In the process of updating the site to add coverage of the "Chess Cheating Town Meeting" earlier this month, I am belatedly catching up with the comments posted to the preceding (July 2006) entry.------------------------------------- The idea of having all entrants sign a statement agreeing to various security measures -- suggested by Louis Blair in a comment below -- was later endorsed by attorney Nelson Farber in his "Town Meeting" panel remarks.-------------------- Regarding bathroom breaks, in public tournaments they are overshadowed as a potential cheating tool, by the possibility of hidden communication devices that a cheater could use without getting up from his board. This obviously contrasts with the situation in World Championship matches, where each side has some control over its own rest area and bathroom. New rules announced for the 2007 World Open and three other major Continental Chess Association tournaments will prohibit players from leaving the tournament hall without permission (I presume that bathrooms will always be situated inside the playing hall). This should help address any concern about cheating in bathrooms; although the subject of monitoring the bathrooms did not come up at the Town Meeting.------------------------------------- ---------------------------- Finally, Robert Moody is simply wrong in his comment that GM Ilya Smirin was never rated 2800. See http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlT nmtHst.php? 12544869 . It shows that Smirin was at exactly 2800 coming into the 2006 World Open, and was consistently between 2798 and 2816 over the preceding 4 years (during which he played in 3 previous World Opens, 3 Foxwoods Opens, and the HB Global Chess Challenge). Of course this refers to his USCF ratings, not FIDE ratings, which may be the source of Mr. Moody's confusion.