Brief description of the organisation/initiative
SzuperChess is the first real and effective solution to combat online cheating when playing chess, by also providing secure online chess tournaments.
SzuperChess is “Zoom adapted to chess tournaments”, this is what the co-founder of SzuperChess calls the system behind SzuperChess. After understanding that in order to control all kinds of cheating you need to know what the player is doing at all times, SzuperChess decided to create a specific system for tournaments that had to be much more efficient than the currently used ones, which are mostly based on video calls.
Challenge overview
Due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, there has been a boom in online chess. In recent months, thousands of online tournaments have been organised and many of them have had significant prizes. It has been very useful to replace those live tournaments that had to be cancelled, but also as a demonstration of the great potential of online chess in the future.
However, in order to carry out online competitions safely and professionally, one must deal with the big problem of cheating players. The last few months have proven the strength of online chess but also the weakness that it unfortunately has.
The number of players caught cheating has grown exponentially, and this has caused many chess players to be wary of playing online tournaments, as the current methods used to deal with cheating are not entirely effective. There have been a lot of false positives and many players who cheat are not penalised for lack of evidence, which is very unfair to all those honest players like you who are simply trying to have fun playing their favourite sport and competing for prizes, just like they do in live tournaments, but without having to worry about whether the opponent has been using outside help or not.
Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise
Created by chess players for chess players, SzuperChess has been established with the aim of meeting a great need in the online chess sector: to effectively control and detect those players who cheat, so that the tournaments can be carried out in a professional and safe way.
This is why the SzuperChess team, after having spent a long time studying the sector, has come up with an anti-cheating system that allows it to analyse every player in a very precise and sophisticated way. The team does it while they complete each of the tournaments without the player having to make an extra effort or buy any special device.
Management structure and governance
Joan Buch Prades is the CEO and founder of Szuper Chess. An engineer by profession, but an entrepreneur at heart, Jean loves challenges, to learn and create new stuff, and to follow his dreams. The management team is formed of professional chess players, international arbiters, computer scientists and experts who ensure maximum professionalism and security in each of the tournaments.
Principles of work, objectives and activities
SzuperChess’s mission is to never experience being cheated again at an online chess tournament. Thanks to the anti-cheating system, chess players need to focus on what is truly important: playing chess, enjoying the tournament and competing for the prizes, the rest is guaranteed by SzuperChess.
The leading principles of SzuperChess are catching the cheater, thoroughly analysing all the games through a powerful software controlling the players while they play so that they comply with the rules at all times.
Chess players can choose the tournament they would like to participate in, with a number of options for all kinds of players, follow the detailed instructions for each tournament and do their best to enjoy.
SzuperChess consists of 2 fundamental pillars:
- Recording: Each player in each tournament is recorded using audio and video screening. All of the recordings are available to referees and organisers so that they can analyse it and make appropriate decisions.
- Artificial Intelligence: The SzuperChess system is based on very innovative facial recognition technologies, which have already proven to work in other sectors. This allows them to identify each player in real time and in an automated way.
Target groups
For chess players and lovers who want to participate in fair and transparent chess tournaments online and win prizes.
Innovation
The innovative anti-cheating system, gives light to the up-warding trend of SzuperChess with many advantages over live tournaments. The chess players save a lot of time and money, as they can play from wherever and whenever they want which eases their access to the platform and online chess world.
Key partners
SzuperChess has been supported by FIL ROUGE CAPITAL. The platform also has the support of many collaborators and partners from +20 countries: clubs, federations, organisers, recognised masters and streamers.
Impact and Evaluation
SzuperChess has been chosen as a best practice because of its innovative anti-cheating system, in terms of the technology used, and a truly game friendly and competitive platform for chess players and lovers who wish to indulge in a fair and just gaming environment.
Recommendations
SzuperChess’s business model is based on an innovative and highly effective solution to combat online cheating. A team of passionate chess players and tournaments with anti-cheating mechanisms, provide for a fair and just game, but also the team tries to minimise the number of false positives, which are very harsh and unfair to honest players who suffer from them.
Lessons Learned
From one side, the lesson learned is connected with the idea of every player who has been cheated to have a safe environment to not suffer from cheaters in tournaments. From the other side, the spread of COVID-19 led to restrictions in the social and cultural life of individuals, and thus, such an online platform for playing chess brings interest and it’s a great idea to create a sense of honesty between players and arbiters in a secure online game space.
References
The SzuperChess website.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.