That’s not what I described. I haven’t yet seen software do what I described.
I purchased a used PDA for about $30 off Ebay, and used Enotate, which is approved. I installed it on the SD card so that it saves the games there, and can easily be plugged into a computer to transfer to ChessBase. Enotate software is allowed.
Has this software been submitted for approval to USCF? It may not be that it wouldn’t be approved, or USCF bureaucracy at all.
Given the amount of electronic cheating that has occurred, I’m glad we are being careful. Tournaments need to be credible.
If the maker of yNotate wants it to be certified, he just has to go through the process with the USCF to have it certified for use. The maker’s assertions to meeting the USCF conditions is nice, but it still needs certified and I haven’t heard of any barriers to that. The issue though isn’t simply that it locks out the phone portion of the device. It has to lock down the device so that only the scoresheet/diagram is running. The program looks like it does meet the requirements. Have the maker submit it. A $0.99 app that does the job would be great.
You do need to realize though that someone could develop a skin that has the same appearance as this app but runs a chess engine to provide hints to the user. That is why there is a reluctance to allow just any device running an app.
Does it also lock out the phone from being used for outgoing calls and lock the phone out from ringing or in any form indicating that there is an incoming call?
And if the answer to all of the above is yes, then how easy is it to unlock it again?
It looks like it just sets the phone into Airplane Mode which stops phone and data in and out. Based on the video, it stops you from easily popping out of the application.
Aren’t players required to register their devices with the tournament staff before the event? If the device is approved and registered with the TDs in advance, it makes it easier to deal with issues and arguments. That has been my experience when dealing with the Monroi. I have seen some of the chess clock apps. They look cool, but take a real beating during time pressure; hit it the right way and the phone spins right off the table.
One technique that can be tried is to ask your opponent (and TD) if it is OK to use such non-approved devices at non-FIDE rated events (FIDE rules and regulations are a bit different).
To get those devices approved all it takes is to submit them to USCF. I suspect, however, the authors of such software are unaware of that routine.
As far as I know, only the Monroi is approved by FIDE so is the only ESS approved for use in FIDE rated events. This is an expensive proposition for the manufacturer, I believe on the order of $40K just for the test. FIDE does (at least say they do and I believe them) rigorous testing to insure that when in the score keeping mode there is no helpful chess program running in the background. The USCF approved the eNotate but I don’t think they did any testing at all. In our state scholastic, a player was caught cheating while using the e-notate platform, but I understand that he was using a chess program rather than the e-notate program. If the use of several platforms proliferate, it will become very difficult for the TDs to identify the actual program running and its capabilities for all devices. Someone mentioned the I-pod Touch as not having phone capability, but it and other devices have Internet capability so communication is not eliminated.
We have to keep in mind that chess players are suspicious and worried about cheating. The fear can impact play and this is an important consideration. Yes, someone can create a $1 app, but who assures us and the players that it does not assist the player with moves or send the game to an accomplice for analysis. The Monroi has transmission but no reception capability while in the record mode. As far as I am aware, the only reception mode is at the start of the record mode when it downloads the pairing info.
eNotate normally runs on a Dell Axim x50or x51, which have internet capability. That’s the part of the application – turning off the wireless signal. That is simply an application requirement now, since any device you run will have wireless capability of some kind. Sevan had a pretty good idea for verification although I’m not sure how well it was implemented. A hologram sticker that would go on the device that the TD could see and be more assured that the player went through all the hoops to have eNotate.
[size=85]NOTE: I don’t have eNotate or any other electronic scoresheet.[/size]
I do not plan to allow any electronic score keeping programs that run on generic platforms in my tournaments. I can handle E-notate because the Dell Axiom is hard to find. If they port it or some other ESS to Android or IOs, get it approved by the USCF and/or FIDE, I’ll just have to announce a major variation that these devices will not be accepted. I think the small gain of ease of recording is overwhelmed by the increase in the ease of cheating. There is no way a TD could monitor all the possible ways an app could have the look and feel of an approved app but allow cheating.
We have a major problem in OTB games that any smart phone can beat 99% of the tournament players. If you connect to the internet, then you can play at 2700+ level. Given that fact, which will not change, how can we talk about allowing any generic platform into the playing hall? Haven’t there been long forum discussions about cheating, how easy it is, and how to prevent it?
Mike, the organizer is entitled to designate a scoresheet for a given competition, and Rule 15A requires that the players use the designated scoresheet. Your major variation isn’t a variation at all.
The organizer is allowed to require the use of a certain scoresheet. However, simultaneously disallowing a player to keep score on a USCF approved electronic scoresheet is not part of Rule 15A. Players have been known to keep duplicate scores, especially in events where the organizer claims ownership of the required or original scoresheet. I have seen players keep duplicate score on a MonRoi and a paper scoresheet as well.
As I predicted a while back, eNotate has gained in popularity over the last few years, at least judging from the number of players I saw using it in CCA events this year compared to 2010. At the World Open this year, there were at least a dozen players running it on Dell Axims (I stopped counting at 10 on the ballroom level, and saw at least two more downstairs in my travels).
It is just too cost effective not to catch on - and as long as no one develops a competitively priced electronic scoresheet with dedicated hardware, eNotate will remain an extremely attractive alternative. The problem TDs have been running into, as Mr. Regan correctly notes, is trying to police the number of platforms that can run eNotate.
Having said that, eNotate is a USCF approved electronic scoresheet. The certification does not restrict the user to a certain platform. Therefore, based on the number of players who appear to be adopting it, Mr. Regan would be well advised to announce any proscription related to eNotate as a major variation in pretournament publicity, per Rule 26B.
) , but that was with the original iPhone.