While many signatures (e.g. the one below Papouiannou) are unrecognizable, I don't see Feller's ... . If he's indeed innocent (as he claims) he shouldn't mind anti-cheating measures. Did Vallejo or anyone else contact him??

BTW, don't arbiters already have the right to search player's pockets in case of cheating suspicions or accusations? If I remember correctly, in another widely mentioned case an arbiter searched Kurnosov's pockets, found just a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and concluded that "where there's smoke there's fire" doesn't make sense in the given case ... .

It's slightly silly to blame Feller for not signing it. There are about 400 players there, he's not the only one who didn't sign... If he had signed it people would complain how "the cheater" could dare to sign such a document.

I don't like plugging out the board, because it cuts off the internet audience (maybe up the delay?), but the other proposals look very reasonable.

"electronic boards can be unplugged if one of the players demands it" This demand will not be approved because of the viewers.

How come there aren't more signatures? Was it a practical problem to ask more people to sign, lack of motivation to involve more people, or some players simply refused to sign?

I used to think that there is little motivation for chess players to cheat, seeing how it would defeat the whole purpose of playing chess. A friend (a semi-professional player) pointed out that when you try to gain money from chess the mind becomes blurry and cheating becomes more attractive. Being naive, I thought that the risk of being exposed as a cheater would be so great that nobody would do it as a means of financial profit. After all, you can't base a career on cheating. (At least I hope not!) I thought maybe this risk alone could clear the mind, so people wouldn't be tempted to use assistance during the game.

I am very sad to find out that the professional world of chess is so harsh that it produces people who are probably good players, probably love chess, but would still think about cheating in order to improve their odds of winning some game. I will remain naive in hoping that we do not need excessive security measures in order to force professional chess players to refrain from thinking about cheating - I hope they can be mature, I hope they can be realistic about ratio of benefits/risk and I hope that if they should show human weakness, let them show it in the moves they make and not by falling to temptation to cheat.

I also hope that the vast majority of players who show the total fair-play that characterizes chess, don't freak out over loosing one game due to what they suspect to be "cheating". If your opponent makes a good move you should not suspect it comes from someone else. Please don't develop paranoia just because there is some small chance that someone could cheat and get away with it once or twice. Don't forget that chess is a sport of gentlemen and will remain a sport of gentlemen, no matter how many poor-minded professionals cheat. It should be enough to make sure that cheating is not the way to sustain a career in chess - cheaters will die out on their own.

"use of specialized programs to analyze suspect games;"

Why is it difficult to believe that human players cannot play good moves?

In some cases the computer assistance may have been quite legitimate in helping to analyse a previously known position for new ideas.

I think it's the low tech signalling revelation that's the most disturbing feature of the Feller case.

Computers alone are not a threat to chess, but electronic cheating is a great one. I would recommend additional urgent severe measures against cheating, like: Immediate banishment from sport; blacklist the cheater at all competitions, federations, COI and FIDE; use of specialized programs to analyze suspect games; to establish electromagnetic blind zones at games hall, etc.

It's necessary half hour delay. Feller played 18.Nxf7! against Papin with only 1'20" on his clock.

Cheating is a delicate issue, and the off-with-the-suspects' heads calls are particularly harmful. It seems the only conclusions we can draw with near certainty are of the following type: Swiercz Dariusz, Petrik Tomas, Prie Eric, and Djukic Nikola (GM's who've scored 3/8 so far) are either not cheating or are terrible at it

tChess Pro on my iPhone can beat the GMs at the European - which is why it makes perfect sense to ban electronic devices in the playing hall.
In addition, there are mobile network suppressing systems that are being used by hospitals, theatres and cinemas. These can be used to ensure that communication to and from mobile phones is impossible in a defined area.

Also, implementing a flow control to the traffic in and out of the playing halls, as mentioned by some, will also make sense. You get to enter and leave at specific times - and that takes care of people relaying moves.

And most importantly, a delay in the relaying of moves over the internet. While unfortunate, it's always fun to follow events as they unfold, it's necessary in order to suppress someone setting up off-site to run a computer.

