Chess Player Caught ‘Cheating’, Expelled after Mobile Phone is Found in Toilet

Romania’s Paul-Stelian Mihalache, who has a FIDE ranking of 1698, was expelled from the Romanian Chess Championship after a cell phone was discovered in the bathroom.

Mihalache appeared suspicious in his behaviour, together with frequent visits to the restroom throughout the fifth spherical of the Romanian Championship in Sebes.

An arbiter determined to examine the lavatory after one in every of Mihalache’s a number of visits and located sensible telephone in one of many bathroom cubicles. The unlocked telephone had three chess apps open with Mihalache’s 15 strikes in addition to had

Mihalache’s Google account and e-mail deal with.

Mihalache was searched in a separate room from the taking part in space after the telephone was discovered though a particular anti-cheating officer had been doing random checks earlier than and throughout the matches on gamers utilizing steel detectors.

When Mihalache was confronted concerning the telephone and it’s content material, the Romanian denied any half.

The matter has been delivered to the discover of the FIDE’s disciplinary fee, as Mihalache might face a substantial ban.

This is not the primary time that one thing like this occurred in Ches with Georgian Gaioz Nigalidze misplaced his grandmaster title after he discovered utilizing discovered utilizing iPod on the Dubai Open in 2015.

Back in September of final yr, World Champion Magnus Carlsen had accused fellow participant Hans Niemann of dishonest.

“I imagine that dishonest in chess is a giant deal and an existential menace to the sport. I additionally imagine that chess organizers and all those that care concerning the sanctity of the sport we love ought to severely think about rising safety measures and strategies of cheat detection for over the board chess,” he had mentioned.

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