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How this amateur chess player cheated his way to round five and what got him caught

Written by : TNM

A chess player was caught cheating at the Dr. Hedgewar FIDE Rated Chess Tournament for Prakash Trophy in New Delhi last week. The 1500-player beat several much stronger opponents and was caught cheating after round five. The nineteen-year-old player Dhruv Kakkar was caught with two mobile phones strapped to his legs, batteries hidden in a belt around his waist and a micro-speaker inserted in his left ear. He used the mobile phones to transmit messages to a friend 200 km away, who had access to a chess program, who in turn choreographed all of the player’s moves, complicated and obvious ones alike, a report by Chess.com states.  The player, who has a FIDE rating of 1517, had just beaten GM Pravin Thipsay after winning against a 1900-, a 2100- and a 2200-player.  The process is not a complicated one at all. The friend would mention moves, and Kakkar would tap with his foot to affirm when the right move was played. His friend would then feed it to a chess program, and mention the reply suggested by the computer. GM Pravin Thipsay reported to the chief arbiter Dharmendra Kumar of Kakkar’s strange behavior, upon which Kakkar was searched. “I first checked his bag, where I found a pair of batteries. Then, after manually frisking him, I found a loop, something that looked like an Indian locket, around his neck. This was hidden behind his shirt. Below his shirt I then found a belt, batteries and wires. Below his trousers I discovered two mobile phones, one on each leg, just above the ankle, strapped with tape,” said Kumar. The player was then removed from the tournament and is expected to be banned for a period of three years.  Kumar said that jammers must be installed during top tournaments as an anti-cheating measure.  See the photos of Dhruv Kakkar and the equipment he used to cheat here.  

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