The NFL Week 8 Roundup | Checkmate
Melilla, Spain is a cosmopolitan enclave tucked incongruously along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, roughly 350 miles southeast of the Rock of Gibraltar as the bird flies. The autonomous city abuts Morrocco (which has wanted to annex it for generations) and is flanked atop a wide semicircle that enrings its postcard-perfect beach and Port of Melilla. Within the town’s tourist zone resides the Hotel Melilla Puerto, a tired and slumping 138-room 5-story hotel that belies its youthful 21 year age. The stucco cladding of the hotel’s exterior is painted in canary yellow with thick contrasting stripes of ivory beige to add visual interest. That same exterior is degrading in-place with visible damage apparent to the naked eye where the stucco is falling away from the building in dinnerplate-sized chunks. But no matter, the interior furnishings are clean, updated, illuminated with color-changing LED lighting bars and serviceable, if a touch spartan. To FEDA, the governing body of chess in Spain, the Hotel Melilla Puerto was the picture-perfect venue to host its annual Spanish Chess Championship. Steps from a granulated sugar sand beach, the hotel guaranteed affordable $100 room rates and more than 6000 square feet on offer within the hotel’s streetside Melilla ballroom. What happened just two weeks ago at the Hotel Melilla Puerto has upended the chess word — again — instantly creating yet another crisis of confidence in what’s supposed to be a staid, contemplative, complex and to-outsiders boring sport. Ukrainian player Kirill Shevchenko, who plays for Romania, was outrageously caught with two cell phones, each accompanied by two notes that all but cemented his undoing. Kirill to this day robustly maintains his innocence and by doing so follows in a curious line of others before him who choose denial over reality. While players who cheat are permanently stigmatized, perhaps the biggest victim is chess itself. A 1,500 year old game that thrives on players seeing through and around offensive moves finds itself embroiled in yet another scandal that calls into question whether players like Kirill are one-offs or symptomatic of a larger tech-enabled systemic issue where more people than you think are on the take, proving once again that we simply can’t have nice things. Either way, checkmate.
Interestingly, cheating in chess is as old as time. It includes episodes of collusion where players intentionally lose (to help a friend gain a title such a grandmaster) or draw (to boost two players in a tournament). Collusion is not an abstract threat. Instances were discovered as far back as the Fifth American Chess Congress in 1880 and most famously the 1963 World Chess Championship where American Bobby Fischer outright accused the top three Russian finishers of colluding. Other forms of analog cheating involve violations of the so-called touch-move rule (where if a piece is touched, it must be moved), blatantly illegal moves and outright board manipulation. The cameras-on capture of in-person and online chess games has dramatically reduced such forms of low-fi sleight-of-hand trickery. But the same technology that has allowed for cloud-enabled distribution of chess tournaments in real time has offered players new tools in their digital arsenal. In most cases, player attempts to leverage the internet for answers is carried out in clumsy, ham-fisted, laughable techniques. In 2010 at the FIDE Olympiad Tournament, a trio of French players were found guilty of a three-way plot where a player would watch at home then consult a computer program for a given counter-move and then text the move to the onsite coach who would then signal to the in-tournament player what to do. By 2014 the most popular form of cheating emerged just as the iPhone was becoming ubiquitous. And so episodes of cheating-by-cellphone-in-the-restroom became the scheme du jour in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021 across tournaments from Dubai to Massachusetts to Moscow and beyond. And who could forget 2022’s famed Sinquefield Cup where world champion Magnus Carlsen accused American rookie Hans Niemann of cheating despite the lack of evidence at the tournament. Sure Hans had admitted to consulting the internet with dozens of games hosted on chess.com as a young teenager, but everything was on the up-and-up at the Sinquefield, he proclaimed. Hans was strip searched and the restroom was wanded before being allowed to continue play. Magnus quit the tournament in disgust (after losing) and Hans would soon follow. But the ugly underbelly of chess was forever exposed to the outside world, a stain up until that point known only to those who played. A world where everyone suspected everyone and no one could be trusted. Every move, every restroom break, every intention — suspect.
Which leads us back to the Hotel Melilla Puerto two weeks ago last Sunday when the Spanish Chess Championship was taking place in the bright, sunlit Melilla ballroom with rows upon rows of players staring intently at the chessboards before them, their brows furrowed, the room enrobed in silence. Romanian player Kirill Shevchenko was having quite the heater. The 22 year old had just drawn (tied) with Amin Bassem, the best player in Africa. In the second round, he defeated five-time Spanish champion Paco Vallejo. Paco was skeptical of Kirill almost from the ouset of their match. Upon defeat, he complained to referees of Kirill’s unusual frequency of breaks to visit the restroom. Further, Paco complained of the length of Kirill’s absences. In Paco’s telling, Kirill’s amateurish tell was his habit of making numerous rapid moves immediately after returning from break, without thought. Referees went to the cameras in the adjacent hallways and found the footage they needed to time his breaks. Officials searched the restroom and found a cellphone with a note taped to the back simply inscribed: Do Not Touch! A day earlier, a restroom attendant found another cellphone with the same cryptic note inscribed on the back. That phone would go unclaimed. Forensic tests on the writing sample were collected. The ink matched perfectly a pen in Kirill’s hotel room and the penmanship exactly matched that of his tournament registration card. Despite being caught red-handed, getting ejected from the championship with both games forfeited, Kirill maintains his innocence. The Romanian Chess Federation is looking to appeal the ejection claiming officials have not offered any iota of evidence Kirill owned both phones. They liken the Spanish chess officials to mere TV detectives looing to wrap-up a threadbare so-called investigation in the time is take to bake a cake. Or a motive. Kirill for his part quietly left the tournament, checked out of his hotel room and went home.
