Internet-only is not the way to go for serious esports chess, and I’ll try to explain why without sounding like I know more than I do (third-rate blogger, remember).

MyChessDB is adding an e-sports feature, and the platform is online, a bit like a mini Lichess or Chess.com. Good on them for trying. But I keep coming back to one problem, and it’s cheating.

Chess is odd among esports. In an FPS game you can ban the aimbot software. In chess, the cheat doesn’t have to touch the game at all. A phone or second laptop running an engine, just out of the webcam’s view, does the job. Webcams on, screen share on, lockdown browser on - these all help, but they’re speed bumps, not walls. A second camera angle and a friend in the room beat most of them. That is why Chess.com titled Tuesdays are limited to bullet (hard to get engine recommendations) and blitz (depends on algorithmic engine detection). And of course not open to players without titles - which would open the floodgates for cheaters who are untitled. Even with this measures, we have many who still regards online cheating is rampant and too easy on chess.com and lichess.org.

So for anything with real prize money, I think the players should be in the same hall. Arbiters in the room, devices checked at the door, phones in a box. That’s how over-the-board chess has dealt with this for years, and I haven’t seen anything online that replaces it.

Another matter is network topology.

I prefer the entire eSport system not to be online but offline. Meaning, no internet server to host the game. Instead have the computers (or mobile devices) connected via Local Area Network (LAN) since eSports would be in the same playing hall.

• Latency barely matters for most chess: Even 100 ms of lag is nothing at rapid or classical. But  in bullet and blitz it is a concern. Server-side clocks with lag compensation is ok for rapid or slower but not for blitz or bullet. So there will always be lag if the internet is used.

There are of course things a hall event would need them:

1. A backup plan: A local server is one machine. If it dies mid-round with 100 people playing, you need failover and a recovery routine. Offline platforms usually have redundancy built in.
2. Broadcast delay: If the event is streamed, someone could feed engine lines to a player through a spectator. Top events delay the broadcast (I’ve seen 10 to 15 minutes mentioned, but check the specifics yourself). That’s a software feature whether you’re on a LAN or not.
3. Arbiter tools: Pause, adjust the clock, override a result, export the game log. 
4. Reach and cost: A hall limits who can show up. Not everyone can travel, and organisers have to find the venue and the sponsors. Live broadcasts is important in this case.

To summarise, the hall solves the cheating problem and the internet doesn’t. MyChessDB can keep its online platform and add hall events on top, but I'd prefer they have the "offline" option.

I may well be wrong on some of this, especially the technical bits, so do tell me. Has anyone here played in a hall event with a local server setup? Because as far as I know, even professional eSports chess today rely on Chess.com as the server and no one has made a local "offline" platform.