[BrianWall-ChessList] Mike Henebry of Cypress, California victim of weasel Fritz cheater Steve Rosenberg at 2006 World Open

[Brian Wall]

Mike Henebry
of Cypress, CA, USA.

----- Forwarded message from MayanKing <MayanKing at yahoo.com> -----
    Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:57:22 -0000
    From: MayanKing <MayanKing at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: MayanKing <MayanKing at yahoo.com>
 Subject: [BrianWallChess] :o) Local Club Member impacted by cheater at World
Open
      To: BrianWallChess at yahoogroups.com

I played Steve Rosenberg in the first round of the World Open. After
hearing about the New York Times article concerning the cheating
scandal I analyzed my game with Fritz9. The game was 29 moves long.
On move one (d4) was choice #2 in the opening book (e4 being #1). On
move 3, Rosenberg chose the #2 choice also (but, of course, GMs
frequently choose variations).

But now get this: every other move of the game was a #1 choice of
Fritz! I have analyzed games by World Champions and haven't ever
seen that before! Rosenberg was clearly making computer moves! On
move 20, oddly, he made what initially appears to be one of the
worst moves possible (#36 out of 43 choices). But if you let Fritz
think for 3-4 minutes, it too becomes a #1 choice! Here's the game:

Steve Rosenberg (1974) - Mike Henebry (1892) [A31]
World Open (1), 30.06.2006
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6
8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Na3 f5 10.Qd2 Be7 11.Nd5 Be6 12.0-0-0 Bxd5 13.cxd5 Na5
14.g3 Rc8+ 15.Kb1 b5 16.Bh3 b4 17.Qxb4 Rb8 18.Qa4+ Kf8 19.Bxf5 e4
20.Ka1 Bf6 21.Rd2 Qb6 22.Rb1 Qc5 23.Rc2 Qb6 24.Qxe4 Qxf2 25.e3 Rxb2
26.Rbxb2 Qe1+ 27.Nb1 Nb3+ 28.axb3 Qa5+ 29.Qa4 1-0. [Click to replay]

You might want to retrieve the games from Rosenberg's other World
Open victims. If they also turn out to be #1 choices by Fritz then I
think you only have three possible explanations: that Fritz should
be rated 1974, like Rosenberg; or that Rosenberg should be rated
higher than any previous World Champion; or that he was cheating.
Even the O.J. Simpson's jury shouldn't have much trouble figuring
this one out!

Mike Henebry
of Cypress, CA, USA.