– What is the extent of the cheating phenomenon in chess?
Nearly one out of three players admitted to having cheated. Thus, the scope is enormous. The good news is that most of the cheating events didn’t involve computer assistance (the worst type), and the players did this only once or twice and then stopped.
– What are the means and procedures implemented by FIDE to fight against cheating in chess?
Essentially, there are two primary strategies for combating cheating. The first is the typical reactive strategy, in which FPL serves as a prosecutor and responds to complaints. Another option is a proactive, preventative strategy – FPL officials work both at online and over the board tournaments to ensure that mobile devices are not misused in the playing area.
– What are the role and goals of the FIDE Fair Play Commission? What actions are you going to implement in the future?
FIDE’s FPL is the global prosecutorial body. Usually, we deal with so-called hard cases when the tournament is international or when the national federations are incapable to deal with them. Our primary objective in the future is to educate arbiters and other stakeholders about the dangers of cheating. They will then be able to cooperate more effectively with FPL and serve as Fair Play Officers in various competitions.
– What are the sanctions provided by FIDE in case of proven cheating?
Typically, for cheating, we offer a two or three-year suspension together with the loss of the international title. All decisions are available to the public on the Ethics & Disciplinary Commission’s website.
– What are the main motivations of cheaters?
Apart from the apparent economic motives, more subtle motivations are also examined. Among them, the feeling of victimization is worth emphasizing. It is not so relevant whether a person was victimized or not. The feeling itself is a trigger for dishonesty. Another common reason is believing that your opponents are cheating, so players try to justify their own behaviour as some sort of levelling of the scales.
– What are the most frequent types of cheating that FIDE has identified?
Computer-assisted cheating and match-fixing. However, more infringements are punishable, for instance, failure to cooperate with the investigative panel, refusal to be frisked or scanned, technical fair play violation, etc.