Staying at the top level in chess is so demanding as concerns time invested that it is very difficult for players to hold down any other occupations - and that then leaves chess as their source of revenue. Even if they don't get the top prize, a solid showing in international tournaments will impact their potential to earn money from books, teaching, coaching and exhibitions. The motivation is there.

It's a sad fact, but until this is properly addressed, then all chess players are finding themselves under suspicion, and the sport suffers as a consequence.

And here's one of the many technologies that can be used to relay moves to the device you have on your body:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/127263.php

And there are return devices that can tell you what the computer suggests.

The oldest trick in the cheater book - sign an open letter against cheating.

(don't take this post very seriously)

Are you implying that it's a lost cause?

It's true that it's hard to prevent all and every possible way of cheating or bad sportsmanship.

But does that mean we should just stick our heads in the sand and pretend it does not exist? Would that be better?

I believe simple, low cost solutions can go far to curb cheating. Here are two simple ideas. 1) Reduce the amount of time per game. We all enjoy Rapid. If players have less time for cheating, they will be forced to play chess. 2) Don't allow players to leave their seats during a game. If my first rule is implemented then sitting through an entire game is no problem. (Or allow one "stretch" per game. Put a DGT sensor in the seat to keep score).

Only use classical time controls for Championship matches or Super GM tournaments, where the players are so high profile, and under so much public scrutiny / observation, that cheating is not an issue.

I wonder how Kramnik is ever going to win a game against the elite if these measures are implemented.

Let's just hope this won't be seen by FIDE or ECU as an opportunity to introduce some new kind of "Patriot Act" where even getting up from your table to go for a stroll is considered suspicious and will result in the arbiter's hands being all over your body...

It's a strange proposal if you ask me. If you ban all electronic equipment, then why is a delay still necessary?

Common sense.
The evidence that proves that SF cheated in the Olympiads is overwhelming, I have already written this previously. What I do not understand is the line of defence taken by the group. It is my opinion that if they had avowed, they would certainly have lost some money which would have to be given back but they would have gotten off with a small penalty. The line of defence taken which is a denial of the facts plus a smearing campaign to people who uncovered the cheating can be very counterproductive. It seems to me that the deep hatred, written in this forum, towards the best french player today shows that his entourage cannot cope with this issue with a cold mind, it is a pity. Floyd Landis and Oscar Wilde before him tried to prove in the courts a fact that they knew was false, they lost. Perhaps the defence thinks that they will pull an 'OJ Simpson'.
In the past many top athletes have had parents who are deeply involved in their sons career. On the good side, McEnroe's father invested his sons money with savvy and he did not have the money problems that other tennis stars, like Borg and Connors had. On the other side, the role played by the parents of some other tennis players is less impressive. It is unfortunate that common sense in chess does not mean common sense in real life.

"there’s a problem that needs to be fixed for chess results to have integrity."

I agree that there should be rules preventing cheating. Maybe removing all ways in which you can cheat is not even possible from a practical viewpoint.
My point: We shouldn't allow the cheating scandal to muddy the image of all past and future chess. All chess results so far and future ones have integrity. Integrity should not be proven. Cheating must be proven.

It's been an issue ever since S. Luis.

Here's the proposal that has long since been sent to FIDE concerning the problem. Worth looking at:

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7115

It's interesting. I remember a case where Tomi Nyback (who also signed) had been accused of another type of cheating in the 2006 Olympiad in Italy. In Finland-Jamaica, he was accused of picking up a piece to make a losing move only place it back on the square, pick up another piece and move it. He claimed he was adjusting the first piece. After Jamaican complained to the arbiter, he ruled in his favor after which the Finland captain got involved and supported Nyback claim of adjusting the piece. The captain was not present during the game, but there was another witness from another federation who saw the incident. A higher arbiter was summoned. That arbiter overruled the first arbiter and told them to play on. The Jamaican player, who was virtually in tears and distraught, allowed his time to run out in disgust. Jamaica had to settle for a 2-2 draw. Jamaica's appeal was lost on a technicality due to the fact that Matthews signed the scoresheet. Perhaps they should resort to having the tournament halls videotaped. That would handle many suspicions of player collusion and even game disputes as the one above. Just a thought.

A chess+street-brawl will alleviate all problems. It is ok if you lose OTB, but you can always try to win a street-fight.

