Chess and MP3 Players

Chess and MP3 Players

I wanted to write an essay about local players that listened to music while they played in tournaments and discuss their music preferences and hypothesize about the best music to play chess by. What seemed like a fun and interesting essay turned out to be not so easy because many players were very guarded about what they liked and some were willing only "to speak off the record".
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Also came up an interesting situation in US chess: I found out that the USCF is trying to discourage the use if MP3/iPod players during tournament games. This is to the consternation of some local strong players. I can only imagine that the USCF thinks that someone might try transmitting information to a player that appears to be listening to music. The sensitivity is quite high among players having the possibility not being allowed to be able to listen to music while playing. I have noticed many players who's lips are silently moving to their tunes, players of all strengths btw.
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Occasionally when the chess hall is noisy, usually because there is a disturbance outside the hall, I will don my earplugs and listen to the opera Marriage of Figaro, which I have heard so often its more like white noise than music to me.
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I usually resort to my MP3 player when that late Saturday night game is beside a wedding reception at a hotel.
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Or when at the BCF the MP3 goes on when the Improvisational Comedy Group, located across the hall from the BCF, decides to practice. One time while directing a tournament, I went over to them to ask them to please quiet down. What ensued was me teasing them by saying it was unethical for an improvisational group to practice. They informed me that what they work on, is to learn to provide openings for their comrades, in order to keep a skit going. I recommend that they Google Reuben Fine and openings.
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Anyways there is much sensitivity about the use of iPods and mp3 players and I wouldn't be surprised but saddened to see rules in the future. I know FIDE prohibits having a player posses a cell phone in the hall or using a cell phone while their game is in progress. I hope the USCF continues to allow people to posses a phone, because as mentioned before, I think cell phones give people more opportunity to play, not less, especially kids.
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And I don't know what reasonable mechanism you would have for enforcement. I think all these "anti technology" rules will not stop the non sportsman from cheating. What about good old fashion talking with each other during the game? I think we should discuss among ourselves the importance of high ethical standards of sportsmanship in chess. Not to say that cheating hasn't happened, but I hope we don't have to excluded all electronics from the chess hall. This would penalize 99.99% good honest folks from leveraging their e-stuff. I think that a director should be allowed to ask and inspect anything a player is using or referring to during a game to insure they're not getting coaching or chess related info. I think that should be sufficient.
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What do you think about listening to music while playing chess or other e-stuff?
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Please Comment. Thank You.
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Mike Griffin 08/25/2009