Cheating at Chess and Other Pastimes

The Christmas season may seem an odd time to bring up the subject of cheating. But it’s also college exam season -- and besides, some stories are impossible to resist.

So: Last week a chess player named Boris Ivanov was booted from a tournament at Navalmoral de la Mata, in western Spain, on suspicion of cheating. This is hardly newsworthy; players do get kicked out from time to time. Ivanov is a special case: For the past year, the young Bulgarian has been leading European chess authorities a merry chase, winning games his rating predicts he should lose, consistently playing moves that match the “top line” of the leading computer programs, and defying every effort to catch him breaking the rules.