Answers.Body: <p>I believe James Damore <strong>lied</strong> about his resume, and not just about chess.</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/james-damore-removes-phd-studies-linkedin-2017-8?r=US&amp;IR=T" rel="noreferrer">https://www.businessinsider.com.au/james-damore-removes-phd-studies-linkedin-2017-8?r=US&amp;IR=T</a></p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>If he had the courage to lie about PhD in his profile (that's a very <strong>serious</strong> misconduct), why wouldn't he lie about being an FM master?</p>
  
  <p>I can't think of a reason why his FIDE profile is not available, and his USCF rating is just a little over 1800. Hard to imagine we can't find a single FIDE-rated tournament crosstable with his name (he's a young guy and he had to play serious chess games to get an FM title).</p>
  
  <p>James Damore is <strong>not</strong> an FM. He had cheated the media and Google.</p>
  
  <p><strong>PS:</strong> Note that the media simply downloaded the resume like we did. They had no idea this guy played well below the FM 2300+ rating. Journalists aren't chess players. They didn't have the experience verifying a chess player, but they did quickly send an enquiry to Harvard for his PhD (something they understood).</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/SUhfY.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/SUhfY.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T11:53:52.593Z
Answers.Text: "Everything in his resume about chess was fake." He claims to have come second in the National Youth Action 2003 Chess Tournament, which is backed up by the [USCF's results page](http://www.uschess.org/results/2003/nya/?page=WINNERS&xsection=K-9).
Answers.UserDisplayName: David Richerby
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Answers.Text: Hmm... I'm guessing he was probably actually a Ph.D. candidate (who earned his Master's by default in the course of working on his Ph.D., which is pretty normal in the physical sciences in the U.S.) Looks like he left the Ph.D. program early to accept the job offer from Google. From a quick look, I don't see a way to indicate on LinkedIn that "I was a Ph.D. student, but left before earning the degree." It just asks for the school, degree being sought, field, and years. Anyone who knows much about Ph.D programs could guess he didn't actually get a Ph.D. from Harvard in 2 years.
Answers.UserDisplayName: reirab
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Answers.Text: I wouldn't say failing to keep one's LinkedIn profile up to date is a very serious offense (everybody lists their studies in progress). IMHO what matters is the actual CV submitted with an actual job application.
Answers.UserDisplayName: itub
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Answers.Text: If his intention had been to lie about obtaining a PhD, it seems unlikely that he would have listed the dates as "2011-2013", which is an unrealistically short period of time and would definitely raise questions.
Answers.UserDisplayName: littleO
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Answers.Text: What's FM?  I got what FIDE is, but FM?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Wildcard
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Answers.CreationDate: 2017-08-11T00:38:02.790Z
Answers.Text: FM is "FIDE Master".  It's one step below IM.
Answers.UserDisplayName: patbarron
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-08-11T04:45:54.703Z
Answers.Text: Anyone in a PhD program would indicate their place of study as that program.  If he was happily at Google and wasn't looking for a job, it's not out of the ordinary for him not to update his profile.  And as others have (partially) pointed out, if he got his job offer while still in the program, he may have abandoned updating his LinkedIn profile.  Also don't discount the fact that LinkedIn updates their interface and what he could enter 2013 may have been more limited than what he can enter today.
Answers.UserDisplayName: grovkin
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Answers.CreationDate: 2017-08-13T03:01:13.637Z
Answers.Text: http://sysbiophd.harvard.edu/people/alumni/james-damore
  James was referring to his PhD program
Answers.UserDisplayName: Viliami
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-01-24T18:05:26.790Z
Answers.Text: I know someone who got a math Ph.D. from Berkeley (at least as good a program as Harvard) in two years. One of the many anecdotes of a student who solves the unsolved problem the professor writes on the board as a challenge and brings it to the next class. Unlike the usual comic version, it was clearly indicated as an unsolved problem, not as class homework.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Andrew Lazarus
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Answers.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Answers.Body: <p>James Damore is <strong>not</strong> a FIDE Master, simply chech the <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/advseek.phtml" rel="noreferrer">FIDE Ratings</a> website and search for <em>James Damore</em>. As <a href="https://ratings.fide.com/advaction.phtml?idcode=&amp;name=damore&amp;title=&amp;other_title=&amp;country=%25&amp;sex=&amp;srating=0&amp;erating=3000&amp;birthday=&amp;radio=name&amp;line=asc" rel="noreferrer">this</a> shows, there are no results.</p>
  
