Romanian GM Kirill Shevchenko expelled from 2024 Spanish Team Championship for using phone hidden in a toilet

Romanian Grandmaster Kirill Shevchenko has been expelled from the 2024 Spanish Team Championship for reportedly hiding a mobile phone in a toilet and using it during his games.

The 22-year-old Ukrainian-born GM’s draw against GM Bassem Amin in Round 1 and GM Francisco Vallejo in Round 2 have both been turned into defeats as a result of the suspension, according to chess.com.

Shevchenko, who had become a Grandmaster at the age of 14 and had won the 2021 European Team Chess Championship with Ukraine, was representing C.A. Silla - Integrant Col·lectius in the event that is taking place in the North African Spanish city of Melilla from 12 to 18 October.

Shevchenko’s frequent visits to the toilet during his games arose suspicion and it was Vallejo, his second-round opponent, who complained about the matter to the arbiter. When confronted over his extended absence away from the board, Shevchenko initially claimed that he was feeling unwell, to which the arbiter reminded him that it was necessary to ask for permission before taking a break and leaving the playing area.

When the bathroom visits did not stop, the arbiter asked a member of the organising committee to inspect the cubicle that Shevchenko had been visiting, where a hidden mobile phone was discovered along with a hand-written note in Spanish that read, “No toques! ¡El teléfono se dejó para que el huésped contestara por la noche!” (“Don’t touch! This telephone has been left so the owner can answer it at night!”).

The handwriting on the note was also discovered to be that of Shevchenko, who has since denied wrongdoing.

It wasn’t just GM Vallejo who was suspicious of Shevchenko’s behaviour at the tournament. GM Amin, who held the Ukrainian-Romanian GM to a draw in the first round, revealed he too found Shevchenko’s behaviour to be strange.

“For me I would say things started to get strange at move six. He played his move and left the playing hall for more than 10 minutes and this was repeated many times in the next moves. I thought he had some stomach problems!

“But at some point I decided to go out to see where he is and he was standing outside the toilet room and when he saw me he went back to the playing hall. And then at some point in the game he stopped going out till the game was finished,” Amin was quoted as saying in the report.