[blml] Disclosure f2f

[Robert Geller]

>> >*** What aspect of F2F is necessary for improving?
>> >
>> >Raija
>> 
>> Playing against strong players under supervised conditions.
>
>All right, Bob, I'll ask the obvious question. Why supervised
>conditions? You'll find more than enough strong players online, are
>you really suggesting that they'll all cheat if there's no supervision? 

You'll find strong players playing practice matches online.  
Obviously there's little or no incentive to resort to
less than fully ethical tactics in a practice match.   
But you won't find any serious tourneys involving major
competitions being played online (for obvious reasons).
(There are of course oneline vugraph broadcasts of major f2f events,
but that's a separate matter.).

I don't play online myself, but from reading electronic bulletin boards, 
cheating by low level players seems to be a major concern.
The authorities seem to be doing the best they can to police it
using hand records.  But until this problem can be solved (if
it ever can) it's
unlikely any country or zone will hold a national or zonal
championship online.   If you know of any that have been
held please let me know. 

Ordinary players are unlikely to be invited to practice against
Meckwell or the like in their online exhibition matches.
If you want to play Meckwell, pay your 20 bucks or whatever
and enter an f2f event they'll be playing in.

In order to really bring out one's best, a competition
has to be for somethng meaningful.  Like honor (a national
or zonal or world championship), money (cash prizes),
or at least an ersatz substitute like masterpoints.  If
online competitions involved one or more of these then
the competitors would be just as serious as they are
in major f2f events.  But in the absence of one or
more of these motivators, it's just a pleasant way to spend time.
I'm not saying it's without value in improving one's game,
but it's the difference between an exhibition game in baseball,
or an NFL preseason game or a friendly match in soccer versus
a competition that counts in the league standings.

-Bob
 

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Robert (Bob) Geller,     Tokyo, Japan        geller at nifty.com