Strip-search Denied At World Scrabble Championship 2011
By skysuccess
@skysuccess (8858)
Singapore
October 18, 2011 11:30am CST
At the recently ended World Scrabble Championship in Warsaw, Poland; an incident broke out between Chollapat Itthi-Aree, from Thailand and Ed Martin, an IT consultant from London, which led the former to believe that his competitor had stolen a tile and requested that officials perform a strip-search in the premise's toilet.
Unfortunately, the officials denied his request and eventually ended with Mr. Martin edging Mr. Itthi-Aree out by a point. I am wondering just how the officials could deny an allegation and deny what seems to be a reasonable and legitimate request. It is a world tournament and that both competitors are closely matched - the least the officials could do was to conduct a search on the spot to address the issue.
I could not help feeling that there's an unfair call, unqualified officials and even racial discrimination. Hence, the rant and wonder what it might have been if the search was done.
What's your take here?
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050089/Scrabble-strip-demanded-letter-G-goes-missing-world-championships.html
2 people like this
6 responses
@nanajanet (4436)
• United States
18 Oct 11
Maybe they should have security strips on the backs of the tiles. Then, if someone is suspected, they can use a scanner on them, without doing a strip search. Or, they could film each contestant and review the tapes for foul play.
3 people like this
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
19 Oct 11
nanajanet,
My exact sentiments and I just couldn't agree more.
The tournament really lack the basic surveillance like a video surveillance which can always be replayed and reviewed when there's an appeal.
I hope that the future world scrabble competition would have better surveillance and officials.
1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
19 Oct 11
I would definitely think it would be easy to encode the tiles. Then, just make sure you know which tiles are being used for which games. At the end of each game, you can scan the tiles to ensure that they are all there. If any are missing, then it would not require a strip search but merely sweeping the wand over the players and their areas to find the missing tile(s).
@topffer (42156)
• France
18 Oct 11
I can't believe that somebody cheats in a Scrabble competition
. I can understand that they did not wanted to strip-search a player -- only a policeman can do this in my country, and you can't call one for a problem during a game of Scrabble
--, but at least they should have replayed the game if a tile was missing at the end, with officials looking closely at them. I don't see any judge/official around the tables on the picture : they certainly have to make improvements to avoid a similar problem during the next world championship. A good videosurveillance, like in a casino, would have probably been enough to find and disqualify the cheater in this game. I don't like the idea that perhaps a cheater won.
. I can understand that they did not wanted to strip-search a player -- only a policeman can do this in my country, and you can't call one for a problem during a game of Scrabble --, but at least they should have replayed the game if a tile was missing at the end, with officials looking closely at them. I don't see any judge/official around the tables on the picture : they certainly have to make improvements to avoid a similar problem during the next world championship. A good videosurveillance, like in a casino, would have probably been enough to find and disqualify the cheater in this game. I don't like the idea that perhaps a cheater won. 2 people like this
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
19 Oct 11
topffer,
I am as surprised as you are with the laxity in such a high profile tournament where it lacks even the basic surveillance of both video or vigilant umpire officials.
I can understand the legal implication and limitation of a strip-search but the official should at least do a basic check on the spot or like you've said replayed the match with the existing tiles.
I am just disappointed with how the tournament was handled especially when the matches are so important and keen.
3 people like this
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
19 Oct 11
Top, does this mean that the next time we play Scrabble you will be requesting a "strip search" at the end to make sure that I am not cheating?
1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
19 Oct 11
Oh my!
I can see that attracting an entirely different sort of crowd at these events, although they will most likely become more popular as well.
I can see that attracting an entirely different sort of crowd at these events, although they will most likely become more popular as well.1 person likes this
@manleyjoe (1597)
• United States
18 Oct 11
Your rant is well taken but I saw nothing in the article that indicated that one person had cheated. Just because one person said the other cheated is not reason enough to violate another persons personal rights, is it?
2 people like this
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
19 Oct 11
manleyjoe,
If there's an indication then I am sure the article would have been totally different where for one a cheater would have been caught and disqualified.
I believe that it was an appeal from a competitor who simply may have his grounds and legitimate rights. The least the match official(s) could have done was to address the issue by doing the necessary investigation like checking the tiles on the table or review the video tape for that match.
Besides, I do not believe there is any violation of any personal rights when officials are doing their job here.
I believe that it was an appeal from a competitor who simply may have his grounds and legitimate rights. The least the match official(s) could have done was to address the issue by doing the necessary investigation like checking the tiles on the table or review the video tape for that match.
Besides, I do not believe there is any violation of any personal rights when officials are doing their job here.1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
19 Oct 11
I believe that a strip search would be a violation of a person's personal rights unless there was compelling and conclusive evidence to suggest that person was hiding a tile on his or her person in a "private" place. Otherwise, there are other less invasive ways to determine whether or not a person might have been cheating.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
21 Oct 11
I tend to think that things were just the opposite. Instead of singling out one person that should be searched, if that was going to be the situation, then all of the individuals that were going to be competing in the tournament should be searched. That way, it would become an industry standard instead of it looking like there was one person that was singled out. Of course, I also don't know why there are people that take simple games so seriously.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
19 Oct 11
Hiya sky,
What a to do about the Scrabble Championship sorry the World´s Championship. I would not have thought things like that would happen in a World´s Championship at all.
Obviously I don´t know about all that I have read it but I have not seen anything else about it.
If in the first place they had got their act together and had everything under control this might never have happened either.
Next time round,
now that they have made it to the Papers and all perhaps they will have everything controlled proper Security like most of us have mentioned here the lot so nothing like this happens again.xxx
now that they have made it to the Papers and all perhaps they will have everything controlled proper Security like most of us have mentioned here the lot so nothing like this happens again.xxx@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
19 Oct 11
lovinangelsinstead21,
Like you I have to admit that I am quite disappointed at how lacking it had been considering the exposure and status of the competition.
I am with you as far as the officials getting their act together and situation under control. I cannot help feeling that the officials officiating have suspicious credentials or none at all which explains the inadequacies here.
Perhaps this exposure would see a better venue and officiating officials.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
19 Oct 11
Hiya sky,
Have to agree with you there it sounds a bit suspicious as well does´nt it? Let´s hope they have better Officials the next time who know their Job and what they have to do to make things come out the right way and not the other.
Yes it can´t have been nice for other People who take part in this kind of Game see what is happening so maybe something will be done to stop any possible mishaps as I call them.xxx
It must be like that for other People who take part in other Championships to see some similar kind of thing going on as well.
What a World we live in sometimes.
I have seen that recently go on in a Television thing going on they were obviously cheating right from the start I could not believe it when the Person won. Defies belief that they actually say that things have been done right when they have not and the cheater gets away with it as well.xxx
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
19 Oct 11
As other people have said, I am very surprised at the lack of security and supervision at this contest, especially since it is a World Championship with a grand prize of $20,000 - enough money to be incentive for "suspicious behavior" I would think if somebody had a less than honest nature. At the very least there should have been video surveillance for each match that could have been reviewed if there was a dispute.
I was glad to read that the suspected cheater did not win or even make it to the final round.
1 person likes this
@purplealabaster (22091)
• United States
21 Oct 11
I agree that there probably would have been more of an investigation if he had ended up winning or even being in the finals. I am not sure how they would have gone about it after the fact, though. Maybe they do have cameras installed but didn't bother to check them until they found out how far he went in the competition?
