Deadline Day for Bulgarian Chess Federation and FIDE

Who Ivan Tetimov is and why the authorities are interested in him

Today, May 11 is the deadline by which FIDE lawyers expect the Bulgarian Chess Federation to supply information on the suspected cheat Ivan Tetimov. Otherwise, as we have reported, the Bulgarian federation may be excluded from FIDE.  

Further to our earlier report, we give some more details of the situation.

Ivan Tetimov (born in 1988, the current rating - 2158) had aroused suspicion and the corresponding response from organizers a few more months prior to Benidorm, in the tournament "Balkan Amateur Chess Festival for players under 2300" in the Bulgarian town of Vidin. People noted not only the Blagoevgrad amateur's strong play, but also his strange behavior during the game.

The not entirely natural pose that you see in the photo above, with his hand covering his right ear, is, according to eyewitnesses, the one in which Tetimov spent the majority of his time at the board (photo by Eftim Stefanov, the main organizer of the Balkan festival, August 2014).

Before the eighth round, on the initiative of his opponent, Tetimov was asked to undergo an examination, which, however, did not reveal any abnormalities. As a result, the Blagoevgrad player finished in first place with a score of 7.5 out of 9 and took a good prize.

Returning to the tournament in Benidorm, we note that there, he refused point-blank to allow an inspection of one of his ears, which led to his disqualification and the cancellation of his result, one round before the end. After Benidorm, according to the FIDE website, Tetimov did not participate in further official tournaments.

Tetimov was not the only Bulgarian player who attracted attention in Benidorm. The B tournament, for amateurs rated below 2000, saw a sensational result by Shaban Karpach (born in 1994). Starting with 7 out of 7, at the finish (when the trouble with Tetimov started), he slowed down and eventually "only" shared second place with 8 points out of 10, which also earned him a decent prize. The main prize in the tournament "B" was 3100 euros, even higher than in the stronger tournament. Checks on Karpach, as far as we know, were not carried out.

Having added 190 points to his humble rating, Karpach also didn't play any rated tournaments after Benidorm. Furthermore, Benidorm was only the second official tournament of his life (!) - the first was in November 2013 and brought him an initial rating of 1748.

As already mentioned, Tetimov is a countryman and friend of Borislav Ivanov, who was suspended by the Bulgarian federation in late 2013 (shortly afterwards, Ivanov's profile was deleted from the FIDE website).

Ivanov (left) and Tetimov, at the prize-giving in Pamplona in 2013. In the article on the site Struma.bg, which contains this photo, it is said that the two are teammates. Ivanov won the rapid chess tournament with 8 out of 9, ahead of several grandmasters.

About Shaban Karpach, very little is known, except for the fact that he also comes from... the Blagoevgrad region.

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A few words about the FIDE Anti-Cheating Commission (ACC). This body officially started its work on November 11, 2014 by a decision of the preceding Presidential Board in Sochi. It is headed by Israel Gelfer, and its secretary is Yuri Garrett; among other members are Konstantin Landa and Rafael Vaganian.

On December 1 last year, the FIDE website published the official Anti-Cheating Guidelines. This 22-page document defines the activities of the ACC. Among other things, it describes the recommended measures to prevent cheating, instructions for arbiters and penalties for players convicted of cheating, and also refers to the new system of tracking the games on the basis of the comparative statistical algorithm developed by American scientist Kenneth Regan.

In particular, according to this manual, Gaioz Nigalidze faces up to three years disqualification and forfeiture of all FIDE titles.