Sanctions for those proven to have cheated?

[Dan O'Dowd]

As far as removing titles, I believe it would require some sort of Extraordinary General Assembly of FIDE, since titles are designated as for life.

I won't comment on the junior at e2e4 thing since I don't know this guy from Adam, and I wasn't there - it would be totally unfair to pass judgement without the facts.

If someone is a junior and commits a clearly minor offence (say, asking his friend outside the room, as opposed to something like using anything electronic), he should be put to one side and talked to. Education is the first duty, albeit we accept ignorance of the law is not a defence.

My own opinion is that any form of cheating with electronic devices indicates such a level of contempt for those around, such a stubborn unwilingness to try to learn alone, that the player in question should be banned for a significant period of time. Perhaps something restorative could be done as well? In Feller's case, it would certainly be in the interest of his reputation, and in the interest of others, if he were to use his doubtless skilled chess mind to coach or teach others. This might also rejuvenate him as to why he wants to play, or force him to learn more by his own hand!

While it may sound overly defensive, players in this age MUST make sure to avoid any possible association with cheating. Even having an mp3 player in your pocket could be dangerous, if it accidentally switches on. Mud sticks, unfortunately. I wonder when we will if ever see the rise of people being accused of cheating, but there never being any evidence, and them actually being totally innocent? I am reminded of Toiletgate at Elista.

[Roger de Coverly]

Mud sticks, unfortunately. I wonder when we will if ever see the rise of people being accused of cheating, but there never being any evidence, and them actually being totally innocent?

It's already happening. There's a grandmaster who frequently plays in Britain who is apt to make accusations whenever he loses to a lower rated player. So far, no-one has given his complaints any credibility.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I heard the story from one of my chess friends last night that a 14 year old junior was caught red handed cheating at a recent e2e4 event... I was told that his opponent became very suspicious of the perfect moves he was playing when he got up from the board every single time that it was his move and that he told the arbiter...(presumably Sean Hewitt) and that the kid was followed into the toilets and found to have the exact duplicate position on a pocket fritz programm....

The garden, actually, rather than the toilets. But yes, that's essentially the case.

What happened immediately after that is unknown

He was ruled to have lost the game and was immediately disqualified from the tournament. That an adequate punishment for cheating in your book?

(ps I will have no problem is publishing the kids name if I find out!)

You may have no problem. I couldn't possibly comment.

Apparently the matter was reported to the ECF and the ECF sent the kid a WARNING LETTER!
A nice message indeed (its ok to cheat but 3 strikes and you're out?)
charming.

Call it a suspended sentence. He's under close observation whenever he enters a tournament, and he's forbidden to even have an electronic device on him during play.

As it happens, I have arbited the junior in question since then, and he caused no problems.

[David Sedgwick]

I was about to respond, but Jack has beaten me to it.

I would add that the incident took place about six months ago and was discussed on this Forum at the time. Indeed there are references to the matter higher up this very thread.

[Martin Crichton]

Jack...
quote...He was ruled to have lost the game and was immediately disqualified from the tournament. That an adequate punishment for cheating in your book?...unquote

Of course that is not an adequate punishment...It is a given that the kid knew he would be immediately disqualified from the tournament if he got caught (unless he is mentally retarded and that sounds unlikely)
A total ban is the only adequate punishment in my book... the length of the ban could vary from 6 months to 5 years taking all mitigating circumstances into consideration such as the kids age etc...bearing in mind a 14 year old is not an age of innocence in "my book" as you might say.
Regards
Martin.

[Mike Truran]

If only castration was available as an option. That would deter the little blighters.

Perhaps we should ask the Iranian and Syrian authorities for their input on the subject of suitable punishments for children.

[Sean Hewitt]

Jack...
quote...He was ruled to have lost the game and was immediately disqualified from the tournament. That an adequate punishment for cheating in your book?...unquote

Of course that is not an adequate punishment...It is a given that the kid knew he would be immediately disqualified from the tournament if he got caught (unless he is mentally retarded and that sounds unlikely)
A total ban is the only adequate punishment in my book... the length of the ban could vary from 6 months to 5 years taking all mitigating circumstances into consideration such as the kids age etc...bearing in mind a 14 year old is not an age of innocence in "my book" as you might say.
Regards
Martin.

