Shevchenko Expelled From Spanish Team Championship After Phone Found In Toilet
22-year-old GM Kirill Shevchenko has been expelled from the 2024 Spanish Team Championship with his draw against GM Bassem Amin in round one and win over GM Francisco Vallejo in round two turned into losses. When Shevchenko’s regular absence from the board aroused suspicion in round two a locked phone was found in the toilet, with arbiters claiming a link of the phone to Shevchenko based on handwriting and behavior.
The 2024 Spanish Team Championship Honor Division, taking place in the North African Spanish city of Melilla from October 12-18, has been shaken by a scandal after Shevchenko, playing for C.A. Silla - Integrant Col·lectius, was expelled from the tournament.
Shevchenko, who was born in Ukraine and has since switched to represent Romania, is the world number-69 and became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years and nine months. His greatest achievements include winning the 2021 European Team Chess Championship with Ukraine, as well as the individual Lindores Abbey Blitz in Riga in the same year, where he topped the table ahead of GMs Fabiano Caruana and Arjun Erigaisi.
Chief Arbiter Oscar Bruno de Prado Rodriguez summarized his decision:
Firmly believing and in light of the evidence gathered throughout the investigation that this player has made use of the mobile phone during the game, in addition to ignoring my requests to notify me when he left the room, in breach of FIDE rules, I decide to impose the following sanction:
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- To forfeit the two games played, in round 1 against Amin Bassem, and in round 2 against Francisco Vallejo Pons based on article 12.8 which prohibits the use of mobile devices. The two opponents in rounds 1 and 2 win their games.
- To expel Kiriil Shevchenko from the competition as it is considered a very serious infringement based on article 1[2].9.9.
- A complete report, with all the evidence, will be submitted to the FEDA Technical Committee of Arbiters and the FIDE Ethics Committee.
The decision explains that an investigation was sparked by Vallejo complaining to the arbiter that his round-two opponent, Shevchenko, was spending too long away from the board. The arbiter raised the question with Shevchenko, who said he had a problem and had to visit the toilet. The arbiter reminded the player that it was necessary to ask permission to visit the toilet, located outside the playing hall in a common area with two cubicles and three urinals.
The visits continued, with the arbiter asking a member of the organizing committee to investigate. He saw Shevchenko visiting an individual cubicle, and there found a new mobile phone with the handwritten note, "¡No toques! ¡El teléfono se dejó para que el huésped contestara por la noche!" ("Don't touch! This telephone has been left so the owner can answer it at night!")
The phone was confiscated and the toilet ordered to be locked, around 2.5 hours into the round, with the cleaner revealing that a similar phone had been found there the day before and left unclaimed after it was handed in to the reception. The arbiter says that other members of the organizing committee then observed as Shevchenko entered the bathroom, saw the toilet was closed, and waited for some time before leaving instead of using a free toilet. This happened more than once.
After the round, the arbiters compared the handwritten note to Shevchenko's scoresheets for rounds one and two, and found similarities in the ink and handwriting. They also noted the phone's time zone was one hour ahead of Spain's (two ahead of nearby Morocco)—that may hint at the time zone in Romania.
When challenged on the details, with help from teammate GM Daniil Yuffa as an interpreter, Shevchenko denied everything.
The arbiters note that two more complaints were received. GM Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez, representing his teammate Amin, notes that Amin had privately noticed Shevchenko's absences from the board during round one. Amin told Chess.com he was "still shocked," and explained:
For me I would say things started to get strange at move six. He played his move and left the playing hall for more than 10 minutes and this was repeated many times in the next moves. I thought he had some stomach problems! But at some point I decided to go out to see where he is and he was standing outside the toilet room and when he saw me he went back to the playing hall. And then at some point in the game he stopped going out till the game was finished.
Asked how it affected him during the game, Amin commented:
Generally I try not to think about it too much that someone is maybe cheating because then you can’t really play, but when it happened many times it was really not good, specially that when he came back to the board he would play very fast and really good!
Vallejo also submitted analysis of the game he lost to Shevchenko, though it's noteworthy that for much of the game Shevchenko would not have had access to a phone (if he had been using a phone in the toilet.) You can play through the two games below:
The forfeit loss for Shevchenko will change the score but not result of his team's 4.5-1.5 win in round one, but the round two 3-3 draw will now turn into a 4-2 loss.
Chess.com has reached out to Shevchenko for a comment. His team captain, Jose Antonio Garcia Domingo, preferred not to comment at this time.
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
