Inspector Morse

Arcangelo Ricciardi... Apparently been a very naughty boy.

Lol. I still remember Morse Code from my Boy Scout days.

Must have been a slow process using eye blinks. From the article: ...Arcangelo Ricciardi, who is ranked 51,366 in the world...

http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=852384

That ranking is far too high. In England alone there are probably close to a thousand players who would have a FIDE rating higher than his if their national ECF grade was converted to FIDE.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/italian-chess-player-cheated-using-081857620.html#a894V9R

Officials at a prestigious chess tournament in Italy called checkmate on one of the
participants, accusing him of cheating through a combination of Morse code and a tiny camera.

Italian chess player Arcangelo Ricciardi, 37, was expelled after raising suspicions when
he won his way through to the eighth and penultimate round of the International Chess
Festival of Imperia in Liguria.

Ranked 51,366 in the world going into the tournament, Ricciardi, a former beekeeper,
had not been expected to make much progress.

But over a period of seven days, he won five matches and drew two, beating a French
grandmaster and an international master from Slovakia – both in the world’s top 3,000
players – along the way

The tournament referee was suspicious of Ricciardi’s behaviour during matches,
particularly the way he kept his hand tucked under his armpit.

After refusing to open his shirt, he was asked to go through a metal detector, and a
pendant was discovered hanging around his neck.

Inside the pendant was a tiny video camera and a small box was found under his armpit.
It is believed the camera transmitted his chess matches to an accomplice or computer,
which then offered him suggested moves through a series of Morse code signals to the
box under his arm.

“In chess, performances like that are impossible,” tournament referee Jean Coqueraut
told La Stampa newspaper.


“I didn’t think he was a genius, I knew he had to be a cheat. I kept on looking at him. He
was always sitting down, he never got up.

“It was very strange; we are taking about hours and hours of playing. But most
suspicious of all, he always had his arms folded with his thumb under his armpit. He
never took it out.”

After noticing that Ricciardi was batting his eyelids in a bizarre fashion, the referee said
he realised what was happening.

“He was deciphering signals in Morse code,” said Mr Coqueraut.

The referee said Ricciardi drank a glass of water and wiped his face with a handkerchief
during matches to hide the pendant.

An investigation by the Italian Chess Federation is underway. As he was expelled from
the tournament, Ricciardi was heard to say: “They didn’t let me play.“

He claimed his pendant was a good luck charm.

-----

I wonder why they felt the need to inform us he was a an ex-beekeeper
.
Are beekeepers untrustworthy people?

Or is it a typo and it's bookkeeper. I've never trusted those people.
You lend them a chess book and they keep it.

(which reminds me Datafly - where is that book on 'Cheapo Opening Traps ' I lent you?)

Well it seems that technology like the Morse code and a camera comes from Mission: Impossible (the revival series) in this case was an episode using a ring to transmit the chess movements using Morse code.
-
The episode is 'The Pawn': When a Czechoslovakian nuclear scientist and chess grand master wishes to defect to the west with his daughter, the IMF must get him out from under the watchful eye of his minder, a suspicious Soviet colonel.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0649403/
-
So the Italian situation is maybe another spy game....

It turns out he was not cheating at all.

He was using the camera in the pendant to set up a live feed to his blog.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
It turns out he was not cheating at all.

He was using the camera in the pendant to set up a live feed to his blog.

Which brings up questions about people who blog for RHP? 😛

And yes, that was sarcasm. GP's ability and integrity have never been in doubt.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
It turns out he was not cheating at all.

He was using the camera in the pendant to set up a live feed to his blog.

So he just miraculously went up 10,000 places on the totem pole in one tourny?

I have a spy camera in every RHP members house.

it was put there by a trained bee.

---

One matter that has been raised on another site and here in the past.

They are catching the cheats because they are performing OTB well above their grade
and standing out. What if a good player was at it and his/her wins were not so unexpected.

This position was posted on the 'unofficial' ECF site as a possible clue.

Ricciardi the Beekeeper (1829) - Mazur (2378), Imperia 2015 (White to play.)


Qc3 and Nc4, are good moves. The Beekeeper found another move given as best by the computers.

See if you can figure out what it may be and then do you think an 1829 player would have rejected the other two and played this.

“It's only envy,” he told La Stampa in a follow-up article. “I always knew my potential, but I was never able to express it. It's all false. I've played for 30 years, it's a genuine passion. But only now, thanks to yoga and self-training I managed to free my mind from tensions and emotions.”

Strange... no mention of the Analyse Board feature.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Qc3 and Nc4, are good moves. The Beekeeper found another move given as best by the computers.

See if you can figure out what it may be and then do you think an 1829 player would have rejected the other two and played this.

I had to use an engine to help me out. If the Beekeeper found the move that my engine found (after about 30 seconds thought) then he is, without doubt, a dirty rotten cheat!
Reveal Hidden Content

Originally posted by Data Fly
I had to use an engine to help me out. If the Beekeeper found the move that my engine found (after about 30 seconds thought) then he is, without doubt, a dirty rotten cheat!
[hidden]g4!![/hidden]

Because it allows an uncontested N-e4 queen check? Don't see what that does right now.

1.g4 Bxg4 (probably best to leave it) 2.Ne4.


Where does the Queen go - look out for Nf6+
If Qe6 Nfg5.

Like to think I may have seen g4 but I would have settled for Qc3 or Nc4.
probably not considered g4 it's not your everyday move. Qc3 and Nc4 are.
Maybe playing the game, when I like to take fantasy trips on my opponents clock
I may have have hit it.

However I'm not sure if that is 100% proof - not on one move just because I never saw it.
If a 2600 player played it, nobody would be suspicious. That is where is the danger lay.
Good players using devices.

However I'm not sure if that is 100% proof - not on one move just because I never saw it.
If a 2600 player played it, nobody would be suspicious. That is where is the danger lay.
Good players using devices.[/b]

Absolutely. Say someone like Wei Yi, or Vladislav Artemiev, the 17 year old Russian rated 2675 started playing a little better, no one would think anything of it. He (or someone like him) could get away with a rather steep improvement.