THE genteel world of international chess has been rocked after a leading player was accused of cheating ? using a mobile phone. Umakanth Sharma, 25, was banned for ten years after a wireless earpiece was found stitched into his hat at a tournament. He is believed to have received instructions over the air from an accomplice in the audience, who used a computer chess program to find the best move. Sharma, of Valsad, India, is now in hiding. But his pal Diwakar Singh, 31, is also being investigated. He denies cheating ? and has offered to be X-rayed to show he has no metal devices hidden in his body. The scandal ? unprecedented in the distinguished game’s 1,500-year history ? began to emerge when some of India’s top players complained after being beaten by Sharma or Singh.
Bad move ... Singh allegedly cheated
Sharma was not even in the world’s top 50,000 last year ? but nine months later was rated above the level of an International Master.
Meanwhile, Singh rose from total obscurity to win the All-India National Championship.
Further scrutiny found that both men’s moves matched those of two computer chess “engines”, Deep Junior and Hiarcs 10.
Then last month the Bluetooth earpiece in Sharma’s hat set off a metal detector at a tournament in a Delhi airforce base.
Cops also held a man behaving suspiciously at a tournament where Singh was playing.
He turned out to be Sharma’s brother ? who was staying at Singh’s hotel.
Chess author Praful Zaveri said: “Most players there thought Singh had help.”
Advice to chess players play with your own brain computer machine or be damned.
No comments:
Post a Comment