Entertainment

Ref’s call on phone

Does a player surrender his right to privacy when he plays in a tournament?

This question was raised last month by a German grandmaster during a round of the Bundesliga, the world’s most celebrated team championship.

Falko Bindrich was forfeited after he made two trips to the restroom and a tournament official demanded to see his cellphone, to determine if he was cheating with the help of a computer.

Bindrich refused, on the grounds that it contained sensitive personal and business information. What the tournament arbiter was doing was an invasion of his privacy, he said.

But another GM, Sergei Tiviakov, argued this week that tournament officials should be given unlimited powers to search the bags and pockets of players.

The technology changes, but the issue has arisen before.

In 1948, former world champion Max Euwe arrived at the USSR border en route to a world title tournament in Moscow.

The border guards insisted he surrender personal papers — including his notes about opening innovations he intended to use in Moscow.

Euwe reluctantly complied. His opening secrets were returned to him — but they were copied and handed to his Soviet opponents.