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Sébastien Feller (born 11 March 1991) is a French
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
grandmaster. He was found guilty of cheating by the
French Chess Federation The French Chess Federation (French : ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' – ''FFE'') is the national organization for chess in France. The president is Diego Salazar, the vice-president is Christophe Leroy and the treasurer is Stéphane Rey ...
(FFE) and sanctioned in 2012 by not being allowed to participate in
FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...
tournaments for 2 years and 9 months. He denied the charges and said they were motivated by a dispute over the direction of the French Chess Federation.


Biography

Sébastien Feller was born in
Thionville Thionville (; ; german: Diedenhofen ) is a city in the northeastern French department of Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionville was settled as early as the time of the ...
, France, on 11 March 1991.


Chess career

Feller achieved both his
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 (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...
and Grandmaster titles in 2007 at age 17. He won the French Junior Championship 2007 and was vice-champion of the European U16 Championships 2007. He played as the first reserve for France in the European Team Championships 2009 held in
Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...
,
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
, scoring +4 =4 -1. He was also French Blitz Champion in 2010 and winner of the Paris championship in July 2010. In 2010, he represented France in the
39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (russian: 39-я Шахматная олимпиада, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of ch ...
in
Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk ( rus, Ха́нты-Манси́йск, Khánty-Mansíysk, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city and the administrative center of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Russia. It stand ...
, Russia, where he was sanctioned for cheating by the
French Chess Federation The French Chess Federation (French : ''Fédération Française des Echecs'' – ''FFE'') is the national organization for chess in France. The president is Diego Salazar, the vice-president is Christophe Leroy and the treasurer is Stéphane Rey ...
(FFE).


Chess Olympiad cheating allegations

In October 2010, Feller scored 6/9 (+5 =2 -2) during the
39th Chess Olympiad The 39th Chess Olympiad (russian: 39-я Шахматная олимпиада, ''39-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organised by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of ch ...
and won the Gold medal for best individual performance on board 5. However, the FFE accused Feller, along with French players GM Arnaud Hauchard and IM
Cyril Marzolo Cyril (also Cyrillus or Cyryl) is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek name Κύριλλος (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek κυριος (''kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various varia ...
, of cheating during the Olympiad. While Feller was in the playing hall, Marzolo was in France where he checked the best moves with a chess computer. Marzolo then allegedly sent the move in coded pairs of numbers by text message to Hauchard. Once Hauchard had the suggested move, he would position himself in the hall behind one of the other players’ tables in a predefined coded system, where each table represented a move to play. The FFE claims, in all, 200 text messages were sent during the tournament. The scam was supposedly uncovered by FFE vice-president Joanna Pomian. Feller released a statement (in French) in defense of himself: The FFE took disciplinary measures against the three players. These measures were later revoked by a French civil court. In July 2012 the FIDE Ethic Commission sanctioned all three players and ruled "Mr. Sébastien FELLER has to be sanctioned with the exclusion from the participation in all FIDE tournaments, as a player or as a member of a national delegation, for a period of 2 (two) years and 9 (nine) months, starting from the 1st of August 2012". On 28 May 2019, the
correctional tribunal In France, the ''tribunal correctionnel'' is the court of first instance () that governs in penal matters over offenses classified as misdemeanors
of
Thionville Thionville (; ; german: Diedenhofen ) is a city in the northeastern French department of Moselle. The city is located on the left bank of the river Moselle, opposite its suburb Yutz. History Thionville was settled as early as the time of the ...
sentenced Feller to a suspended sentence of 6 months in prison because he cheated at the 39th Chess Olympiad. According to the tribunal, his behavior amounted to the crime of (
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...
).


Notable games


David Howell vs Sébastien Feller, Khanty Mansiysk 2010, 0-1


Sébastien Feller - Robert Markus, Khanty Mansiysk 2010, 1-0


Sébastien Feller - Tamaz Gelashvili, Khanty Mansiysk 2010, 1-0


Ivan Morovic-Fernandez - Sébastien Feller, Aeroflot Open 2010, 0-1


Artyom Timofeev - Sébastien Feller, Khanty Mansiysk 2010, 0-1


Sébastien Feller - Andrei Volokitin, Aix-les-Bains 2011, 1-0


Others

Feller's FIDE ranking has been suspended following the judgment of the FIDE Ethic Commission. In January 2012 he was listed the last time in the top 100 published by FIDE at position 95. His handle on the
Internet Chess Club The Internet Chess Club (ICC) is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC had over 30,000 subscribing members in 2005.John Black, Martin Cochran, Martin Ryan Gardner"Lessons Learned ...
is "GodSebFeller". His handle on
Lichess Lichess (; ) is a free and open-source Internet chess server run by a non-profit organization of the same name. Users of the site can play online chess anonymously and optionally register an account to play rated games. Lichess is ad-free and ...
is "CtFletch57".CtFletch57
/ref>


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feller, Sebastien Living people 1991 births People from Thionville Chess grandmasters Chess Olympiad competitors French chess players Banned sportspeople Sportspeople from Moselle (department) Cheating in chess