  <p>Notice that there are no possible technicalities for why James Damore is not in the system (things like FIDE lost his paperwork or the possibility that James Damore had a FIDE Master title but then cancelled his FIDE membership or similar) since FIDE keeps track of every single membership even when they are cancelled, so if James Damore ever had a FIDE membership (which you have to have if you are a FIDE Master), he should be in the system.</p>
  
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-08-10T15:04:58.430Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Pablo S. Ocal
Body: <p>James Damore has been in the news recently because of controversy over <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzs0YgkhhIN4YjF6NFBVZkNKa2s" rel="noreferrer">this document</a> he wrote while he was an employee of Google's.</p>
  
  <p>The article I had originally read mentioned that he was a chess player, so I searched Google for "James Damore chess" and found this article from "heavy.com" (which I had never heard of). The article stated that he was a FIDE Master, and cited <a href="http://www.gorelab.org/James_Damore__CV.pdf" rel="noreferrer">his resume</a>. </p>
  
  <p>[ edit1: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Wire" rel="noreferrer">The Daily Wire</a> has echoed this statement that <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/19474/breaking-fired-google-employee-says-hell-likely-hank-berrien" rel="noreferrer">Damore is a FIDE Master</a> ]</p>
  
  <p>[ edit2: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrontPage_Magazine" rel="noreferrer">FrontPage Magazine</a> has done <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267519/google-gulag-daniel-greenfield" rel="noreferrer">the same</a> ]</p>
  
  <p>However, I could not find Damore's FIDE profile, so it seems that he is not even FIDE-rated, let alone a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_titles#FIDE_Master_.28FM.29" rel="noreferrer">FIDE Master</a>. </p>
  
  <p>It seems to me that there are several possibilities:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>He <em>is</em> a FIDE Master, but somehow the record is missing from the FIDE database. This seems unlikely to me.</p></li>
  <li><p>The resume is not actually his resume (fabricated by someone who is not him). This also seems unlikely since <a href="http://www.gorelab.org" rel="noreferrer">the website</a> on which the <a href="http://www.gorelab.org/James_Damore__CV.pdf" rel="noreferrer">resume</a> is hosted looks like it is the official website for MIT's GORElaboratory.</p></li>
  <li><p>He lied on his resume and said that he is a FIDE Master, when in reality he is not. This, unfortunately, seems the most likely possibility, <a href="http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?12876403" rel="noreferrer">especially since this USCF profile with his name shows a rating of 1817</a>.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p><strong>My question is: has anybody heard of James Damore in the context of chess? Is he really a FIDE Master?</strong></p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T04:10:03.870Z
Comments.Text: I realize this question is about a chess player and not about chess itself - if questions like this don't belong here I can delete it ... Also, I should mention that I am not asking this question out of some bias against Damore - if anything, I am inclined to agree with some of the ideas he wrote about.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Zubin Mukerjee
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T04:21:18.983Z
Comments.Text: +1 excellent question for the site. There is one on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/6shr0e/has_anyone_found_james_damores_fide_profile/)
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T04:21:51.793Z
Comments.Text: I **think** he lied that's he's an FM. A FM with his age should appear on the Internet (tournament results and crosstables etc).
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:15:40.653Z
Comments.Text: Could he be this James? http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2024896
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:16:17.790Z
Comments.Text: This guy is indeed an FM, around his age, and really came second (in fact equal second) in the 2003 National Chess (claimed on his resume). http://www.uschess.org/results/2003/elem/
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:16:43.907Z
Comments.Text: Maybe he changed his surname for some reason ????
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:26:10.090Z
Comments.Text: Very interesting! I did not think of the possibility of a name change.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Zubin Mukerjee
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:28:17.123Z
Comments.Text: The person who came first was the 2800+ Fabiano Caruana. Maybe he could help : - ) They played in the last round.
Comments.UserDisplayName: SmallChess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:29:15.693Z
Comments.Text: I wish, haha! Huge fan of Caruana's.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Zubin Mukerjee
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T05:40:28.657Z
Comments.Text: I am thinking that Critelli and Damore are different people. See this [short description and image](http://fairfieldcountychess.com/pastevents/6-23-12-2.html) - Critelli was a Cornell student at the time, and the picture does not look much like Damore. This is probably creating too much drama, but I am curious about the truth now...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Zubin Mukerjee
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T17:26:41.373Z
Comments.Text: Critelli appears to be a [different person](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcritelli/).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Vadim Ponomarenko
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2017-08-10T23:45:42.410Z
Comments.Text: This kind of question (verifying notable claims) are also very much welcome at [skeptics.se] and I have always been amazed at the quality of the answers there. Of course, this time your question was on-topic here and received good answers, but I thought you might like to know :)
Comments.UserDisplayName: 11684
Tags: <fide>
Title: Is James Damore a FIDE master?
ThreadText: # Is James Damore a FIDE master?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-10)
  
