"Nigalidze Verdict: 3-Year Ban, GM Title Stripped"

Let's be clear though.  This is a very talented 2600+ national champion (former) GM.

Yes, he cheated.  Yes, it was stupid.  Yes, he probably could have won without cheating.  But the idea of a lifetime ban is overkill.

I think that the three year ban is appropriate, and I think that the (new as far as I know) step of stripping him of his GM title is also a good idea.

Look at Sebastian Feller for example.  He seems to be perfectly rehabilitated by his three year ban, and I have not heard about any complaints on his return being made by opponents.

I think they took the GM title because he obtained it very recently, and there were suspicions of cheating before the event where he was caught.

He had it for over a year at least since it was confirmed early in 2014 by the FIDE comission.

While I doubt this was the first time he cheated, I also doubt that there was a ton of prior incidents as it seems likely that he would have been caught earlier.

Ok.

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As for the punishment, you could have some fun with it. Like you're not banned at all, but from now until you die if you want to play you're searched before every game and if you leave your seat once you forfeit the game 

Or some silly community service type of punishment. For every tournament game they win, they have to donate their time to coach a kid for 3 hours. Every draw = 1 hour.

If the kids don't improve then he's suspended until they raise their ratings haha.

If FIDE is like chess.com, he'll just change his name, part his hair on the other side and start again.

They could always give his iPod the GM title in place of him 

Just put cameras in the stalls and have security watch for any transgressions.  It's what the TSA does to us already.

Lets do it like the doping tests. Somebody watches you as you go. Also let the urine be checked for substances when they go during a match.

why do people cheat?

So they can claim to be good and impress people. 

Not when you are cheating for $$$.  I don't really believe chess for $$$ should exist at all, but since it does, this is fraud and theft, pure and simple.  A bank robber can reform and have a new life, but they'll never get a job at a bank ;)...and rightfully so.

Hopefully jail time from actual charges will result.  If he cheated in 2014 as well, then he stole $11,000 from another GM, and the tournament organizers as well as the runner up should press charges.

Circumstances do not matter.  Doesn't matter what his finances were.  Integrity is not based on acting morally only when it's not to too tempting to do otherwise.  

He won the Georgian Championships 2 years running, both times being far down the seeded list of expected winners.  Those games need to be analyzed now.

He should get fined as well plus his GM taken away and a 3 year ban. That's how it should go. Then his rating should be reduced back to before the times he cheated.

I don't understand why a life time ban isn't appropriate here. A GM knows the huge amount of time and effort it takes to aquire that level of skill and he knowingly and willfully decided to cheat a bunch of his peers out of money and rating points for his own gain. He can't be trusted again in the chess circle, I know I wouldn't. This is much different than people who use engines online, where money isn't on the line and rating points mean little in the chess world. I can also understand not giving a life time ban for a scholastic player also. But he's an adult, knew full well, better than most even, how damaging his cheating would be against his peers and did it anyway. Point is, cheating is a growing concern in over the board chess so any instances where blatant cheating is caught it needs to be punished severely so that it deters others from attempting it. Especially at the GM level. Stripping his titles and banning the player for life would send a very strong message to everyone how seriously FIDE takes cheating and would give others pause in their attempts, if not diswade many from trying themselves. Using a higher profile player like him, a GM, would also show that they give no preference to anyone who is caught cheating. A three year ban and GM title stripped in my opinion is a pretty weak punishment considering the severity of the offense. Anything less than 10 years shouldn't have even been in serious consideration to me.

Lifetime ban is too harsh.   Instead he should be required to wear a bib in all matches.   The bib would say on it, "I was a cheater but not anymore, trust me".

the situation comes up frequently when it comes to cheating - half the people want to make an example of him ('aka the deathe penalty'), other half doesnt want to see that person unable to ever use his craft again and shows more leniency, thus enabling the behavior a bit - glad i dont have to decide stuff like that

lol.

Or maybe in all future tournaments he enters the players get to vote. If a certain % (maybe even a % below 50) don't want him in the tournament, then he's not allowed to participate.

I think the 3 year ban and GM title strip might be about right. Think about it, he will basically have to find some other way to make a living for 3 years, then when he can come back, won't he have to earn all the IM then GM norms again? That will take a considerable time. Realistically it could be 6 or 7 years before he could earn that title back, provided he is able to spend the time away from however he makes his money in the interim period. Sounds like the death knell for his chess career unless he is independently wealthy.

I don´t see how would he need 6 or 7 years, he is an IM now, and he is keeping his rating:

https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=13603078