The chess grandmaster accused of cheating by hiding a cell phone in the bathroom

Cheating at chess by hiding a cell phone in a bathroom, attaching it to a toilet. This is the accusation made against Kirill Shevchenko, 22 years old, born in Ukraine but hired by the Romanian federation for a few years. The great master from Kiev was expelled from the Spanish team championship underway in Melilla, an African enclave, following circumstantial evidence gathered against him. And if ‘cheating’ is a very widespread problem in this sport, especially online, the scale of this possible scandal is enormous given the strength of the player involved, number 69 in the world.

What happened

Chess players, like footballers, are sought out by the various teams participating in the national championships to participate in the various editions. Even in Italy, for years, many strong players from abroad have been appreciated who strengthen the local rosters during this type of event. Shevchenko was thus signed by CA Silla – Integrant Col-lectius to compete in this year’s Spanish championships. But, in the end, he only played the first two rounds as, after the match with Francisco Vallejo Pons, he was sent off. And it was his opponent who noticed hisrepeated absences from the chessboard, due to continuous trips to the bathroom, located in a common room adjacent but external to the game room. The reason for the expulsion, made known by the head referee of the event, Oscar Bruno de Prado Rodriguez, leaves no room for many doubts: “Use of electronic devices during matches”. In fact, it seems that a mobile phone was found, fixed to a toilet, in one of the two ‘locked’ cubicles of the bathroom. The referees believed, with a certain amount of certainty, that the object belonged to Shevchenko. This is the summary of the report drawn up by the head referee of the event, published by Chess.com:

“In light of the evidence collected during the investigation, it is established that the player used his mobile phone during the match. Furthermore, Shevchenko ignored requests to notify me when he intended to leave the hall, in violation of FIDE rules.”

For this reason it decided to impose the following sanctions:

1. The two matches played, in round 1 against Amin Bassem, and in round 2 against Francisco Vallejo Pons, were transformed into defeats, based on article 12.8 which prohibits the use of electronic devices during the game phases.
2. Kiriil Shevchenko is expelled from the competition as the action in question is considered a very serious infringement under FIDE Article 19.9.9.

The referee then added that a complete report, complete with clues and details, will be submitted to the FEDA Referees’ Technical Committee (the Spanish federation) and the FIDE Ethics Committee. The note from the Spanish federation also explained how this decision was reached: after having ascertained his multiple visits to the bathroom, the referee discussed the issue with the player born in Ukraine, who said he had an intestinal problem . At that moment he was forced to ask permission to go to the bathroom again. A member of the tournament’s organizing committee investigated his movements, following him, and noting how Shevchenko had visited one of the two individual cubicles equipped with sanitary facilities where a mobile phone was then found, new and working, with a handwritten note: ” Don’t touch it! The phone is off so that the caller will call you at night!” (“Do not touch! This phone has been left so that the owner can answer it at night!”). The spelling used, according to the referee’s report, appears to have many similarities with that present in the forms used by Shevchenko during the first two matches. In addition, they would also have noticed that the phone’s time zone was ahead of that of Spain and Morocco, which could suggest that Romania’s time zone had been adopted.

But it didn’t end here. There are many other strange things that happened in that building in Melilla. A cleaner revealed the discovery of another similar phone during the first shift, the previous day: also in that case it was a device left in a bathroom which was then not claimed by anyone after being delivered to the reception . Furthermore, it was noticed how Shevchenko always waited to enter the same cubicle, even though he was not the only one present and there were others free.

Bassem Assim, his first-round opponent, described Shevchenko’s behavior this way:

Things started to get weird on the sixth move. He played and left the gaming room for more than 10 minutes and this was repeated many times in the next moves. I thought he had some stomach problems! But at one point I decided to go out to see where he was and he was standing outside the bathroom and when he saw me he went back into the game room. And then at some point in the match he stopped coming out until the match was over.

Shevchenko denies everything

When challenged with these very detailed facts, clues and evidence, Shevchenko denied all charges. And it is also possible that all this is the result of a great misunderstanding. In short: as long as there is no conviction, everyone is innocent. Being safe when it comes to cheating is important, even in cases like these. It is strange, in fact, that the referees did not try to catch him ‘in the act’ to remove any doubt from the matter.

The Romanian Chess Federation said in a statement that it was waiting for “concrete evidence” before drawing a conclusion on the allegations, while saying it had “zero tolerance for violations of fair play rules” but defending its player.

“Fso far only circumstantial evidence has appeared publicly.We await the details of the case and will carefully study the attached evidence. At the moment we only have information from the media and alleged witnesses, but no official communication. Until then we stand with our chess player, who denies the accusations made against him. We will support him as we do with all our chess players, within the limits of current regulations. If further information emerges, we will decide within the Federation what to do next.”

Shevchenko became a Grandmaster at 15 and is today considered one of the emerging talents of the European chess scene.