If I were the referee, I would walk around with a steel pipe in my hands to dispense instant justice in the event of an infraction. Chess players need to be violently beaten or they will never learn to play fair.

PS# $100 that this comment will never see the light of day. Censorship sucks.

But, why searching only the pockets? It is well known that these French guys have large underwear, where a pocket fritz or a mini rybka or similar…, can very cozily be hided ?
Of course that could mean a little extra ‘dirty’ work for the referees, but what the heck, they should anyway earn their money doing something more than pressing the clocks, shouldn’t they? And they could always deduct 2-3 minutes from the clock for dirty underwear…
Seriously now, shame on everyone who signed this shameful letter.

Yeah This is interesting Nyback has cheated and sign an anti-cheating petition ...
I'm french and I know the 'feller affair' very well, and I can say that no real clear proof that Feller has cheated at the olympiads.
It seems to me that there are other reasons why FFE accused Feller of cheating.

Maybe you dont know, but FFE has decided to sponsor two years ago vachier-lagrave and no money for Sebastien Feller.
FFE did not like that Feller wears a T-Shirt with the picture of kirsan iljoumzinov during the olympiads because FFE supports Karpov .

It is well-known in France that there were conflicts between the president of FFE, Jean-Claude Moingt and Feller's family before the incidents.

And over-all Feller took lessons with I Dorfman --> If you know a little French Chess, then you know that there are two clans: Dorfman Clan (Bacrot, Feller, Cornette, ...) and the Federation clan (Vachier-Lagrave, Fresinet, Edouard) who is sponsorised.

Thats why this affair is not so clear.

Goloum.

Easy way to cheating:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdlN7QKrgKU

to cheat

Bridge was a bit popular as a spectator sport in the 60s with Bridge-A-Rama. But then there were accusations (dismissed unclearly) against Reese and Schapiro for cheating, so they put screens between the players, but then the Italians were cheating with foot taps, and by now the whole bridge world runs on clients paying pros to play on their teams.

“man” is born evil.....tha's a great principal of life!

But seriously: full credit to Vallejo for trying to save our noble game.
Enjoying chess is what is most important. I think this is also true for pro's.

These cheating guys make me sick, no moral at all.

There is no much more moral in searching pockets(what about women and children being searched, really humiliating)…chess is already low enough in terms of social recognition and approval (as a sporting activity I mean) and such demands only make it look even ‘lower’.
And really, I think one should reserve about Vallejo’s true ‘noble’ intentions.
If saving our noble game was his intention, why not taking action BEFORE the start of the tournament and not JUST BEFORE facing Feller on the chessboard… ?

About Sebastien Feller (who just turns 20 this month), see his games from 2005 to 2011: there is a constant, his high-level preparation in openings. And here's a scoop for chessvibes Cxf7! and Cd6! against papin was feller and bacrot preparation.
No doubt Feller is a genius, like an autist, he knows all the 15-20 first moves of each opening. Since many years, he works chess 8 hours per day and have skype training sessions
with Iosif Dorfman 2 hours a day and this last one have said recently that Sebastien was the brillant student he has ever had in 30 years of coaching.
He works now for Etienne Bacrot to prepare him in openings for high-level tournaments.

The problem is FFE has its own (sponsorised) genius: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and having a second one is a little annoying. (compare with Kasparov/Beliavsky case in the late 70's)

There is another thing which is suspect (with no real proofs of cheating) for FFE : it is the intense media exposure of the affair and the censorship of the opposition. See:
since January the 21 st, FFE has contacted many internet chess sites, has updated Feller's profile on wikipedia, has contacted the press (France-soir, le parisien),
the president Jean-Claude Moingt and vice-president Laurent Verat, has given interviews at french radios and TV(france-info, tf1, france 2, ...), and recently an interview
with Garry Kasparov has been done. Now FFE prepare another campaign to prove that all past results from Feller (Bienne, Paris championship and maybe before) were only cheat.
On french internet forums, if you criticize FFE, your message is immediatly deleted, and after your profile is deleted.
There are controled topics on 'how to prevent cheat' 'Can we fight against cheating' 'how to explain cheat is bad in schools for young players ' etc.
The atmosphere is the same like under Brejnev presidence in USSR in 70's ;) (although france is the country of 1789 revoultion with normally freedom of expression)
So I can only tell my point of view in an international site, here this is not the same moderation as the FFE censorship in France. (no doubt if this is published, someone of the FFE will criticize here all what I said and ask you to delete this message)
This affair has been seen among every french viewer on the three national channels (on TV news) with the title 'cheating in chess' (and not 'accusation of cheating')
Maybe all this demolition campaign in the name of ethics has only one aim: to gain the next elections of the FFE presidence which stands next year.

