Regarding the VBN tournament, he's a cheater, and he demonstrated it.
If anyone thinks otherwise... let them publicly demonstrate something similar.
That is, they come over, sit down at a decent computer, and play normally. Let's say 1000 attempts are more than enough.
What do you mean by a decent computer? A Lexus?:D
What kind of proof is needed? As the tournament organizer, I'm very interested in what to do. Should I invalidate his result because he had a "blind spot" on his first turn?
And regarding the program and competitive interest... it's even sickening to read. In offline games, the ability to win difficult battles only matters 5%.