The Christmas season may seem an odd time to bring up the subject of cheating. But it's also college exam season — and besides, some stories are impossible to resist.

So: Last week a chess player named Boris Ivanov was booted from a tournament at Navalmoral de la Mata, in western Spain, on suspicion of cheating. This is hardly newsworthy; players do get kicked out from time to time. Ivanov is a special case: For the past year, the young Bulgarian has been leading European chess authorities a merry chase, winning games his rating predicts he should lose, consistently playing moves that match the "top line" of the leading computer programs, and defying every effort to catch him breaking the rules.

Professional players around the world have come to hate him, but many amateurs seem to regard him as a folk hero. Peruse the comment threads on any chess website where his name is mentioned, and you'll find plenty of ordinary duffers praising his accomplishments and dismissing the suspicions expressed by some of the best in the world as mere sour grapes.