From: Eduard Werner GMX DE> Date: 13 dec 2002 Subject: Re: Proposal > > Also, Mr. Kaufman, I think you're idea isn't a bad one. Whether or not > > you've made it half-jokingly (as was suggested) it may turn out to be > > something to seriously consider. The problem is picking the 4 players. > > Anytime someone is excluded who feels they should be allowed to > > participate, feeling s are going to be hurt. Perhaps 2003 is too soon and > > more time is needed to determine the qualifying system. I agree with Mr. > > Tisdale in that the Internet could be a valuable ally here. The qualifiers > > could take place over the net and the then the main tournament could be > > made live. Of course, we could just assume that most of the people here > > aren't cheaters and that the games would be fair but probably some system > > should be discussed to try and eliminate that possibility as much as > > possible. > > I'm sure that most of the participants would not be cheaters, but > "most" isn't good enough. Even the suspicion that someone might cheat (i.e. > using computers or Japanese friends) would be a reason not to use the > internet for this purpose, unless every game were monitored by a neutral > proctor. In practice, this is probably not feasible, because in many places > the only available shogi players are all buddies, and would not be neutral. It's never neutral: Some people will have longer flights, some get easily sick when travelling, can't sleep in hotel beds and so on. And if you want to cheat, you are likely to find a possibility. But that's not the idea of the tournament, is it? Just because cheating gets easier because you could have a shogi program running or a friend sitting next to you doesn't mean that the idea shouldn't be pursued. Why don't we simply give it a try? Cheers Edi