  James Damore has been in the news recently because of controversy over [this document](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzs0YgkhhIN4YjF6NFBVZkNKa2s) he wrote while he was an employee of Google's.
  
  The article I had originally read mentioned that he was a chess player, so I searched Google for "James Damore chess" and found this article from "heavy.com" (which I had never heard of). The article stated that he was a FIDE Master, and cited [his resume](http://www.gorelab.org/James_Damore__CV.pdf).
  
  [ edit1: [The Daily Wire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Daily_Wire) has echoed this statement that [Damore is a FIDE Master](http://www.dailywire.com/news/19474/breaking-fired-google-employee-says-hell-likely-hank-berrien) ]
  
  [ edit2: [FrontPage Magazine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FrontPage_Magazine) has done [the same](http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267519/google-gulag-daniel-greenfield) ]
  
  However, I could not find Damore's FIDE profile, so it seems that he is not even FIDE-rated, let alone a [FIDE Master](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_titles#FIDE_Master_.28FM.29).
  
  It seems to me that there are several possibilities:
  
  1. He *is* a FIDE Master, but somehow the record is missing from the FIDE database. This seems unlikely to me.
  2. The resume is not actually his resume (fabricated by someone who is not him). This also seems unlikely since [the website](http://www.gorelab.org) on which the [resume](http://www.gorelab.org/James_Damore__CV.pdf) is hosted looks like it is the official website for MIT's GORElaboratory.
  3. He lied on his resume and said that he is a FIDE Master, when in reality he is not. This, unfortunately, seems the most likely possibility, [especially since this USCF profile with his name shows a rating of 1817](http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?12876403).
  
  ---
  
  **My question is: has anybody heard of James Damore in the context of chess? Is he really a FIDE Master?**
  
  **Tags:** fide
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: I realize this question is about a chess player and not about chess itself - if questions like this don't belong here I can delete it ... Also, I should mention that I am not asking this question out of some bias against Damore - if anything, I am inclined to agree with some of the ideas he wrote about.  
  > **username_1**: +1 excellent question for the site. There is one on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/6shr0e/has_anyone_found_james_damores_fide_profile/)  
  > **username_1**: I **think** he lied that's he's an FM. A FM with his age should appear on the Internet (tournament results and crosstables etc).  
  > **username_1**: Could he be this James? http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2024896  
  > **username_1**: This guy is indeed an FM, around his age, and really came second (in fact equal second) in the 2003 National Chess (claimed on his resume). http://www.uschess.org/results/2003/elem/  
  > **username_1**: Maybe he changed his surname for some reason ????  
  > **username_0**: Very interesting! I did not think of the possibility of a name change.  
  > **username_1**: The person who came first was the 2800+ Fabiano Caruana. Maybe he could help : - ) They played in the last round.  
  > **username_0**: I wish, haha! Huge fan of Caruana's.  
  > **username_0**: I am thinking that Critelli and Damore are different people. See this [short description and image](http://fairfieldcountychess.com/pastevents/6-23-12-2.html) - Critelli was a Cornell student at the time, and the picture does not look much like Damore. This is probably creating too much drama, but I am curious about the truth now...  
  > **username_2**: Critelli appears to be a [different person](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcritelli/).  
  > **username_3**: This kind of question (verifying notable claims) are also very much welcome at [skeptics.se] and I have always been amazed at the quality of the answers there. Of course, this time your question was on-topic here and received good answers, but I thought you might like to know :)  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_13 on 2017-08-10. Score: 8 | Accepted answer
  
