FIDE Confirms Ban In French Cheating Scandal

The French Grandmaster Sebastien Feller, along with his compatriots GM Arnaud Hauchard and IM Cyril Marzolo have been suspended from playing in FIDE events for cheating in the 2010 Chess Olympiad.

The cheating was originally uncovered by the French Chess Federation, but was initially met by a successful legal challenge from the accused players in the French courts.

The players allegedly concocted a way to receive computer assistance during matches representing their country at the 2010 Olympiad. 

The full text of the decision by the FIDE ethics committee can be found here (pdf from Europe-Echecs).  The ruling is below.

- all submitted objections and preliminary requests have to be dismissed;

- Mr. Sébastien FELLER, Mr. Arnaud HAUCHARD and Mr. Cyril MARZOLO are responsible for the violation of par. 2.2.5 of the FIDE Code of Ethics;

- Mr. Arnaud HAUCHARD has to be sanctioned with the exclusion from the participation in all FIDE tournaments, as a player or as a member of a national delegation, for a period of 3 (three) years, starting from the 1st of August 2012;

- Mr. Sébastien FELLER has to be sanctioned with the exclusion from the participation in all FIDE tournaments, as a player or as a member of a national delegation, for a period of 2 (two) years and 9 (nine) months, starting from the 1st of August 2012;

- Mr. Cyril MARZOLO has to be sanctioned with the exclusion from the participation in all FIDE tournaments, as a player or as a member of a national delegation, for a period of 1 (one) year and 6 (six) months, with a suspension of the sanction for the last nine months, under probation, in accordance with the decision of the CNOS (Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français); for what concerns the effects of the present decision, the validity of the already executed suspension since 27 May 2011 can be confirmed, but it has to be affirmed the competence of the FIDE EC regarding the evaluation of the period of probation, starting from 27 February 2012 till 27 November 2012, and the French Chess Federation has to be requested to send the FIDE Secretariat a report on the behaviour of Mr. Cyril MARZOLO during the above mentioned period of nine months;

- FIDE Secretariat and FIDE Presidential Board have to be informed of the present decision for all possible consequences related to the results of the games played by Mr Sébastien FELLER during the 2010 Chess Olympiad, concerning ratings, rankings and prizes;

- a written motivation will follow and will be communicated to the parties by the FIDE Secretariat.

Lausanne, 1st July 2012

The Chairman of the FIDE Ethics Commission

Roberto Rivello