In the aftermath of the district individual championship, a player from SK Weilheim was deleted from the list of results.
The SK fears that the reputation of the club will suffer.
The case shows the difficulty in terms of "online chess".
County - computers make a lot of things easier - but sometimes they make things really complicated.
For the first time, the “Chess District Zugspitze”, forced by Corona, did not organize its individual district championship in a face-to-face event, but as an online tournament.
"With 116 registrations in several classes, the demand was very high," said Thomas Lengfeld, 2nd chairman of the chess group.
However: In master class 2 the result was changed afterwards.
The winner, a player from the chess club (SK) Weilheim, was deleted from the list.
There is a suspicion that unauthorized chess software was used during the tournament.
The SK Weilheim fears that the reputation of the club will suffer and refers to the presumption of innocence.
Chess programs as support are prohibited in the tournament
One thing is clear: During tournament games, players are prohibited from using PC chess programs for the purpose of support.
The tournament was held on the “Lichess” platform.
In the invitation to tender, the chess group pointed out that "underhanding will not be accepted and that the games will be analyzed for suspicious behavior by 'lichess' in the background".
The terms of use specified by the operator - ie "Lichess" - must be observed.
According to Lengfeld, these “provide, among other things, that all games are checked for deviations from the norm with the aid of the most powerful algorithms and sanctioned by the operator in the event of violations”.
Platform "Lichess" examines games with algorithms
In master class 2, the player from SK Weilheim - he had taken first place with 6.5 points - was subsequently blocked by the operator with the note that he had “violated the chess server terms of use”.
This is "no evidence of fraud, but it did cause the tournament management to check the results," explains functionary Lengfeld.
After consulting with the person concerned, the tournament management decided to remove the player from the official result list.
Lengfeld emphasizes: The player is not accused of fraud within the meaning of the "offline" game rules on the part of the Zugspitze chess group.
The server operator, on the other hand, rejected the player's protest - with a "standard letter".
According to the Zugspitzkreis, the Weilheim chess club lodged a timely protest against the decision to remove the player from the list of results.
According to the game rules, the body responsible for treatment has up to six weeks to make a decision.
"Such a thing has not yet been met," said Lengfeld.
A protest has been lodged, a decision has not yet been made
The Weilheim chess club takes the position that you cannot remove the player from the list if there is no evidence.
One would have to expect "that a reason will be provided," says SK press officer Thomas Lochte.
"The chess circle does not do a good figure here." The matter is annoying for the club: "Then the rumor circulates that one of us has cheated," says Lochte.
Until the opposite is proven, “the presumption of innocence applies”.
The player, who denies any guilt, has lodged a protest himself.
He doesn't want to invest too much energy for his place in the results list.
For him, "the matter was done," reports Lochte.
In order to be able to sanction future violations or cases of blocking by a chess server "more easily, the tournament regulations for online chess that have already been drawn up will be submitted to the upcoming district assembly for voting," Lengfeld said.
Comparable cases like the one at the individual championship are not yet known in the district, "not least because the topic of 'online chess' has only gained importance since mid-2020".