Fair Play Update
- 11 May 2020
This report is written at
the halfway stage of both
leagues – after Round 5 of
the 4NCL Online, and after
Round 4 of Junior 4NCL
Online.
Total players on the
barred list: 19
Players who were
prevented from playing any
games in these competitions
due to having accounts
marked as using computer
assistance: 7
Players who were using
computer assistance during
their games: 12, of which
- 8 were using
an engine during their games
- 4 were
attempting to gain
assistance using other
methods during competition
games
Sanctions have not yet
been fully imposed in all
cases, some of which are
pending the result of
appeals.
Since the last update,
there have been two
additional cases of
attempting to use other
methods during competition
games. The rest of the cases
representing the increase in
the numbers happened in
games taking place outside
4NCL Online competition,
i.e. the accounts were
flagged for using computer
assistance as a result of
their play in other games on
the website.
These numbers represent a
modest increase from my last
update, but the 4NCL is
advised that these figures
compare favourably with
other events ongoing at the
moment of a similar scale
around the world.
We continue to receive a
significant number of emails
on Wednesdays advising us of
players who, in the opinion
of the author of the email,
are using computer
assistance. This is often
accompanied by a PGN file,
or screenshots of Lichess
with centipawn analysis, and
perhaps an explanation of
critical moves that can’t
possibly be made by humans.
We do recognise that there
will be concerns, but the
data provided will always be
far less than we already
have available by the time
they have sent the email;
and even that is less than
the information that Lichess
has available. I have
stopped counting the number
of such emails, but the
number is approximately 40,
and still 0 of them have
been corroborated by the
data we have available, or
by Lichess. However, we are
pleased that so far these
cases are being handled
professionally by email or
phone, and to the best of
our knowledge that are no
social media witch-hunts
about the 4NCL Online
competitions that do so much
to damage the competition.
We are pleased to continue
to receive such emails even
if we are limited in what we
can say in reply, but it may
be that people could save
themselves a lot of time by
trying to gather the
evidence for the prosecution
themselves.
It is heartening that
there have been a number of
other examples of good
sportsmanship that have been
referred to us:
-
A player
disconnected while short
of time in a drawn
ending, and after
discussions between the
captains to try to get
the player connected in
time failed, the
captains and players
agreed to declare the
game drawn, rather than
with the victor claiming
a win on time.
We are heartened that
notwithstanding the
increased number of
incidents included at the
top of this report, players
and captains are showing
excellent sportsmanship in
other areas which does
themselves and the league
itself proud. We hope that
the competition continues
very much in this spirit,
and that the rest of the
4NCL Online and Junior 4NCL
Online competitions continue
without cases of using
computer assistance in
competition games.
Alex
Holowczak
11 May, 2020
