Gilles Andruet (born 30 March 1958,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

– 22 August 1995 near

Saulx-les-Chartreux Saulx-les-Chartreux () is a commune in the Essonne department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 20 kilometres from the center of Paris. History The name of the city come from a tree: ''Saule'' (willow tree in French). Mo ...

Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

and a former national champion. He was the son of

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver

Jean-Claude Andruet Jean-Claude Andruet (born 13 August 1940 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Montreuil) is a retired French professional Rallying, rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship. Andruet took three WRC event wins during his career; 1973 M ...

Chess career

Andruet was a member of the French team at the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

. In 1988 he won the

French Chess Championship The French Chess Championship is the annual, national chess tournament of France. It was officially first played in 1923 after the formation of the ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' in 1921. The first unofficial national tournament was played i ...

and reached his peak

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

(2450). During the 1989 Championship, Andruet was involved in a violent altercation with Jean-Luc Seret and subsequently withdrew from the tournament despite the fact that he was in the lead after 10 of 14 rounds. He played less regularly after 1991.

Murder and subsequent trial

''For a detailed account, see Murder of Gilles Andruet''. Andruet was also a

gambler Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...

. Starting in 1993, he regularly played

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

and

blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s and although he initially won significant amounts of money, he eventually became a pathological gambler riddled with debt. On 22 August 1995 Andruet's body was found on the shores of the

Yvette Yvette (, ) is a feminine given name, the French feminine form of Yves (given name), Yves, which means Taxus, yew or archery, archer in some cases. Variations * Catalan language, Catalan: Ivet * Czech language, Czech: Yveta * Dutch language, ...

. He had been beaten to death. The investigation focused on Joseph Liany and his son Franck who had presumably helped Andruet cash a check of 398,000

French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...

s. Joseph Liany was eventually tried eight years later, convicted of murder and sentenced to a 15-year prison term. His son Franck received a seven-year sentence for his role in the affair. Joseph Liany subsequently identified his nephew Sacha Rhoul as the man solely responsible for the murder. A new trial in 2006 cleared Liany but convicted Rhoul ''

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

''. Rhoul had been living in

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

where he and his father managed the Palais Rhoul, a well-known

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suite (hotel), suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a d ...

. Jean-Claude Andruet, Gilles' father repeatedly called for the arrest and

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

of Rhoul. On 25 February 2010, Moroccan authorities arrested Rhoul following an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

mandate and extradited him on 6 March. Four years later, Sacha Rhoul was acquitted.

References

This article is largely a translation of that appearing on the French Wikipedia site - see the language link in the left margin to gain access.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andruet, Gilles 1958 births 1995 deaths 1995 murders in Europe Chess International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors Sportspeople from Versailles, Yvelines People murdered in France French murder victims Deaths by beating in Europe 20th-century French chess players 20th-century French sportsmen