An increasingly common occurrence

I think this report misses a trick that Alireza used.

The report calls it "surprising" that he paused after two games and then came back later with an amazing 12-game win streak. But we also see that most of his opponents on that win streak were sub-2500 players. When he comes back later on, he is low in the standings, he gets some easy opponents, and he can build a streak. Since arenas reward streaks more than regular wins, he can sometimes get more points by skipping some early matches and then coming back later to sweep through the low bracket.

Probably this tactic of starting late is very common among the top players here.

zahrafatca

#62

but I think at the end of the day if you build a streak, eventually, you will go to the top place, and you still need to face stronger players who have been waiting for you on the top. It doesn't matter actually, because when you are a top player, you expect to play with other top players, and if you late, you need to beat the lower ones first, is it fun? I think not.

because strong players will eventually be on the top place (with their ability) no matter what.

So starting late & win the tournament is not something spectacular, I do agree. But I guess it's not a "trick/tactic" that can make you win the tournament.

ruzgar9543

#64

@Kimushka oh no ad hominem! Pure logic!

jhuhtis

#65

@DaltonDerricks Cheating is possible even in ultrabullet. All you need to do is get a browser plugin that hooks Stockfish suggestions to the live game board. Also, most of the time, Lichess flags suspicious players automatically using various criteria, which I won't enumerate but which anyone can read from the code base. The problem with such programs is that one of the criteria lichess looks at is possibly capable of detecting these semi-automatic cheating programs. If Hardman was banned for cheating, it's not because a lot of people were crying about it, it's because there were a lot of red flags from the cheat detector.

SGR1806 edited

#66

a comanding perfomence

play

lichess is just a computer program, and it has detected Hardman's fault by error.

ruzgar9543

#69

@Kimushka ah yes, the obscure FM coming in and crushing players with 2600 blitz with no mistakes or blunders in 3+0 is totally legit.