is happening but maybe it could become a problem. FIDE doesn't seem to have considered this electronic possibility for cheating, whereas they worry about doping. In fact in a throw-away newspaper here in Turin I read today that the anti-doping enforcer of the Federation has arrived and that in the next few days chessplayers may be tested (by blood tests at the end of the games). Let's hope that Ian's anti-biotics don't mess up his blood! There are enough scandals in Italy and we want chess to have a clean image.

A clean image. Is that one of the considerations in the FIDE Presidential elections about to take place?

Bye for now.

- Larry Ermacora

For the next couple of weeks, during the Olympiad, we will feature a guest blogger - Larry Ermacora. He will be providing reports all the way from Torino after having been officially accredited by Olympiad officials as a journo for this blog.

Larry is a well known personality in Australian chess circles. He was an administrator in both Western Australia and New South Wales. And, in 1990, he was awarded the highly coveted Koshnitsky medal.