Umakant Sharma
Encyclopedia
Umakant Sharma is an Indian chess
player who in 2006 was banned from playing competitive chess for ten years due to cheating. Umakant was caught during the Subroto Mukerjee tournament in India in which he was rated as the top seed.
memorial international rating chess tournament at Subroto Park, using a chess computer via a Bluetooth
-enabled device which had been sewn into his cap. The accomplices he had been communicating with were outside the location at which he was playing, and were relaying moves for him to make from a computer simulation. Officials became suspicious after Umakant gained large amounts of rating points in the previous eighteen months, even qualifying for the national championship.
gained rating points at such speed. Officials became more suspicious after receiving multiple complaints in writing alleging that Umakant's moves were in exactly the same sequence suggested by the chess computer Pocket Fritz. In the seventh round, after a body search was suggested, Indian Air Force
officials searched the players at the top eight boards with a metal detector, where it was found that Umakant was the only individual who was cheating.
and match fixing
did not receive such lengthy suspensions. When officials were asked about the suspension they stated, "We wanted to be frank and send a stern message to all players. It is like cheating on exams."
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player who in 2006 was banned from playing competitive chess for ten years due to cheating. Umakant was caught during the Subroto Mukerjee tournament in India in which he was rated as the top seed.
Cheating
Umakant Sharma was caught receiving instructions from an accomplice, during the Subroto MukerjeeSubroto Mukerjee
Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, OBE was the first Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force . Born in a Bengali family of repute, he was educated in India as well as England. He joined the Royal Air Force and later was one of the first recruits of the Indian Air Force...
memorial international rating chess tournament at Subroto Park, using a chess computer via a Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
-enabled device which had been sewn into his cap. The accomplices he had been communicating with were outside the location at which he was playing, and were relaying moves for him to make from a computer simulation. Officials became suspicious after Umakant gained large amounts of rating points in the previous eighteen months, even qualifying for the national championship.
Suspicions
Officials first became suspicious after Umakant began the year with an average rating of 1933, and in 64 games gained over 500 points to give him a rating of 2484. This was a massive jump considering that not even chess great Viswanathan AnandViswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
gained rating points at such speed. Officials became more suspicious after receiving multiple complaints in writing alleging that Umakant's moves were in exactly the same sequence suggested by the chess computer Pocket Fritz. In the seventh round, after a body search was suggested, Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
officials searched the players at the top eight boards with a metal detector, where it was found that Umakant was the only individual who was cheating.
Punishment
Umakant's ten-year ban from chess was determined by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) after reviewing evidence presented by Umakant himself and the electronic devices seized by the organizers of the tournament. The punishment was considered extremely harsh, especially considering that those in other sports who have been found to be dopingDoping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...
and match fixing
Match fixing
In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...
did not receive such lengthy suspensions. When officials were asked about the suspension they stated, "We wanted to be frank and send a stern message to all players. It is like cheating on exams."