I see what you're getting at. FIDE itself is mildly corrupt and so would probably be willing to let people like Afromeev keep on as long as they stay under FIDE's radar.

Bessel Kok's challenge may have helped clean up FIDE to some extent but they won't clean up on Afromeev unless they're forced to.

<gladiator> I don't understand your point about circularity. If Afromeev is a 2600+ player than a 13/13 score would be plausible.

Is there anything in FIDE rules that rated players have to be human?

Afromeev isn't cheating because he has a 2600+ rating (which he couldn't have without cheating, but we didn't take him cheating to get to 2600, so now he isn't cheating when he's cheating because he is 2600) and then he can score 100% against patzers all the time without cheating and increase his rating 50 points, and then he isn't cheating because he is 2650, or when he again scores 100% against patzers, and then becomes 2700, and then he isn't cheating when he scores 100% against patzers to become 2750, and so on...

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<FIDE official: I have my opinion about organising a tournament where one top rated player plays a group of low rated opponents and even some unrated opponents, but there is nothing to prevent this in the regulations.>

Like you suggest further down, there could be made changes to the rating system. But the real point here, is that Mr Afromeev didn't reach 2600 by playing 300 games against 2000 players like myself. No matter what his current rating indicates, the common belief in the chess community, is that Mr Afromeev's true level is about 2300, like his title suggests.

<FIDE official: The rating increase for a top player in this kind of tournament is minimal, as the expected result gets very high. Afromeev gained 13 rating points from this tournament, which is not a big gain.>

Mr Afromeev played some "highly rated" 2100 opponents and some 2200 opponents in this tournament, too. A perfect score of 13 points is theoretically unlikely (but possible - it's 1,3 points more than expected for the tournament), but this is the result practically every time Mr Afromeev plays his lowly rated (around 2000-2100) local opponents. Saying that FIDE can't do anything about this, is quite serious in my view, and several chess players and title holders share my view on this matter.

But it should be well-known for FIDE, which I suppose have been aware of the Afromeev situation for several years, that he recently played the "Tula Regon Final Ch" (2006) and met an average of 2418. Remember that most (every?) chess player in the world consider Mr Afromeev a 2300 player. Against an Rc of 2418 he scored 7,5/9 - which is insane for a player at 2300-level. If FIDE's official view is that Mr Afromeev is a true 2600+ player for which such a score is normal, then I will challenge FIDE and Mr Afromeev to prove that, in a tournament against true and high-profiled top 50-100 players under circumstances where nobody would suggest anyone is dropping points. This would at least mean outside Russia, and preferrably in western Europe.

An FM scoring 7,5 out of 9 against a 2418 average is out of this world, and has probably not happened since Mr Kramnik (the World Champion) skipped the IM title on his way to the GM title. I personally know many hundred chess players, but I don't know anyone who thinks Mr Afromeev's result in this tournament was "for real". I would consider this a serious issue for the trustworthyness of the rating system, FIDE and its officials.

(See this page for the mentioned tournament:
http://www.fide.com/ratings/tourarc... ) Interestingly, in this 12 man round robin, Mr Afromeev only played 9 of his 11 opponents, but every other game seemingly was played. Didn't Mr Maxim Novikov and Mr Oleg Selin "accept" the tournament's true "regulations"? I'm sure the rating report had some explanation, but probably not one I would be willing to trust.

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After looking some more, it seems like Maxim Novikov rather is deeply involved in Afromeev's "business" - maybe he was creating the pgn of Afromeev's games? ;)

Some might regard it distasteful, at least eccentric, but if it is within the rules why not ... if people are not happy it is the rating system which is at fault.

I have fun on yahoo with different IDs, eg with one I only play much weaker players than myself, another only stronger players ... get stuck sometimes but do it for fun.

Perhaps Afromeev is doing it for a laugh (comments about driver and cat support that) if he is already wealthy.

10) IV Muhamedzjanov Memorial
The IV Muhamedzjanov Memorial took place in Naberezhnye Chelny (2nd largest city in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia) 10th-18th June 2007. David Markosian of Armenia took clear first place with 7/9 a point and a half clear of the field.

Official site: http://www.nabchess.narod.ru/eur_as...

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IV Muhamedzjanov Mem Naberezhnye Chelny RUS (RUS), 11-18 vi 2007 cat. VII (2414) ---
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 ---
1. Markosian, David S m ARM 2352 * 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 = 7.0 2641 2. Balashov, Yuri S g RUS 2467 1 * = = = = = = 1 = 5.5 2488 3. Zubarev, Alexander1 g UKR 2511 0 = * = 1 1 = 1 = = 5.5 2483 4. Andreev, Eduard UKR g UKR 2433 = = = * 0 = = = 1 = 4.5 2412 5. Zhidkov, Valery S m UKR 2351 0 = 0 1 * = = = 1 = 4.5 2421 6. Mingachev, Mansur f RUS 2402 0 = 0 = = * = = 1 1 4.5 2415 7. Vorontsov, Nickolay m KAZ 2300 0 = = = = = * = 0 = 3.5 2346 8. Alavkin, Arseny m RUS 2493 0 = 0 = = = = * 0 1 3.5 2325 9. Akhmadeev, Vadim m RUS 2430 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 1 * 1 3.5 2332 10. Kupreichik, Viktor D g BLR 2402 = = = = = 0 = 0 0 * 3.0 2290 ---

Chess Today - September 2001

"Alas, the fact that FIDE did not take a hard stance against such abuse, has already tempted more people into inflating their ratings. For example, I recently received '64-Chess review' No.7 of 2001. There I read an interesting article by IM Igor Yagupov, who described how a local businessmen in his native Tula (city about 120 km from Moscow; GM Kotov was from there) last year decided first to get and then to raise his Elo. That guy - Mr. Vladimir Afromeev - has been so successful in his fraud, that he now has an international rating of 2520! I call it a fraud, because many know that the some of the tournaments, which he 'organised' never took place, while in some others certain players threw points at Mr. Afromeev. Now he is an FIDE Master and I bet that soon he will become Grandmaster. God, help our game! Sorry, I meant Kirsan! :-)"

That FIDE isn't willing to take any action based on the massive circumstancial evidence (e.g. Yagupov's article from way back in 2001) is just incredible, or rather outrageous. When will Afromeev be stopped? When he becomes 2700+? Just allowing him in the top 100 is disgusting towards real, hard working GMs, where top 100 is a real milestone.

Also - nothing was done on Afromeev's way to 2520. After that, he could continue gaining rating in smaller steps - or, in the FIDE official's wording: <Afromeev gained 13 rating points from this tournament, which is not a big gain> - well, not "seeing" his major fraud in the beginning, and then using the consequence of this fraud to explaining why later fraud (e.g. his recent +13 points tournament) isn't fraud, is doubtful, at minimum. I think this says it all:

<many know that the some of the tournaments, which he 'organised' never took place, while in some others certain players threw points at Mr. Afromeev>

IMO, FIDE in the choice between 1) launching a big investigation, 2) continuing to ignore this fraud until Afromeev is a top 20 player [in a year or two if he likes], 3) forcing him to prove his rating in 2-3 events with proper, trustworthy opposition, should choose alternative 3. It takes little time and would be very effective, if they wanted it to be.

You don't say... Quoting myself:

<Unfortunately, I think a number of strong GMs need to address this issue for FIDE to actually do anything about it. Tellingly, Mr Abundo probably didn't forward my mail to anyone until GM Krasenkow replied>