Noise cancelling headphones

[Phil Neatherway]

Does anyone see any problems with juniors wearing noise cancelling headphones? I saw this happening in a couple of tournaments I played in France recently.

[NickFaulks]

Yes.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not just juniors. It looks like Vincent Keymer uses ear plugs as seen in this photo:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -heartland

At least I presume they are ear plugs, and also presume that tournament directors and arbiter check such usage in top-level tournaments. If approved, I don't see why noise-cancelling headphones would be banned (I realise the obvious risks, but you do need to accommodate technology when needed).

[Nigel White]

Presumably genuine noise cancelling headphones (as opposed to noise blocking ones) are electronic devices capable of receiving messages and so should not be allowed.

[Roger de Coverly]

Presumably genuine noise cancelling headphones (as opposed to noise blocking ones) are electronic devices capable of receiving messages and so should not be allowed.

FIDE are sufficiently paranoid to ban pens and conventional watches and attempted to ban naked Sim Cards.

It's not a new issue, Sony Walkman sets with headphones used to be considered a problem, you might after all be listening to a Basman tape on the opening.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Presumably genuine noise cancelling headphones (as opposed to noise blocking ones) are electronic devices capable of receiving messages and so should not be allowed.

It would help if there were definitions of:

(a) Dumb devices incapable of transmission.
(b) Devices locked down and safe.
(c) Devices that could be engineered by cheaters.

[NickFaulks]

you might after all be listening to a Basman tape on the opening.

If it was telling them to play 1...g5 I might not have minded.

[Roger de Coverly]

It would help if there were definitions of:

(a) Dumb devices incapable of transmission.
(b) Devices locked down and safe.
(c) Devices that could be engineered by cheaters.

Haven't the ICCD (deaf chess players) already covered this ground? You would also want to ensure that a device is incapable of receipt. A spectator, who could even be remote if the games were live and real time could communicate move suggestions

[Paul Heaton]

Not just juniors. It looks like Vincent Keymer uses ear plugs as seen in this photo:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -heartland

At least I presume they are ear plugs, and also presume that tournament directors and arbiter check such usage in top-level tournaments. If approved, I don't see why noise-cancelling headphones would be banned (I realise the obvious risks, but you do need to accommodate technology when needed).

You can tell from the chair and jacket this photo is from the freestyle tournament where all the players were wearing- at the organisers suggestion- to drown out the noise from the audience, who had access to the eval bar.
For sure in a more conventional tournament they are not allowed.

[NickFaulks]

I realise the obvious risks, but you do need to accommodate technology when needed.

Why is this technology more needed now than at any previous time?

[Ian Thompson]

Not just juniors. It looks like Vincent Keymer uses ear plugs as seen in this photo:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/ ... -heartland

At least I presume they are ear plugs, and also presume that tournament directors and arbiter check such usage in top-level tournaments. If approved, I don't see why noise-cancelling headphones would be banned (I realise the obvious risks, but you do need to accommodate technology when needed).

You can tell from the chair and jacket this photo is from the freestyle tournament where all the players were wearing- at the organisers suggestion- to drown out the noise from the audience, who had access to the eval bar.
For sure in a more conventional tournament they are not allowed.

To me, they look like plastic earplugs. If so, they are not prohibited. Although not common place, it's not that unusual to see players using plastic or foam earplugs during games.

Noise cancelling headphones are an entirely different matter. They are clearly electronic devices and therefore prohibited.

[Phil Neatherway]

I played 2 kids wearing these phones and there was nothing to suggest they were getting any help. I don'tknow if there were electronic or not. I also don't know if they had approval to wear them from the arbiters.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I encountered a player wearing headphones at one tournament where I was arbiter, so asked about them and inspected them - they were merely ear defenders, as you might wear at an airshow. I also said that if any opponent objected, just refer them to me. They do look suspect of course.

I have taken to ostentatiously removing my hearing aids as soon as the game starts, partly to allay any worries of the opponent, although I have had more than one example of an opponent at the post mortem asking why I declined the draw offer!

[IM Jack Rudd]

I once encountered a player wearing ear defenders at a tournament I was arbiting. They certainly did their job, as he was the only player in the room to not notice when his opponent's mobile phone rang.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"They certainly did their job, as he was the only player in the room to not notice when his opponent's mobile phone rang."

I wonder what brand they were... Deafness is a help sometimes, but not always. I recall David Sedgwick saying that a fire alarm went off when he was arbiter (nothing unusual there of course), and everybody headed for the exits, except Sir Stuart Milner-Barry, who couldn't hear the fire alarm. David was trying to get Sir Stuart's attention, and was being told to go away as he was a distraction!