Martin - You are mixing up the options open to the arbiter under the laws of the game with any subsequent action taken by a federation. As Jack says, the child in question was disqualified and this is the harshest punishment available to the arbiter. Subsequent action is a matter for the national federation (in this case, the ECF) and is something which neither the arbiter, nor the organiser, has any say in.

I should point out that in the case in question the arbiter and the organiser were the same person. Me.

[Martin Crichton]

Sorry for any confusion Sean
The jist of my gripe is with the ECF!!..... sending the kid a Warning Letter...that's what got my back up... You did the absolute correct thing and at least sent out a message that that sort of behaviour will not be tolerated in your tournaments
Regards
Martin

[Alan Burke]

Surely the organiser of the event CAN take subsequent action irrespective of any ECF ruling. Although a blanket ban of all tournaments is down to the ECF; surely the organiser of an individual event does have a say who and who not they will allow to enter their own competition ?

As an example: For this year's British Rapidplay event in November, the entry form states .. "The controllers and administrators have the right to decline entries without liability", whilst the London Junior Championship entry form states .. "The organising committee reserves the right to refuse entry."

Therefore, if a player had cheated at any of those events last year then the organisers have the option of not allowing them to play in this year's event without having to seek ECF approval - and I would hope that other organisers would take similar action and not try and put the onus on the ECF to make decisions for them.

[Scott Freeman]

My question here is to ask if the ECF have a structure to take any action against anyone? As well as the allegations of cheating at the e2e4 event, I am also aware of an incident in a tournament a few months ago that left some senior arbiters feeling that they wanted to take action against a player for his alleged behaviour and comments towards one of them at the end of the event. When I received paperwork from the Chess Arbiters' Association proposing such action, I looked at the "legal" implications and am under the firm impression from investigations that neither the CAA or the ECF have a disciplinary code, meaning that there is no scope to legally ban anyone for any reason. If I am wrong, I would be grateful if someone could point me to the documentation. If I right, leaving aside the specific arguments about the people concerned, is this not something that needs to be set up?

[Alex Holowczak]

If I right, leaving aside the specific arguments about the people concerned, is this not something that needs to be set up?

I believe Andrew Farthing is writing one, which will go to Council at some point, presumably.

[Sean Hewitt]

Surely the organiser of the event CAN take subsequent action irrespective of any ECF ruling. Although a blanket ban of all tournaments is down to the ECF; surely the organiser of an individual event does have a say who and who not they will allow to enter their own competition ?

As an example: For this year's British Rapidplay event in November, the entry form states .. "The controllers and administrators have the right to decline entries without liability", whilst the London Junior Championship entry form states .. "The organising committee reserves the right to refuse entry."

Therefore, if a player had cheated at any of those events last year then the organisers have the option of not allowing them to play in this year's event without having to seek ECF approval - and I would hope that other organisers would take similar action and not try and put the onus on the ECF to make decisions for them.

If the ECF take no action then I am sure that you are correct.

However, where the ECF has considered the matter and taken a course of action that does not include a ban (or where any ban has expired) then I think it is difficult for any event to justify implementing a further unilateral ban. It would be like a football league imposing a further ban on a player after the ban imposed by the Football Association had expired.

I said at the time of the incident that I would abide by and implement any disciplinary action taken by the ECF and I still believe that that is the right approach for us and other events to take. It's not for me to comment as to whether the action taken by the ECF was appropriate or not. That can only be for those in full possession of the facts, including any statement made in his defence by the player.

[Scott Freeman]

Good to hear that a policy is being written - thanks for that, Alex. The problem with the Chess Arbiters' Association trying to ban people is that, firstly, they are not just linked to the ECF (they are linked to other UK Associations) and secondly, the arbiters are, in effect, employees of the congresses they officiate at, so it was not appropriate for the CAA to take any action and corporately seek to force the congress organiser to ban a player. However, that doesn't alter the fact that they may need to have a route to do so and I shall await Andrew Farthing's submission with interest.

