SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Aug 22: The All-Jharkhand Chess Association (AJCA) has rejected the demand of some players for conducting a probe into alleged cheating during the FIDE Rating tournament held in Chaibasa from August 5 to 9.
AJCA general secretary Manish Kumar said that cheating allegations in the tournament came in his notice but the complainants neither lodged protest in writing nor gave evidence. So, there is no need to probe false allegations, he added.
Some players alleged that their opponent took the help of a mobile in the washroom to solve the critical situations of the game during the match. In the tournament, 179 players from 12 states participated. But only selected Jharkhand players alleged this, that too against their own state’s players.
“In practice, there is no chance of taking the help of a mobile phone to solve complex positions of the board. Senior players of the state like Bhudeo Tripathi, Pritam Singh, Adhiraj Mitra do not require to take pictures of the board and discuss it with others on mobile as they can play simultaneously on 10 boards keeping memory of all matches. So, it is a baseless allegation of some players that cheating was committed by some players in the Chaibasa FIDE Rating Chess tournament,” said Manish Kumar.
The AJCA general secretary further added that if any player suspected cheating by an opponent, he/she should have lodged a written complaint to the arbiter immediately rather than going to the press. But no one officially lodged a complaint, he added.
Organizing secretary Basant Kumar Khandelwal of Chaibasa (West Singhbhum) FIDE Rating Chess tournament said that some players verbally lodged a complaint to him during the championship alleging that their opponent uses a mobile in the washroom to solve complex moves.
“I verbally asked arbiter Vishal Minj. He probed the complaint and even deputed a person in the washroom but no fact was found,” he said.