But the disaster is the french TV viewer who have seen this affair think all chess players are cheaters, they all cheat with their phone or some others electronic means !!

** About the cheat means explained by the FFE during the olympiads **

1) IM Marzolo watch Feller games at home (in Marseille) and runs Firebird (or Rybka) and send the moves by sms to the phone of GM Hauchard, coach of the french team, present in Khanty Mansyik.
1st problem : the phone line belonged to the vice president of the FFE, Mrs Pomian and it is her who revealed this messages by consulting his provider only 3 days later.
Why 3 days later ? Because she dont want to reveal a love story between her and IM Cyril Marzolo. That's a funny french love story, isnt it ?

2)GM Arnaud Hauchard receives messages which contains computer moves, this messages are encoded. To view this messages, he went to the bar of the tournament.
Nobody noticed anything, specially this back and forth between the bar and game table, right ... I dont know what was the distance between the bar and the tables,
but Hauchard had to do a lot of sports ;)
FFE claims that all the moves of each 9 games played by Feller were transmitted, but if you look the games played perfectly by feller against howell, gelashvili, timofeev, ...
that means GM Hauchard has to go back to the bar at each move to see the messages whith computer moves and then return to the tables, ... strange, isnt it ?
Maybe in this messages there were variation with several moves, but in this case, the opponent will not play necessarly the first choice of the computer.

3) The transmission of the moves from GM Hauchard to GM Feller:
GM Hauchard stands behind one of the 8 players to indicate the column and then he stands behind one of the 8 players to indicate the rank and then you have the destination square.
If you know how is organised the olympiads, you know there is an arbiter on each table ranks, nobody noticed anything ... the opponent, the players, the arbiter, and no video either
strange, strange, strange !
And how did GM Hauchard do during the zeitnots : we dont know (he had to run faster ?)

4) Jean-Claude Moingt, the president of the FFE, was aware of the messages sending after the match France-Georgia.
The next day he goes to the site and observes GM Hauchard to see how the moves are transmitted from Hauchard to Feller.
His intention is to surprise them in the act and stop the game. But nothing could be detected.
He was accused of Sebastian wearing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of FIDE and of being out one night in a nightclub.
After the olympiads, Hauchard and Feller were convoked by the FFE, they would have confessed, but no minutes were etablished.
As you see the cheat process is not realistic and it lacks a lot of informations in this affair.

Nevertheless the discipline committee of the FFE has found that there was cheating proved with an absolute majority of 25 votes out of 25 (Brejnev times).

And now Feller without cheating, made an over 2700 performance in Aix les Bains after 8 games ?! All of this does not make sense.

All this defamation campaign works well until now, you have just to see this petition ;)
But the three accused have decided to attack FFE for defamation nearby the court of justice.

No doubt Sebastien Feller will be over 2700 because he is certainly the the greatest talent that France has ever had, but now he is suspended from playing for 5 years
in France. This arranges the affairs of Jean-Claude Moingt, who was the president of the chessclub of Clichy, this chessclub is a rival club of Evry grand roque chessclub for
first place in french top 16, ... which is the club where Feller plays. (now Feller will play maybe for germany or belgium country ?)

Anyway:
Now what is the situation for chess in France ?
The situation in France is a little paranoiac and it seems this virus seems to have spread throughout the chessworld, everyone suspects everyone of cheating, especially if you win ;)
50% of chessplayers thinks Feller cheats (even in Aix though, he is well controled) 50% of chessplayers thinks FFE cheats (but can't express their discomfort).

So what happened during this olympiads ?
As said Mulder : ' The truth is out there '.

Hope this entire message will be published, sorry for my english (Im french ...)

