French Chess Federation find own players guilty

Chessvibes has full coverage of the decision in the case of the French Chess Federation versus GM Feller, GM Hauchard and IM Marzolo. They were found guilty of "a violation of sporting ethics", based on certain incidents at the 2010 Olympiad. The allegations made against the players concerned the use of computer assistance given to Feller, from Marzolo via Hauchard.

While the Chessvibes article has all the details of the case, the alleged system was that Marzolo would text the move to Hauchard (the French Captain), sitting in the bar, who would then enter the playing area and pass the move to Feller via a system based on standing behind specific players in the French match (each player being both a letter and a number, requiring 2 or 4 circuits of the table the match was played on). The text messages were designed to look like phone numbers, with the actual move represented numerically.

While this decision has just come down, and the players intend to appeal, it should have ramifications for tournaments and tournament organisers. The push to implement a delay in live broadcasts (eg moves held up by 15 minutes or more) is likely to gather pace. Also restrictions on mobile phones/communication devices may be extended further, with spectators not allowed to carry them (As an aside, I started to do some on-the-spot blogging from the back of the grandstand in the main playing hall of the 2010 Olympiad, using my netbook. I was quickly spotted by one of the section arbiters, and politely, and correctly, asked to leave, which I did).

Here is one of the games that was investigated by the FCF. It is a win by Feller over Howell, with 19. ... Nc2 being the stand out move.

Howell,David W L (2616) - Feller,Sebastien (2649) [C06]

39th Olympiad Men Khanty-Mansiysk RUS (5.14), 25.09.2010

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 Qb6 9.Nf3 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.b3 0-0 13.Bb2 Bd7 14.Nc3 Rac8 15.Na4 Qa5 16.Ne5 Nb4 17.Bb1 Bxa4 18.bxa4 Qc7 19.a3 Nc2 20.Ra2 Bxe5 21.dxe5 Ne4 22.Bc1 Nxf2 23.Qxc2 Nh3+ 24.gxh3 Qb6+ 25.Kg2 Rxc2+ 26.Bxc2 Rxf1 27.Kxf1 Qc7 28.Rb2 d4 29.Ke2 Qxe5+ 30.Kd1 Qh5+ 31.Kd2 Qg5+ 32.Kd1 Qg1+ 33.Kd2 Qxh2+ 34.Kd3 Qg1 35.Rb1 Qg6+ 36.Kd2 Qg2+ 37.Kd3 Qg6+ 38.Kd2 Qg2+ 39.Kd3 e5 40.Rb2 Qf1+ 41.Kd2 Qf2+ 42.Kd3 Qf3+ 43.Kd2 e4 44.Bb3+ Kf8 45.Ke1 Qh1+ 46.Kd2 Qg2+ 47.Ke1 Qg1+ 48.Kd2 Qf2+ 0-1