The cautionary tales illustrated by Kirill in Melilla, Hans (allegedly) at the Sinquefield and an alarming proliferation of countless others in a long line of cheaters before them raises serious questions and concerns about participants in a strategic sport/game founded on trust. At the same time, the governing bodies of chess (FIDE and USCF) don’t seem to be doing much to address a fundamental issue that is getting more corrosive with the advancement of time. No longer are players studying and contemplating bespoke moves, they’re scheming to leverage technology in the most unobtrusive and undetectable manner possible. Paradoxically, that the cheaters caught thus far have been so blundering and inept is perhaps the one stroke of luck for the honest players who remain. It exposes what everyone suspects to be true. And it hopefully forces the hand of FIDE and USCF. Maybe begin metering out lifetime bans for those brazen enough to cheat in-tournament (as opposed to the current speeding-ticket one year suspension). Maybe enlist cellphone jamming technology on-site during tournament play. Maybe restroom attendants similar to drug testing regime standard protocol. Yes such extremes measures seem unthinkable, likely unworkable and absolutely counterintuitive to a game prefaced upon sportsmanship. But the trajectory and reputation of competitive chess can’t suffer much more humiliation. You lose both and there’s no trust, the death knell of any game. The advent of AI and the relentless miniaturization of electronic devices is a testament to humankind’s technological prowess. It’s only a matter of time before brazen chess players attempt to leverage such progress in ways undetectable, smart and sophisticated. At that point, well, what’s the point of a human being playing against the internet personified in an opponent in physical being only. Let’s see if chess’ governing bodies can adapt and evolve with the ever-present deceit within the players it oversees. Let’s see if they can take as much care in rooting out miscreants as choosing an accommodating venue to host a chess championship in, say, Melilla, Spain. FIDE and USCF, your move.
As we check-in on Week 8 in the NFL, we have lots of moves from across the League to consider, rethink, watch and rewatch. OF COURSE I’m referring to that 67-yard Hail Mary pass that WAS QB sensation Jayden Daniels heaved into the heavens without knowing its whereabouts before succumbing to a crush of teammates, cacophony and joy seconds later. The Bears clamored into town on Sunday seemingly in witness protection mode as the team was shutout the first half of the then-listless game. A low scoring game up until then (and really overall), CHI came alive on the back of rookie QB Caleb Williams who put on quite the show in the back half of the game. The game really came alive in the final 30 seconds with the lead changing twice. With his final possession and down to mere seconds, Jayden found himself with unusual freedom and choice (thanks to dubious CHI defensive strategy) to pick his target. He opted for the endzone and an opportune ball deflection in the crowded scrum landed in a WR Noah Brown’s awaiting clutch and a Hollywood ending was born. An 18–15 Commanders victory quickly overtook the internet. Just as the Commanders, ahem, command the NFC East. Good on you, Jayden. Over in Cleveland, the Ravens landed with a start-studded roster and a top-heavy 5–2 record ready to further ornament their charmed season. But they didn’t account for gravity nor CLE QB Jameis Winston, in for an injured Deshaun Watson. Journeyman Jameis doesn’t play like Deshaun and he certainly doesn’t score like Deshaun — which is a great thing if you’re a Browns fan. BAL’s messy secondary was magnified by CLE’s semblance of normal. And it highlights that as great at Lamar leads on the other side of the ball, the fundamental truth that DEF wins games remains. The City Birds will whisk themselves home, lick them wounds and attempt to get their house in order. The Browns have a new lease on life and will work to reverse the rot that had set in in the first half of the season.
In Miami, the interesting return of Tua Tagovailoa (after recovering from his third concussion in two short years) raises uncomfortable questions beyond his matchup against the Packers. He maintains that he feels great and he’s ready to play football but philosophical concerns remain unspoken and certainly unheeded in the armchair doctor in all of us. Nevertheless, Tua started for his Fins who are in desperate need of something to return the franchise to just their standing of 2023. Tua remaining healthy is a start but that gate fell short on Sunday against an all-over-the-place Cards, who behind Kyler Murray are suddenly taking flight, if begrudgingly. ARI seems to be pulling all the right levers and pushing all the correct buttons with three wins in their last four games. MIA at the same time, at 2–5 are collecting Ls like they’re on sale.
In our Round Robin, the Rams are now fortified with the much-needed returns of star WRs Cooper Kupp and Puca Nacua and started the NFL week with a WIN over the hot-to-trot QB Sam Darnold and his Vikings, 30–20. The Eagles took on the Bengals as the game served as an inflection point of sorts for the team as its OFF and DEF looked in-sync once more, a reminder of sunnier years past. PHI won 37–17 but we’ll see how that symmetry hold up when facing opponents magnitudes better than Cinci. Elsewhere, the Lions blasted away TEN in effortless style, GB continued its dominance even without standout QB Jordan Love, the Saints circle the season drain (with their latest 8–26 loss to LAC) and the Jets are simply lifeless, losing to another team in freefall, the Pats, who lost their starting QB in Drake Maye to concussion protocol. Finally, the Bills whipsawed the Hawks, the Chiefs remain unbeaten as Travis Kelce finds his groove finally and the Cowboys seem to be letting their season slip away at just under the halfway mark, to a 49ers team that is unquestionably the most injury-plagued squad in the League. That America’s Team couldn’t take advantage of this headline is all you need to know about their prospects for January and beyond.