"50% of chessplayers thinks Feller cheats (even in Aix though, he is well controled) 50% of chessplayers thinks FFE cheats (but can’t express their discomfort)." !!!!!
.... I think 50 % of chess player around you. You are probably a friend of this cheater.
99,99° of the french players know that he is cheating (20 sms during all the games, no sms after, Vachier Lagrave, Fressinet, Romain, Moingt, Pomian, Verat and Jordi Lopes testimonys... Not enough. Very clear in fact...

to Peter I never say FFE contact Chessvibes
to Stefan: I dont want to reveal my identity because Im afraid they would take off my licence, and one never know how far they can go. See: my message is published and immediatly someone (frenchy) comes to criticize my message, certainly one of their employees works full time to control the web like its happening in internet in France.

I only realize now that express my point of view could generate problems with FFE
I must admit I was wrong, this was a mistake to speak, all of what I've told is lies if you want.
Peter, could you delete all my messages and my IP adress from your tables, please (please its important for me because I want to continue to play chess). Im serious ;(
Save us.

No delete ?!
All of this was a troll, I apologize.
I agree with frenchy : most french players know that he is cheating (in Khanty and even in Aix)
and I agree with rdc that its only one move in a critical moment and that is a poor conduct.

Peter, Im very confused, I apologize, I have a family and friends, I dont want to have my picture on the web or in newspapers with 'the friend of the cheaters' as legend.
It was a troll.

I DONT WANT TO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH FFE, please delete me

Shipov's latest "letter" from the European Championship addresses the cheating issue again, after he discussed it at breakfast yesterday with Silvio Danailov: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2011/03/danailovs-dances/

It's not entirely clear, but Danailov at least seemed to think there was another open letter that named Feller, and also Wirig. It's possible that was a misunderstanding, but it's probably a good indication of the rumours going around in Aix-les-Bains. Shipov calls it an "unhealthy atmosphere", slipping into "mass paranoia".

HAHA I love Goloum!

Do you want to work for my administration ?

Yes Yes I agree with shipov too, but I dont want ot have problems with FFE, this guys do not joke at all, they are serious and you may find yourself in less than two minutes with your photo on the TV news as legend 'friend of the cheaters'
so once again, pete, juste one click on the delete button.

Lots of claims by goloum, but my question is, if Feller was innocent, why did he go to court to remove the phone as evidence? I understand privacy concerns and that he is entitled to do so, but if something can prove your innocence, why not use it?

Sorry for the double post...I feel "open letters" are ridiculous. If you want to say something, why not contact the administrators/organizers directly? If they don't respond, then step it up a notch.

Everybody wants to be a drama queen...really stupid.

sms messages may or may not exit. Problem is: can they be disclosed under the French and/or European laws? If the answer is no, then what's the point of even mentioning the sms messages at all?

Does anyone know?

entirely ok with you stepimus, if Feller was innocent, why did he go to court to remove the phone as evidence?
That's prove he is guilty, I agree.

I agree with you it was stupide to play the 'drama queen' , as explain previously it was a troll, but I tried to tell this to the administrator, but he diddnt heard and dont want to delete.
I dont want to play the 'drama queen', imagine i can be caught by FFE for this stupid open letter (which was a troll) and my name can be revealed in bad way ! so apolgizes to all here .... :(

