New cheating technologies (smartwatches etc)

[BikeMan]

I've been wondering recently about smartwatches (fitbits, garmins, apple etc) and the potential for cheating. on mine I receive SMSs and a couple of lines from emails so there is the potential for someone to be wearing a smart watch and having an observer outside sending moves by SMS. With a slight vibration alerting the player to an incoming message it would be difficult for anyone else to see the message received. The player doesn't need to touch their watch either, just casually look down and see the move before the message disappears. While this can obviously be overcome by barring spectators from the playing hall, which based on another thread appears to be happening at the Oceania Juniors, for many weekend tournaments I've been to people wander in and out frequently and it would be a shame for that to be stop occurring.

Wearing a smartwatch would be caught up under 11.3.2.1 (During a game, a player is forbidden to have any electronic device not specifically approved by the arbiter in the playing venue), however, I wonder if arbiters are looking for players wearing these types of watches. Perhaps the mobile phone announcement made at the start of many tournaments should also specifically mention removing smartwatches before we have our first allegation of smart phone cheating.

[Kevin Bonham]

At the last Olympiad, players and in theory authorised spectators (delegates, dignitaries etc) were banned from bringing watches of any kind into the playing hall. (In practice far too many spectators managed to bring their mobile phones in.)

[Patrick Byrom]

I've been wondering recently about smartwatches (fitbits, garmins, apple etc) and the potential for cheating. on mine I receive SMSs and a couple of lines from emails so there is the potential for someone to be wearing a smart watch and having an observer outside sending moves by SMS. With a slight vibration alerting the player to an incoming message it would be difficult for anyone else to see the message received. The player doesn't need to touch their watch either, just casually look down and see the move before the message disappears. While this can obviously be overcome by barring spectators from the playing hall, which based on another thread appears to be happening at the Oceania Juniors, for many weekend tournaments I've been to people wander in and out frequently and it would be a shame for that to be stop occurring. ...

And then there are cybernetic implants!

In fact, Shank has several chips in his hand, including a near field communication (NFC) chip like the ones used in Apple Pay and similar systems, which stores a virtual business card with contact information for TwinCities+. “[For] people with Android phones, I can just tap their phone with my hand, right over the chip, and it will send that information to their phone,” he says. In the past, he’s also used a chip to store a bitcoin wallet.

[Desmond]

I'd be more worried about wearables like glasses - can deliver both input and heads up display output. Couple with something like google lens for board and position recognition, engine at the back end, bada bing bada boom walking 3000+ player.