Following the Shropshire Chess Online Quickplay event on Sunday 10th January, a complaint was made to the tournament organiser that one of the players had been using electronic assistance.
The tournament organiser investigated this complaint and found strong evidence to support it. The senior Shropshire Chess officials then referred the matter to LiChess. LiChess carried out their own investigation before suspending the relevant account.
A special committee of the Shropshire Chess Association met via Zoom on Saturday 16th January and unanimously agreed to apply the penalties to the player stated in Rule 19 of the Shropshire Chess Online League Rules and Online Rapidplay Rules. The player has been suspended from online Chess for the rest of the season and all games played by the player will be scored as losses.
The Shropshire Chess Association reminds all players that use of electronic assistance in any online competitive match is unacceptable and that strong measures are in place to deter such a breach of the rules. The rules will be rigorously applied in the event of any further incidents.
Matthew Clark,
President of the Shropshire Chess Association. 16/01/2021