On the cheating issue there are some facts that have not been written and some lies that have been posted, the object here is to set the record straight.
1. There is no doubt in my mind that the players cheated, the messages sent by Marzolo and the avowal by Hauchard are more than solid proof. Like Floyd Landis, who denied any wrongdoing for several years and used an army of lawyers to sue
whoever was necessary, the cheaters, and particularly Feller, are trying to do the same. Their strategy is to discredit whoever testifies against them. To discredit Romain Edouard, Feller's lawyer claimed that Edouard has stolen 10 euros from him back in 2003.
2. Feller has always been ''the darling'' of the French federation. Not only did they select him for the Olympic team but they also gave him money for training. The Federation has in the past gone out of their way to help Feller more than he is worth. He never, never won a youth championship in his age category. In 2005, he played in the U14 french national championship and arrived in 8th place. Despite this, or perhaps because the person at the time in charge of selecting players was from his own club, he was admitted to the youth team.
3. The french youth championships are a rare tournament where nobody is allowed into the playing hall and where cheating is more difficult. In 2005, Feller had about 200 more elo points than the player ranked second and he did not win. This was a constant in all the french youth championships in which he played.
4. In a tournament in Switzerland last summer, some spectators caught Marzolo with Feller's games on his computer. He then went to the playing hall and with some coding similar to the code employed in the Olympiads he gave him the move to make. People saw him do it but since there was no written proof (no sms) the organizers did nothing. This is the sad point because a good cheater will never write anything, this is why the lawyers dont want the sms revealed. Feller is banned from playchess and there is a strong suspicion that he cheated in the Paris open and against Bauer in the national team championships,
5. In France several years ago in a tennis tournament, the father of one of the players put a sleeping pill into the water drank by his daily opponent. The guy lost and then fell asleep while driving back home and killed himself. Some parents of chess players have this kind of unethical behaviour.
6. The small sanction given to Hauchard was probably due to his avowal, the president of the sanctions committee is also a good friend. Nevertheless there are suspicions that other players trained by Hauchard have had help in tournaments and made suspicious norms.
7. By not having a time lag between games and the retransmission, by not having a metal detector at the entrance, by not forbidding electronic devices in the playing hall the french federation is giving the cheaters the whip to punish them.
8. Perhaps it is a coincidence, but at the european championships, Wirig, one of the players who defends Feller and who lives in the same town, was performing well above his ranking. It is perhaps also a coincidence that all the players trained by Dorfmann are all behind Feller. Marzolo was less faithfull when he drove his car into a bus stop and left the injured passenger alone at 2am waiting for the ambulance because he did not want the police to check the alcohol content in his blood. He got out of it quite well, his driving licence was suspended 6 months even though it was not the first time he was caught while driving drunk.

goloum, I was referring to the practice of writing an "Open Letter" as being bad. I am not criticizing you for posting on ChessVibes. No need to apologize. You stated your opinion. People may agree or disagree, it is up to them.

It was of course not a troll ;)

See how Feller find today on the board 19. ... b3! and 23. ... e5!! with advantage against Jakovenko (2717) and dare say after he is a cheater ...

Unfortunately for him he only had 3 minutes to the end against 38 Jakovenko and he had to accept the draw offered by Jakovenko.
But whith Bishop pair and one more passed "a" pawn, the position after 27. ... Qe7 looks like a win (if 28.Bxh7+? Kxh7 29.Qc2+ Kg8 30.Qxc5 Rc8! wins)

Some guys like frenchy or septimus are not able to understand the quarter of this game but they are able to take judgements on everyone. I feel very desesperate for those kind of guys.

Finally an interesting comment Capablanca. Wolves out of the wood.

1- bla-bla

2- Feller has always been ”the darling” of the French federation.--> False
only 1 500 € for a year by the FFE before the 'affair'. Everyone knows the 'draling' is MVL and since a long time.

He never, never won a youth championship in his age category --> False
Feller was French Junior Champion in 2007 (and 5 times vice-champion)

3- You accuse him to cheat when he was a very young player, ok, did he cheat when he vice-champion of the European Chpshp U16?

4- I know these rumors in Switzerland, rumors but no proof, playchess to.

For Paris Chpshp 2010, prove it !
Im very curious, there was no suspicion and no irregularities on the site.

For game Feller-Bauer, interesting, its the first time that someone mention this game, are you Christian Bauer, otherwise, you are well-informed, are you someone of the FFE ?

5- I know this story, this is irrelevant.

6- 'The small sanction given to Hauchard was probably due to his avowal' --> partly yes, but not all : Hauchard and Moingt have known themselves since the late 80's, this is an additional reason for the leniency of the sanction.

7- Yes I agree, and I would add that there is no need to have a coach for the team competitions, the captain must be a player.

8- Stop accusating everybody without proof --> Anthony WIRIG is not a cheater like everybody began to tell. It's painful. Everyone becomes paranoid with FFE !!
what is the link between marzolo accident and chess cheat ?
You want to mean Sebastien FELLER is a bad boy, yes he is.

You dont mentionned a lot of things, explain me 19. … b3! and 23. … e5!! today against Jakovenko (2717) , maybe another cheating ?

