Cheater no.7: Emil Jenicek



Emil Jenicek

This blackguard is known as member of doubtful political party called ODS in the northern Czech city of Litvinov. Because i don't live there, i cannot give you detailed informations about his goings-on, but he is:

- executive head of TransControl group, quite fishy trading company without clear article, perhaps also interested in connection between municipality and shadow gangland via corruption

- member od ODS (Obcanska Demokraticka Strana -> Civilian Democratic Party), a doubtful party sponsored by shadow enterprisers and venal companies

- member and co-founder of civil society called Koreny (The Roots)

He used to be chessplayer with the strength of national Candidate Master, that means he was better than Sladovnik. His online chess activities are unknown until 1st September 2008, when he joined Chess.com under nickname ManuChena. What a surprise, this asshole decided to ignore the rule about computers and became cheater. Because he didn't play so frequently, it took whole year and half (!) when they finally banned him in February 2010.

His Youtube channel

Contact: Emil Jenicek,
Vrchlickeho 862, 435 11 Lom,
his phone number: (+420) 608 555 828

company phone number: (+420) 476 767 167

e-mail: jenicek@transcontrol.cz

The polemics - Part 2

Some narrow-minded user calling herself (?) Annie K. (Annie Kappel, allegedly from Israel) wrote:

Why doesn't this crowd seem to notice a simple point that's been waving in their faces and screaming all along?
Um, did not practice and train constantly with computers as today's chess professionals do.
Professional players today have probably analyzed thousands of games during the course of their careers - postmortems of their own games, historical games, latest theory lines, anything interesting, etc. etc...
. Of course.
What do you expect them to do, FORGET everything they learned throughout the years, while playing a correspondence game?
They don't have to - and don't need to - "cheat" to remember optimal lines even 20-30 moves into a game - and once a less professional opponent "blunders" (relatively speaking, that is, makes a suboptimal move), the way to exploit that, and from there on, is often obvious.
Isn't that, uh, self-evident?

None of that makes comparison of pre-comp CC players with players who spent their whole careers analyzing with computers, and learning from them, valid.

This is utter nonsense. Moves appearing in theory are cut from testing ofcourse. Moreover, centaur databases aren't allowed on Chess.com. The idea that modern players play more in computer-style naturally is sheer blether spread by cheaters and their apologists. Just baseless and futile attempt to dishonest CC benchmarks data as obsolete. "Modern correspondence games" can't be used ofcourse, because honest play can't be proven, but it doesn't matter, because the ancient ones are still relevant and will be relevant forever, at least until somebody proves opposite and replaces them. OTB data don't show such trend, so there is no reason to expect it in CC, unless cheating takes place. The fact is that ICCF stopped producing new correspondence chessplayers in early 90' and started producing monkeys, so the opposite is true: there aren't strong experienced correspondence players around anymore.

Btw., article about Yelena Dembo coming soon ;o)

The polemics about very common opinions - Part 1

Following the controversy about cheating of Yelena Dembo, many users on Chessgames.com started even to dispute the sense of computer-free correspondence/online chess.

An unknown user Ezzy wrote quite long and inflammatory post there, so let me adress it.

Correspondence chess without computers is asking for trouble. It's near impossible to regulate whether someone has used or checked lines with a computer.
To single out individuals for cheating is pointless and stupid. While there is internet chess, this problem will exist forever.
 
The same problem already exists in athletics, it is called drugs. Yep, we still don't have drugs-allowed competitions, championships and Olympiads. Or maybe we have casual ones, without any credibility. Chess under ICCF rules is quite exceptional, most appreciated correspondence chess sites ban computers. The necessary thing is that ICCF must either vanish or adress computer use. It is improper to organize prize events or so-called championships and award titles to computerized trash. Today's computer monkeys really AREN'T successors of past correspondence chess giants.
 
Chess on the internet should be for fun.
 
Yes, whole chess should be for fun, because it is a game. What isn't fun: dealing with cheaters and talkative idiots.
 
If some 1600 Elo rated player wants to start an account with an internet chess site, and they decide to use Rybka at the start and get a rating of 3200, then he's stuck with having to play computer chess for his duration on the site. They will soon realise there's no fun in that.
But if a person changes and decides to be honest, then there's always someone to replace them who's just as dishonest. Round in a circle we go.
 
This is the reason, why dealing with cheaters should be the same as with drug abusers in athletics: long ban and lifetime dishonour.
 
Would you play correspondence chess for money if the rules say 'no computers.' I definately wouldn't.
 
Honestly, i will in the future, when there will be better detection methods in place. You can't prevent cheating, but you can detect it post-mortem.
 
The site owners are kidding themselfs that they can find and control the cheats.
 
Cheating detection methods are underdeveloped today. Compared to drugs: we are in test-tube + magnifier era now. We can catch the blatant ones.
 
Some cheat by picking computer best moves, some cheat by mixing the best move with the 4th best move, some don't pick computer moves but check their analysis with a computer.
 
All these cheating ways will be easy to spot. (They are detectable even today.)
 
Some may not cheat at all and then suddenly they have to go to a relatives wedding and they don't have time to analyse, so on just this one occasion they let the computer show them the way.
 
One single advice usually can't affect the outcome of a game. The problem is that cheating is addictive.
 
How do you control who's doing what. If you ban Yelena, then there must be hundreds more who at some level have had a snidy look to see what the computer says.
 
