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Chess player banned 10 years for cheating
An Indian chess player caught using a bluetooth headset to receive tips in a chess match has been banned for 10 years. The earpieces were sewn into a cloth cap he always wore and pulled over his ears; on the other end were accomplices who used a computer to relay good moves. While the player, Umakant Sharma, can still play chess in a non-professional sense, this will stay with him as a black mark.Now imagine that scenario in online gaming. In most cases, widespread cheating is caught and IP addresses or game keys are blocked / suspended. However, one is still able to play by altering his or her IP addresses, using a different email, or repurchasing the game. Certainly one's image is not tarnished outside of the realm of gaming, a fate we suspect Sharma might succumb to. You would never have to explain why you were caught with an Aimbot while applying for a job.Then again, we could be wrong. Has there ever been a time you have experienced (or heard from a friend) where in-game cheating affected your out-of-game life?
Chess cheater's Bluetooth scheme sniffed out
It's no surprise to hear of someone using mobile / wireless technology to their advantage, and in the latest case of cleverness slapped down by the law, a scandalous Indian chess player was banned for a solid decade in order to "send a message" about how serious they took his act. Umakant Sharma had reportedly logged rating points at an alarming pace in the last 18 months of play, and even qualified for the national championship. But alas, racking up such insane numbers was bound to attract an investigation, and it was discovered that Sharma had been communicating to outside accomplices via a mobile handset and a miniscule Bluetooth earpiece stitched inside a cloth cap, which allowed an external computer to direct his each and every move. While we fully understand the wrongness of such a ploy, we can't deny the humor in envisioning seasoned chess players becoming enraged at their sudden misfortunes, but we'd highly recommend ditching the headgear (and any devious thoughts) before entering a tournament yourself.
Computer beats world chess champion, moving on to poker and go
Well, it appears that our days as a species of lording supreme in the world of chess have pretty definitively come to an end. A six-game chess match between Vladimir Kramnik (pictured), the reigning world chess champion, and the computer Deep Fritz, has just concluded. Kramnik lost, 4-2 to the multi-processor version of Chessbase's commercial software in Bonn, Germany. (To Kramnik's credit, in 2002, he'd held Deep Fritz to a draw.) However, this match may end interest in further advancing the field of chess-playing computers, according to Monty Newborn, a professor of computer science at McGill University. Newborn, one of the people who organized the match, told The New York Times: "I don't know what one could get out of it at this point. The science is done." But don't think the story ends there, as Newborn added: "If you are interested in programming computers so that they compete in games, the two interesting ones are poker and go. That is where the action is." So watch out, World Series of Poker card sharks, there's about to be a digital throwdown comin' your way.
Chess pr0n
Lovechess: Age of Egypt is your typical chess game, except for the fact that you sexually pound your enemies into submission. Not since the original Battle Chess has there been a game forcefully thrusting the ancient game into a new light. The board is divided into two sides, boys vs. girls, and as the two forces attempt to dominate each other, the player is greeted to some fornication animation. Sadly, you only get the animations by purchasing the full game, the demo turns off the sweet love -- for the sake of internets children.The concept is cool, but the graphics are a bit blah. Considering the game's main selling point is sex, you'd think they'd have given a large variety of customizable options for different players desires. The men "stand at attention" the entire time, everyone is fully waxed and, although this may not matter to some, what about boy-on-boy or girl-on-girl chess action? It'll certainly be interesting to see what the mod community does with this.
Konami code hidden in upcoming online chess game
Online Chess Kingdoms is going to be unlike any chess game before it. For example, it's one of the only chess games I can think of that has a story mode. As Konami producer Jason Ray wrote in a recent interview with IGN, "There is no reason to have a story mode, but the game is far more interesting with it." Jason's right: chess doesn't need a story. Heck, it doesn't even need a GOOD story. Almost anything will beat staring at the Chessmaster's menacing face.Besides a story mode, there are other things that should make this game appear on your radar. Firstly, it'll support Infrastructure multiplayer, so you can lay down the chess smackdown to people around the world (strangely, it doesn't feature Ad-Hoc multiplayer). Secondly, the game allows you to use the infamous Konami code. What will the code unlock? Wer'e not sure yet, but hopefully, it'll be good as the cheat from DDR Ultramix.
Dutch voting machines hacked to play chess
With as much fuss as we raise over the myriad of Diebold security and stability failures, it looks like we've got it pretty good in the States when compared to the e-voting methods of the Dutch. Their ES3B voting system is based on circa-1980's computing hardware, which seems to be rather lacking in the areas of physical and software security. A few hackers got a hold of a unit and essentially had their way with the machine. Their first order of business was installing a chess program, since Jan Groenendaal of the Nedap/Groenendaal company -- which manufactures the machines -- had responded to the hackers' claims of it being possible with a smarmy "I'd like to see that demonstrated." After they got bored playing chess against a weak sauce 68000 processor with 16KB of RAM, they installed their own "PowerFraud" app to demonstrate methods for generating phony election results, and then went on to do some RF reading that helped them discover ways to wirelessly detect which votes were being registered on the machines by spotting "spurious emissions" from the computer display whenever it gets refreshed. The hackers responsible were kind enough to recommend fixes for most of their hacks, but we would think a bit of a technology refresh could help these Nedap/Groenendaal guys immensely. Or maybe Diebold can give them a ring once they're done botching our elections and they can all work together to further their respective nefarious and democracy-ending aims.[Via Hack-A-Day]
Legendary computer scientist Alan Kotok has died
Alan Kotok, a pioneer that helped create the first video game, SpaceWar! on the PDP-1, and helped the joystick, this site's namesake, become an icon of video gaming passed away peacefully in his sleep over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. His help in creating Spacewar! was invaluable, although not necessarily conventional. In one memorable incident, Alan forced Steve Russel (the main author of Spacewar!) to get his act together by calling up the maker of the PDP-1 to get some math routines required to write movement code for the game. Once he'd received the code he slammed down the tape on Steve's desk (who was widely known by the nickname "slug") and said "Here you are Russel. Now what's your excuse?" Steve got the point and went on to finish Spacewar!Had Alan not taken the initiative like he did, the entire history of video games could have turned out differently. A man called Nolan Bushnell was later inspired by Spacewar! to try and make video games accessible to everyone: he eventually went on to found a little company called Atari. There's nothing to say that games wouldn't be as popular as they are today had Alan not given Steve Russel the kick up the arse he needed, but it certainly makes you think.Another of Kotok's achievements was working with John McCarthy of Stanford to create the first computer program that could credibly play chess. The program, which could look at 1100 positions per second, took part in an international competition with a USSR chess program in 1966. The match took nine months to complete! Alan is survived by his three children and one grandchild. His wife, Judie, passed away last year. Rest in peace, Alan.Update: see comments.