Everybody accused everybody of cheating in France now, its desesperate !

Finally a ponderated answer and maybe the first one since the beginning of the affair (since 21st january) on everything I heard on the forums right and left.

Thanks Thomas.

But I do not agree with you on all points :

1- I agree with you but as Nyback, as Kasparov too (cheat against Polgar, going back to his hotel during the game), they are not the right people to talk about anti-cheating, after they take their responsibilities ...

2- when I talk of contact internet websites, I agree, I must admit I was wrong, in my head, I think first of all at theses 3 sites (france-echecs, europe-echecs, echecs-asso).
But with big announcement effect, the cheating information was relayed on all the chess internet (chessbase, ...). Feller biography onWikipedia has been updated January 25st with cheating accusations.

There is no doubt that FFE has made agressive media campaign against the 3 accused players, contacting french press, radios and TV to give interviews (france-soir, france-info, tf1, france 2, …)

You certainly know other cheating cases in France in the past, with no continuations. Why this one produces so virulent reactions ?

3- I agree with you that well playing at the European championship isn’t proof of innocence during the olympiads.

"Hauchard in Khanty-Mansiysk might have known when help is required – either through some non-verbal sign from Feller, or whenever he was thinking for more than ten minutes?"
I agree with you, it may be possible, but in this case, how to prove it ?

See : Jean-Claude Moingt, the president of the FFE, goes to the site and observes GM Hauchard to see how the moves are transmitted from Hauchard to Feller.But nothing could be detected.

As I said above, to prevent cheating case, the captain of a team must be a player and not a person outside.

and last but not least:
I find this cheat to sophisticated, instead of sending sms, there was a more simple mean which was to connect to chessbomb or playchess and to watch the analysis on line (and they were online for all the french games during the olympiads), for example :-)

something seems stupid to me is that in France, many people are convinced that Feller continue to cheat during the the European championship and suspect Anthony Wirig's performance (2480 elos, perf 2770). This is nonsense.

And now, what are the consequences of all this mediatisation ?

As I understood there was a ECU congress some days ago. Nobody would have got notice of it, if there were not the open letter from Turkey with the thread to sue EUC. So the agenda seems to be interesting. But now after it has finished again everything is kept private. Nothing from the organizers, nothing from ECU, nothing from the federations. ..

I am not French, but I truly feel it would be great if Feller wins again on the last round and takes 1st place at the European Ch with a 2800+ TRP...

Why on Earth would Feller cheat at all, considering he is getting used to walk the field at very strong tournaments? And he is now playing under the annoying sight of 400 players! And still keeps rolling, what a strong determination and superb chess talent!

You should all be talking about the clowns of the FFE instead, whom went public on this and surely must be regreting their 'brave' move right now! The burden is on them now to come up with some evidence before banning a young super-talent...

As has been said before. Cheating does not make a noob play like a genius. It gives that little extra to strong players to finish first instead of second.

I do not see the proof yet. Just a handful people saying this or that. Where is the actual proof?

And please do not come up with the useless "if the messaging service company discloses the files..." because I do not see any lawyer ingoring the French and/or European laws on confidenciality to make FFE clowns happy. Again, these silly guys should have never gone public on this.

Pointing a strong player as a cheater because of finding good moves is the same stuff as the Mamedyarov-Kurnosov affair to my mind. No proof whatsoever. Only the dirty finger pointing!

BTW, I played in the same room with Kurnosov at the 4NCL and we were smoking outside together. He managed to produce a fine win in a drawn rook endgame against GM Bogdan Lalic; indeed one of those simple endgames which computers have no clue at all...

Funny thing is that on a good day even myself (2200) manage to hit Fritz 12's first and second choices nearly all the time. So how is that surprising that 2600+ GM hits Rybka 9 out of 10 moves?

Some guys here are even asking Feller to play absolutely perfect chess to show he is innocent... LOL... Even Anand is playing weak moves now and then... All in all I think this is damaging chess more than anyone can possibly imagine... Think about potential sponsors walking away in silence, just to begin with...

Looks like Bobby was correct when he told the world that the Soviet Union was cheating!! anyone care to defend the Soviet's?

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