Cheating scandal: Opinions, concerns and revelations

Opinions, concerns, and revelations

The French cheating scandal has rocked the chess world in this regard far more than any previous incident, whether it be a 1900 player winning a large open, or a WGM sneaking into a beginner’s tournament. The reason is perfectly understandable, since the implications, the level of organization to cheat, and of course the who and where are so astonishing, it makes one wonder what player or level is above such shenanigans. That said, even with a condemnation by the Disciplinary Committee, some players are still undecided on how concrete the evidence is, while others are more concerned about preventing future incidents from occurring. GM Robert Fontaine from Europe Echecs took the time to gather the opinions of French players, foreign players, and finally do a lengthy revealing interview with Jean-Claude Moingt, the president of the French chess federation. Though the interview is in French, we have highlighted some of the main points of interest.

 
French players IM Bellaiche, IM Wirig and GM Sebastien Mazé comment on the affair (French)

Bellaiche is of course worried about the image of chess and how it is affected by this turn of events, highlights the importance of presumption of innocence, and then if there is proof there is proof. The if making it clear he feels it hasn't been shown yet.

Wirig argues on the federation throwing the players under the bus (refuted by an excerpt of the interview with Moingt - see below), and feels the case isn't believable since Feller did lose to a 2300 player in the Olympiad, and also played very well at the European championship.

GM Mazé also feels nothing concrete has been shown, though balks when asked on his opinion of 200 messages exchanged during the games, and only during the games. He explains that if true there is little to say, but having worked with Feller throughout the year, considers him a friend, and will support him until denial is no longer an option, as he would like to benefit similarly were the roles inverted.

 
Interview with GM Vallejo-Pons and GM Nepomniachtchi (English)

Finally, there is an 18-minute interview with Jean-Claude Moingt, who addresses a number of points brought up over the last months, as well as some clarifications and revelations.

Interview with Jean-Claude Moingt, president of the French chess federation (French)

The French federation was not the sole instigator of these issues. The first actual issue came from Mrs. Pomian, who contacted Laurent Vérat during the final rounds of the Olympiads (not after), to explain there was a major issue. The detailed billing of the phone lent to Marzolo explicitly showed an enormous number of SMS sent right at the start of each game, and then stopped as soon as it was over. However, it is worth reiterating that both Vachier-Lagrave and Edouard learned of this, not via the Federation, but through Arnaud Hauchard’s personal confession to them.

The federation had no choice but to pursue this, since with these issues already in the open and spreading, how would the chess world react if they learned of this and found the French leaders indifferent? Imagine how its partners such as the French Ministry or FIDE would react if they heard and saw this. In fact Fressinet called Moingt after learning of it through the two players, but just days before the affair was made public, and was shocked and furious wanting to know what the Federation was going to do about it.

After the Olympiad, the Federation, including Verat and Moingt, summoned all the players under contract (this was not a disciplinary meeting), which did not include Marzolo as he was not available, and they not only admitted what they had done, but explained in detail how they had done it! The rumors that the federation claimed other methods is sadly one of those insidious issues of the Internet where theory is stated as fact.

There is also a claim that the SMS were actually sent from Marzolo’s phone to the phone of Sebastien Feller’s father, so what evidence do they have that Feller had it on him? The players said they used that same number to set up meetings for dinner and others with Feller throughout the event so there is no question he was using it.

Once the appeals by the accused are done, and the federation’s next step is to have FIDE extend the range of the punishment throughout its jurisdiction, since FIDE must also make good on its own obligations. The French federation will have done what it needed to do, but the issue is not a local one and took place in one of the foremost events under FIDE’s aegis.

Punitive measures are not enough however, and in agreement with the signed letter, FIDE must create laws such as delayed transmission on the Internet, as well as not allowing a player to have a mobile phone or other on them in the playing area, even turned off. He does agree with Feller that the timing of the letter was ill-chosen, and should have been done prior to the event.

(Summary by Albert Silver)

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