The Pioneers of Cheating in Chess

by Albert Silver
10/28/2022 – In the last several weeks, the world of chess has been rocked by the accusations and allegations of cheating with the help of a computer. The idea is not new of course, but it might shock you to know the very first case of surreptitiously using a computer in a game against a grandmaster dates all the way back to 1980. You won't believe who were responsible! Here is the original video footage of the pioneers in action.

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

To be fair, there was no way to know that such a seemingly innocent incident would lead to a plague that has spread around the world, infecting players' shoes, shirts, and even World Championship toilets. The main culprit has since dedicated a great portion of his life to combatting this pandemic. Who is this evildoer to make even Sauron blush?

Garry Kasparov and Frederic Friedel in the summer of 1985 

Yes, it is hard to believe, but it was the co-founder of the chess software company, ChessBase who was the mastermind of the first instance of cheating in chess. Actually, it was an experiment in a science documentary, a Turing Test to see if one can instantly identify a computer in a game of chess. The experiment was carried out with a like-minded partner, and this brings in the second player in the experiment.

Ken Thompson, the renowned computer scientist, had just finished his third and final version of the chess computer, Belle. It was a revolutionary development, since at the time consumer chess playing machines were weak amateurs at best. Even the large experimental projects running on mainframe computers of the time were no threat to master players, never mind grandmasters. 

Ken Thompson (seated), the inventor of Unix, as he worked on Belle with James Condon.

Belle was in a league of its own. This machine, which contained dedicated hardware for its chess calculations, looked more like a small refrigerator, and would later serve as the inspiration for Chiptest, the precursor to Deep Thought and Deep Blue.

Belle's skill was unprecedented for the time. It would later score 8.5/12 in the US Open, when machines were still allowed to compete in such events, and it became the first machine ever to be certified Master by the US Chess Federation.

The first time (to the best of my knowledge) that a computer was used to clandestinely help a human player during a game, occurred in Hamburg, Germany, in August 1980. Frederic was in the process of producing a second documentary on computer and chess for German television. Ken actually recorded the show, and we have extracted the part pertaining to the Turing Test. The documentary is in German, but we have embedded English subtitles, so you can understand what is being said. The victim of the prank was grandmaster Dr Helmut Pfleger, one of the most talented German players at the time.

Full video (original 1980 footage)

This footage underwent some slight retouching to improve overall image quality, but is otherwise unchanged

Dr Pfleger was giving a simultaneous exhibition at the Hamburg Chess Festival, and Frederic decided to secretly play a computer against him. He hid a radio receiver under the hair of a young colleague, Dieter Steinwender, who was a participant in the simul. Dieter executed moves that Belle calculated.

Frederic was able to talk to Dieter from a vantage point high above the tournament hall. Ken was standing by in New Jersey to deliver the moves by phone.

Using a pair of binoculars, Frederic followed the moves on Dieter’s board. As soon as the grandmaster made a move, he relayed it by phone to Ken, who entered it into the computer.

When Helmut approached the board again, Frederic would warn Ken, who would give him Belle’s current best move. This was then dictated by radio transmission to Dieter’s earphone, and he executed it as naturally as possible on the board.

After some hours, Helmut Pfleger was winning all his games, including the one against Belle! However, at move 49 he missed a clear way to end it.

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Bb5 Nd7 9.0-0 Be7 10.Qe2 Rc8 11.Rac1 Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.g4 Bg6 14.Ne5 Ndxe5 15.Bxe5 0-0 16.Bg3 f5 17.Bd3 Bd6 18.f4 Bb4 19.g5 Qe8 20.a3 Bh5 21.Qd2 Ba5 22.b4 Bb6 23.Kh2 Rf7 24.Nb5 Rd7 25.a4 a5 26.bxa5 Bxa5 27.Qb2 Bb4 28.Be1 Bxe1 29.Rfxe1 Qd8 30.Qa3 Bf3 31.Kg3 Bh5 32.Rc2 Qa5 33.Rec1 Ra8 34.Nd6 Qxa4 35.Qxa4 Rxa4 36.Nxb7 Rxb7 37.Rxc6 Ra3 38.R1c3 Rxc3 39.Rxc3 h6 40.h4 Kf8 41.Ba6 Rb6 42.Bf1 hxg5 43.fxg5 g6 44.Kf4 Ke7 45.Ke5 Bf3 46.Rc7+ Kd8 47.Rg7 Bh5 48.Ra7 Bf3 49.Ba6 Bg2
Instead of playing the winning line given below, after which Ken would have resigned for the machine, Pfleger went for a complicated variation on the other side of the board: 50.Ra8+ Here Ken Thompson was saying he thought Belle should resign. The computer saw that 50.h5 wins easily, e.g. Be4 51.h6 Rb2 52.h7 Rh2 53.Kd6 Ke8 54.Bb5+ Kf8 55.Kxe6 50...Kc7 51.Bc8 Rb3 52.Kf4 e5+ 53.Kxe5 Rxe3+ 54.Kf6 f4 55.Be6 Kb6 56.h5 gxh5 57.g6 f3 58.Bxd5 Bh1 59.Ra1 f2 60.Rb1+ Kc7 61.Bxh1 Re1 62.Bg2 Rxb1 63.g7 Rg1 64.g8Q
In New Jersey Belle saw that the h-pawn is going to queen and it is all over. 64...f1Q+ 65.Bxf1 Rxg8 66.Bh3 Kd6 67.d5 h4 68.Be6 Rg3
0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Pfleger,H-Belle-0–11980NDR Turing Test

Immediately after the game the producers pointed a camera at Helmut Pfleger and asked him whether he had noticed anything unusual. Nothing. One of the games, they told him, had been played by a machine. Helmut was very surprised. “Which game was that?” He was amazed to hear it was the one he lost. “I really noticed nothing. Wow, these things are really playing quite well these days.

The sheer surprise: GM Pfleger is stunned that a mere machine could beat him.

The Friedel-Thompson-Belle game was of course not an example of cheating. It was an experiment in which the deception was immediately revealed. The same cannot be said about the later cases, in which the perpetrators tried to hide their activities as best they could.

Acknowledgements

Warmest thanks to Frederic Friedel for sharing the tale and footage, buried in history for so many decades. The footage is from a 1980 documentary on German TV in a series called 'Bilder der Wissenschaft' and was produced by Albrecht Fölsing and Frederic Friedel.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.