Chess (#1051)

In the recent past, the saga of Borislav Ivanov has dominated chess gossip. The untitled 25-year-old Ivanov has single-handedly forced Fide to review its anti-cheating safeguards. He has played in his native Bulgaria, in Spain and Croatia, logging amazing scores against strong GM opposition, while occasionally losing to weak players.

It is inferred his losses have come when security measures have been stringent, or mobile connectivity poor. What is truly amazing is that Ivanov has never actually been caught doing hanky-panky, given that chess has its fair share of tech experts. Ivanov obviously has a future as a stage magicians if he chooses that profession.

Ivanov uses Houdini, though nobody has figured out how exactly he accesses it. At 3200-plus Elo, Houdini is the strongest commercial engine. Engines can be set to analyse at varying time controls. Ivanov's wins show 100 per cent move-by-move correspondence with Houdini's first choice of move at the same time controls he is playing.

Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand and co. don't achieve those ratios consistently. Such accuracy is not only flat-out impossible, it is also unnatural. Human masters tend to employ the safest methods in clearly winning positions, while engines will always take the quickest route.

There has been much speculation about Ivanov's communication gear, based on his posture. Ivanov sits totally immobile through his games, staring fixedly and unblinking at the board. This has led to the belief that he wears a radio-linked contact lens. The bladder control is forced upon him in order to transmit clear pictures to an assistant, who analyses with an engine and transmits back moves, received by deep implant ear-buds or a vibration device.

The Bulgarian Chess Federation offered to clear Ivanov if he took an "anti-cheating" test of his chess skills ( that is, solved some problems under controlled test conditions). Ivanov agreed to this and then failed to show up. Organisers and players have since resorted to unofficial boycotts, which is unpleasant, unhealthy and disruptive for everyone.

Meanwhile, at the Beijing Grand Prix, Alexander Grischuk and Shakhriyar Mamedaryov share the lead with 5 points from seven games. Peter Leko, Vassily Ivanchuk and Sergey Karjakin are all locked on 4. Grischuk is the only unbeaten player. It could still be anybody's tournament with four rounds to go and very high decision ratios including many miniatures.

In the position, BLACK TO PLAY (Mamedyarov Vs Veselin Topalov, Beijing GP 2013], Topalov, could easily hold with 20.-- Nf5 or 20.--Rd8. Instead, 20.--- Ne4?! 21.Qd3 Nxc3 22.Rac1 Nxd1? The only try is 22.--g5 23. Rxc3 gxf4 24. Qxe2 Qxc3 25. Qg4+, when white is better. Now 23.Qxe2 Nc3 24.Qc4 (1-0). Ivanov never makes this sort of error though world-class players do.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player