Re congresses banning players themselves, that is an interesting point. I believe that legally, a congress has the right to ban a player if they have what is considered reasonable grounds to do so. But I think the law will show (and I am happy to be proved wrong) that due process must be followed; in other words a proper hearing must have been held with the right to appeal a guilty verdict, etc. Without wishing to actually raise the issue I am now simply referring to, when Mike Basman banned the 2 young girls (CCF Members) from the 2000 Mega-Final after they had qualified through the club here (that led to all the "issues" everyone knows about), we obviously looked into the legalities quite closely. Even if he had a "right to refuse" clause in his paperwork at the time (which he didn't), a very reliable legal source told me that it is dubious as to whether a "right to refuse" would ever stand up in court without very good reason. I gather it is something to do with a prize fund being at stake, and maybe something to do with human rights, etc. But nobody has ever challenged it in court. It would be interesting if someone ever did.

However, I am unclear whether a player whose entry was refused could challenge by a simple injunction (not that expensive) or by a high court judicial review (I understand it is called), which would be somewhat more expensive.......!

I believe that a proper ECF policy attached to "graded games" where the player can answer accusations and appeal any guilty verdict would probably cover the individual congresses legallyfor excluding players. However it is important that the ECF gets this right.

[E Michael White]

My question here is to ask if the ECF have a structure to take any action against anyone?

IMO there needs to be a structure in place to take action against players who dont keep to the rules.
Likewise a structure needs to be in place to take action against any arbiters, tournament organisers and ECF board members, who don’t keep to the rules.

One common arbiter/organiser omission is to hold an event advertised as suitable for IM or GM norms and not have an appeal committee in place, replacing it with the statement the arbiter’s decision is final. This is contrary to FIDE rules.

In addition to setting up an action process it needs to be considered :-

a) What action should be taken if after serving a ban the banned arbiter/player/official is shown to be innocent?
b) How to deal with subject access requests under the DPA for access to CAA or ECF records ?
c) How to correct meeting minutes, which have been written and subsequently shown to be incorrect ?
d) How do we improve arbiters’ knowledge of the laws of chess?
e) ECF board members should avoid making statements concerning FIDE rules when they are not knowledgeable enough.

Although some senior arbiters imply its from a different world, this is not a new problem.

Despite some well-publicised contrary examples from the very highest levels, I had thought that wrong-doing during more mundane events was almost eliminated until I came across two examples of the same kind of chicanery in almost the same circumstances in the last couple of years……

I was paying my customary visit to the analysis room……. one person was studying a position intently in one corner, and making various trial moves on the board. I made a mental note of the piece and pawn configuration and moved closer. As I approached, the player glanced round, swept the pieces across the board and returned to the playing hall. There he sat down at a game still in progress and I noticed an uncanny resemblance between his actual game and the position I had seen a few minutes earlier. Just to be sure I returned to the analysis room and confirmed that in spite of the player's intent to destroy the set-up; several key pieces still occupied the same squares. At this point I was convinced I had seen a serious crime …..

As quietly as possible I returned to the player's board, halted both clocks and asked both competitors to accompany me to the analysis room. I led them to the board in question then offered the offending player the opportunity to resign the game there and then and to leave the tournament immediately. This he did. I then explained briefly to the opponent what I had witnessed. At no time did I accuse the other player of any offence………

Is this a rare event? Was I right to take such an undemonstrative approach? …….. What further action should I take?

Still, setting up a process 15 years later is better than never.

[Roger de Coverly]

I was paying my customary visit to the analysis room……. one person was studying a position intently in one corner, and making various trial moves on the board. I made a mental note of the piece and pawn configuration and moved closer. As I approached, the player glanced round, swept the pieces across the board and returned to the playing hall. There he sat down at a game still in progress

At the very least shouldn't the player have been cautioned that the analysis room was out of bounds whilst he was in play? Regardless of whether he was analysing or discussing the game in progress, he shouldn't have been there.

Isn't there some other old story about a player being suspicious of his opponent's absence from the board, only to find him in the analysis room discussing the game with one of the arbiters?