Player suspected of cheating removed from Dubai Open Chess
Cheating attempt
However, the explosive board battles were overshadowed by an apparent cheating attempt involving a 21-year-old player from India.
Jeel Shah, who has an International Chess Federation (Fide) rating of 1764 and seeded 192nd out of 213 players in the tournament, caught the arbiters’ attention because of suspicious behaviour during his game against 14-year-old Dushyant Sharma, also of India.
After closely monitoring his actions, International Arbiter (IA) Mahdi Abdul Rahim, the tournament’s chief arbiter, summoned Shah to the arbiter’s office for an inspection, where he was found to be hiding a mobile phone under the sleeves of his shirt.
Shah refused to comply with the arbiters’ request to turn the phone on to check if it was being used to run a chess program, prompting tournament officials to expel the Indian player from the tournament.
As per Fide rules, mobile phones and other electronic devices are not allowed in the playing hall of a tournament.
