Rules

I would like to ask what little readership I have what they would do in the scenario I had at the World Open.

When your opponent cheats and the TD knowingly allows it... what do you do? Do you quit chess? Boycott that TD and tournament organizer?

For 5 years I ran TD/organized for a prominent gaming website in which any cheating infraction resulted in a YEAR ban from all hosted games. I fielded regular complaints every month that this year ban punishment was too light. I constantly heard people repeat "A cheating infraction should result in being banned forever." I always retorted that many of the cheaters are young people who do not know better. In a few years, they will come to regret what they did to the people and integrity of the game those people love.

However, now I am on the other side of the coin. I am calling a 2 minute addition to the clock too light. Most would say 2 minutes can be a lot of time... but lets put it into percentage format for perspective's sake. A 6 hour game is 360 minutes so 2min/360min is only a .5% time advantage in a game where your opponent tried to win by BREAKING the agreed rules. Is this truly a fair penalty? I would say no. I would hope most would agree with me. If you cheat in the real world, you usually face massive fines, jail time and certainly bans of certain types. In school... you get a 0 for the assignment and the class. In chess? 2 minutes? I should think the person would be forfeited, removed from the tournament and membership from USCF revoked for at least a year (as was done in my website!). What kind of punishment is two minutes? It in fact encourages people to try cheating! If they fail... so what?

My biggest worry is once cheating becomes rampant... what is to stop it from happening again and again? I mean my thing is I love this game cause we all play by the same rules and start with the same position. If this changes and there aren't any rules what is the point of this game at all?