  James Damore is **not** a FIDE Master, simply chech the [FIDE Ratings](https://ratings.fide.com/advseek.phtml) website and search for *James Damore*. As [this](https://ratings.fide.com/advaction.phtml?idcode=&name=damore&title=&other_title=&country=%25&sex=&srating=0&erating=3000&birthday=&radio=name&line=asc) shows, there are no results.
  
  Notice that there are no possible technicalities for why James Damore is not in the system (things like FIDE lost his paperwork or the possibility that James Damore had a FIDE Master title but then cancelled his FIDE membership or similar) since FIDE keeps track of every single membership even when they are cancelled, so if James Damore ever had a FIDE membership (which you have to have if you are a FIDE Master), he should be in the system.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-08-10. Score: 18
  
  I believe James Damore **lied** about his resume, and not just about chess.
  
  > <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/james-damore-removes-phd-studies-linkedin-2017-8?r=US&IR=T>
  
  If he had the courage to lie about PhD in his profile (that's a very **serious** misconduct), why wouldn't he lie about being an FM master?
  
  I can't think of a reason why his FIDE profile is not available, and his USCF rating is just a little over 1800. Hard to imagine we can't find a single FIDE-rated tournament crosstable with his name (he's a young guy and he had to play serious chess games to get an FM title).
  
  James Damore is **not** an FM. He had cheated the media and Google.
  
  **PS:** Note that the media simply downloaded the resume like we did. They had no idea this guy played well below the FM 2300+ rating. Journalists aren't chess players. They didn't have the experience verifying a chess player, but they did quickly send an enquiry to Harvard for his PhD (something they understood).
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/SUhfY.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/SUhfY.png)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: "Everything in his resume about chess was fake." He claims to have come second in the National Youth Action 2003 Chess Tournament, which is backed up by the [USCF's results page](http://www.uschess.org/results/2003/nya/?page=WINNERS&xsection=K-9).  
  > **username_5**: Hmm... I'm guessing he was probably actually a Ph.D. candidate (who earned his Master's by default in the course of working on his Ph.D., which is pretty normal in the physical sciences in the U.S.) Looks like he left the Ph.D. program early to accept the job offer from Google. From a quick look, I don't see a way to indicate on LinkedIn that "I was a Ph.D. student, but left before earning the degree." It just asks for the school, degree being sought, field, and years. Anyone who knows much about Ph.D programs could guess he didn't actually get a Ph.D. from Harvard in 2 years.  
  > **username_6**: I wouldn't say failing to keep one's LinkedIn profile up to date is a very serious offense (everybody lists their studies in progress). IMHO what matters is the actual CV submitted with an actual job application.  
  > **username_7**: If his intention had been to lie about obtaining a PhD, it seems unlikely that he would have listed the dates as "2011-2013", which is an unrealistically short period of time and would definitely raise questions.  
  > **username_8**: What's FM?  I got what FIDE is, but FM?  
  > **username_9**: FM is "FIDE Master".  It's one step below IM.  
  > **username_10**: Anyone in a PhD program would indicate their place of study as that program.  If he was happily at Google and wasn't looking for a job, it's not out of the ordinary for him not to update his profile.  And as others have (partially) pointed out, if he got his job offer while still in the program, he may have abandoned updating his LinkedIn profile.  Also don't discount the fact that LinkedIn updates their interface and what he could enter 2013 may have been more limited than what he can enter today.  
  > **username_11**: http://sysbiophd.harvard.edu/people/alumni/james-damore James was referring to his PhD program  
  > **username_12**: I know someone who got a math Ph.D. from Berkeley (at least as good a program as Harvard) in two years. One of the many anecdotes of a student who solves the unsolved problem the professor writes on the board as a challenge and brings it to the next class. Unlike the usual comic version, it was clearly indicated as an unsolved problem, not as class homework.  
  
  ---
  
  