FIDE Online Chess Arena Will Kill Chess

Earlier this month an announcement was issued on the official FIDE website by the President, Kirsan E.T. Ilyumzhinov, “I am proud to announce today’s launch of the limited test version of FIDE online arena, FIDE’s official Internet playing platform developed in co-operation with CNC. In October 2013, after the Executive Board meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, the fully operational version of FIDE online arena will be in service and available all over the world.” http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/7318-fide-online-arena.html
The announcement caused teeth gnashing and hair pulling at Chess.com. There are many pages devoted to a question on a forum post, “Will FIDE online chess arena kill chess.com?” http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/will-fide-online-chess-arena-kill-chesscom?page=1
If FIDE does for online chess what it has done for over the board chess you can take the dot com away and make the question a statement: “FIDE online chess arena will kill chess.” The program(s) to detect cheating during online poker failed because… who watches the watchers?
E.T. Illuminati, as I think of Kirsan, also writes, “As you know, there are many chess playing platforms. However, FIDE online arena has a unique feature that completely sets it apart: a highly sophisticated chess anti-cheating system, AceGuard. Until now, it has been impossible to award official ratings for online chess because of the difficulty in preventing cheating. Now AceGuard will be an invaluable tool in Fide’s fight against cheaters and we would like to praise the PremiumChess company for developing this revolutionary technology and to congratulate CNC for bringing this service to FIDE.”
The part that held the most interests for me was, “AceGuard.” The only mention found during an extensive search was a reference to the company, if it is a company, on the link to chess.com, given above. That prompted me to get in touch with my informant at FIDE HQ, who will be referred to as “Deep Thought.” DT informed me “Ace” is an acronym. “A” is for Alpha; “C” is for Centauri; and “E” is for Extraterrestrial.
“Where does the Guard fit in?” I asked. “The ET’s told Kirsan this planet needs guarding. Something to think about,” Deep Thought said in a hushed tone.

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