There are thousands of such despicable idiots. Getting rid of them, shaming them and slapping them around (in the case of real meeting), is necessary and beneficial.
 
Too much controversy. Allow computers in correspondence chess and be done with the flame wars and character assassinations.
Never take internet chess seriously, it could damage your health. You never know when it's a true game or not.
Accept it, and play for fun, NOT for money or prestige.

The opposite is true: casual chess is the computer-assisted one. It is allowed on ICCF, IECG and FICGS. Monkeys still have the opportunity to play it fairly and choose the 'unrated' option. There is no controversy: public dishonour is a necessary part of punishment.

Cheater no.6: Richard Hartley

Richard Hartley, a supercilious loser

Nothing good can be said about this dude. Loser in chess, loser in life, he joined The Dark Side and became an online chess cheater. Nothing special at all, there are many similar guys, however Hartley is unique in several ways.

He used to be a fan of both, chess and computers, and he understood the infamous potential of computers in correspondence chess. Years ago, back in late 80's, he started to play correspondence with mediocre success. Although computers weren't at their today's level and good unassisted players were able to keep up with them, Hartley perhaps used one and managed to beat unaware weaker players. This led him into wrong conclusion he is great player himself and his ego improperly boosted. Later the computer use became common and Hartley lost the ability to maintain his status, so he left official correspondence chess and joined online chess. He couldn't help himself and continued with computer use on chess sites, even though they explicitly prohibit engine use. His profile he created on Red Hot Pawn is really amazing: he calls himself "Correspondence chess master". I think sooner i become pregnant before Hartley becomes chess master! His life got ruined when he divorced, but this gave him enough time to become full time cheater.

In 2007 Chess.com started and Hartley joined in early 2008. Chess.com is weird site somehow. Engines are prohibited, but staff had for long time no clear measures how to distinguish cheaters from honest players. Some cheaters have been banned in the process, however in small amounts compared to increasing number of members, so Hartley used to be relatively in safe. However many other cheaters were so and step by step the site became spoiled by them as many really good players joined The Dark Side too. Hartley was a humble cheater: he never broke the 2600 line. Being a single, he joined the community of chessplayers with obvious intent to date women, but no luck: teenage girls are monitored by fathers, young women aren't naive to date older men on the internet and soon have real boyfriends, married women aren't interested in dating single losers and fake women are just fake. This didn't stop him and he continued in his attempts, pretending chess skills and satisfying his ego in unfair chess.

The whole situation started to change, when two great members of Chess.com, SteveCollyer and Costelus, tried hard to help people realize the truth. The Summer of 2009 was filled with discussions, whether former #1 player Ouachita was excellent honest player or cheater. Both sides had their arguments and the whole controversy seemed undecided, however now from retrospect, it seems clear. SteveCollyer introduced a method already used on Red Hot Pawn. Ouachita was indeed cheater. Hartley understood the danger and thus he decided to undermine Steve's and Costelus's efforts in the following cases: Achmatova and Wikstrom. While insistently disputing Steve's method, he reported Costelus for unfair behaviour towards Wikstrom and continued to push on staff to remove Costelus from Chess.com. When cheater Wikstrom left the site by himself, staff decided to act and removed Costelus too (in March). Now the Polar_Bear woke up angry. When i wrote that Wikstrom was indeed cheater, Hartley blocked me and blathered about unfair behaviour of "witch hunters", not bothering to hide his gloat about Costelus. That was the last drop. Needless to say, i got completely furious. Damn, is he idiot and wants Chess.com full of cheaters like Wikstrom, or is he cheater too? I downloaded a first version of analyzer and tested him. POSITIVE. Now i knew: Hartley is cheater. I sent a report (in May), but nothing happened and i had to remain silent. I waited and waited and waited... It took two long months, when Erik visited the cheating forum and started conversation with SteveCollyer. Erik Allebest, the head of staff and owner of Chess.com, had to realize, that some members aren't satisfied with cheating detection and decided to invite some members to indirectly participate. The problem: Hartley got by Erik's mistake invitation too. I repeated my analysis, now more precisely with more games and re-opened my report, followed by two other members. Our results were identical: Hartley is cheater beyond any reasonable doubt. The probability of statistical fluctuation and Hartley being honest fair player was in magnitude of atomic/cosmic proportions. Two or three days later, Hartley was finally banned.

Cheater no.5: Ramachandran Nambissan

Ramachandran Nambissan

Computer monkey and "astrologer"

Human's mind has its evolution as a person ages. A man slowly loses the ability to understand and remember new things, life gets into calm, repetitious lines and grey-beard enjoys a love inside his family. In ancient ages, when magical thinking was common and technical progress wasn't so fast, aged people were appreciated for their wisdom. Today the situation is different. Yesterday's pioneers can easily become useless narrow minds today even in their own professional domains. Knowledge and wisdom of olds have become obsolete, their way of thinking is considered incompetent. The pressure always evokes counterpressure however and people of all ages are searching alternative fields to fulfil themselves.

This booby from India is no exception. He used to be renowned computer scientist. He has written several publications about computer programming and applications. As the time advanced and he retired, his interests shifted towards Vedic Astrology and online chess. There is some relationship: astrologers calculate destiny from positions of celestial bodies, the modern ones even use computers, cheaters use computers to calculate moves from position of chess pieces. We don't know how succesful Mr. Nambissan became with his quackeries, but as online chess cheater he was succesful, because it took some time before he finally received ban from Chess.com. The astonishing reality is that he is still active player at GameKnot.