Kirill Shevchenko made one of the worst possible moves for a chess player – he was caught with a phone at the ongoing Spanish Team Chess Championship. The arbiter of the event Oscar Bruno de Prado Rodriguez comments, “I firmly believe and in light of the evidence gathered throughout the investigation that this player has made use of the mobile phone during the game” Developing story
Kirill Shevchenko has played two games. In round 1 Kirill Shevchenko made a draw vs Amin Bassem, while in round 2 he won vs Francisco Vallejo Pons. The frequent visits to the bathroom by Shevchenko provoked an investigation that caught the player. A complete report, with all the evidence, will be submitted to the FEDA Technical Committee of Arbiters and the FIDE Ethics Committee.
Kirill Shevchenko’s alleged phone cheating case so far
14.10.2024 Breaking: Kirill Shevchenko caught with a phone at Spanish Team Chess 2024
14.10.2024 Kramnik: The cheating case of Kirill Shevchenko is expected
14.10.2024 The team captain not sure in the innocence of Kirill Shevchenko
14.10.2024 The chess world reacts to Kirill Shevchenko’s case
14.10.2024 Second phone found at the Spanish Team Championship
15.10.2024 Romanian Chess Federation issues a statement on the case of Kirill Shevchenko
16.10.2024 Mark Crowther: the alleged cheating in Shevchenko’s case is not sophisticated in any way
17.10.2024 Paco Vallejo on Kirill Shevchenko case, “Cheaters should get 10 year ban”
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17.10.2024 FIDE Fair Play Commission starts investigation on the incident involving GM Kirill Shevchenko
Recent events of Shevchenko include the Romanian Team Championship, while he is in the list of player in the upcoming European Individual Chess Championship 2024
Spanish federation comments
Colin McGourty reports at Chess.com
Chief Arbiter Oscar Bruno de Prado Rodriguez summarized his decision
Firmly believing and in light of the evidence gathered throughout the investigation that this player has made use of the mobile phone during the game, in addition to ignoring my requests to notify me when he left the room, in breach of FIDE rules, I decide to impose the following sanction:
- To forfeit the two games played, in round 1 against Amin Bassem, and in round 2 against Francisco Vallejo Pons based on article 12.8 which prohibits the use of mobile devices. The two opponents in rounds 1 and 2 win their games.
- To expel Kiriil Shevchenko from the competition as it is considered a very serious infringement based on article 19.9.9.
- A complete report, with all the evidence, will be submitted to the FEDA Technical Committee of Arbiters and the FIDE Ethics Committee.
The arbiter reminded the player that it was necessary to ask permission to visit the toilet. But the visits continued, with the arbiter asking a member of the organizing committee to investigate. He saw Shevchenko visiting an individual cubicle, and there found a new mobile phone with the handwritten note, “¡No toques! ¡El teléfono se dejó para que el huésped contestara por la noche!” (“Don’t touch! This telephone has been left so the owner can answer it at night!”) Federico Marin from El Mundo notes that the handwriting was similar to the one of Shevchenko, and even the ink of the letters coincided with the one fro Schevchenko’s pen.
Amin Basem comments
Amin Bassem, the player that Shevchenko played in round 1, told Chess.com he was “still shocked,” and explained:
For me I would say things started to get strange at move six. He played his move and left the playing hall for more than 10 minutes and this was repeated many times in the next moves. I thought he had some stomach problems! But at some point I decided to go out to see where he is and he was standing outside the toilet room and when he saw me he went back to the playing hall. And then at some point in the game he stopped going out till the game was finished.
Asked how it affected him during the game, Amin commented:
Generally I try not to think about it too much that someone is maybe cheating because then you can’t really play, but when it happened many times it was really not good, specially that when he came back to the board he would play very fast and really good!
See the full article by Collin McGourty at Chess.com
