French chess cheating scandal - Vachier-Lagrave, Fressinet opinions

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011

Hello everyone,

French chess cheating scandal has been on everyone's mind though in the background.

You can read the previous www.chessblog.com reports

• Scandal: French Chess Grandmasters Accused of Cheating
• French Cheating Scandal - Feller Contests and Counter-Attacks!
• French Cheat Scandal: Battesti Answers
• French chess cheating scandal - Grandmasters urge quick 'quest for truth'

But here are the latest updates from www.chessvibes.com in English. You can also keep track of updates at the Europe-Echecs website in French. The video first then the contents.

Laurent Fressinet and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave were interviewed on video by Europe-Echecs.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave says he learned about the affair shortly before Tata Wijk aan Zee when the federation informed him there would be an open letter about the investigation so that he would be prepared and not have to face some kind of news “bombshell”. Laurent Fressinet says he was surprised and even shocked that their team could be under suspicion.

Both say they didn’t suspect anything during the Olympiad or noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Arnaud Hauchard was going to be mentioned in the open letter about the investigation and he is also the trainer and second of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. He didn’t accompany Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to Wijk aan Zee.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: I talked to Arnaud Hauchard and my sponsor and we decided that under the current circumstances and at least until the investigation has finished it would be impossible that Arnaud Hauchard could accompany me to a tournament.

Have other players (in Wijk aan Zee) talked to you about the affair?
Laurent Fressinet: (in short) Yes, they wanted to know what really happened.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: (in short) Yes, amongst others Anand & Carlsen. We try to cope as best as possible.
Laurent Fressinet: (paraphrasing) Considering the gravity of the situation and the accusations we understand all the concerns and that it takes time and have published our open letter to explain our position.

A statement from GM Arnaud Hauchard appeared on the Europe-Echecs website

The declaration of the Human rights says that each person is innocent till proven guilty.

The European Human rights convention, says itself, in its 6th article, 2nd paragraph that “each individual accused of an offense is presumed innocent till his culpability is legally pronounced”.

Finally the article 9-1 of the Civil Code from the law number 2511 of June the 15th 2000, stipulates that everyone has a right to the respect of the presumption of innocence.

It is then forbidden to hold somebody publicly, before any conviction, as guilty of acts, under investigation or procedure.

To attribute to somebody an offense hurt social values which the presumption of innocence intends to protect.

One of these values is the right for each individual to dignity and respect, the other one is the authority and the serenity of justice. It seems obvious that the Federation didn’t take into account these articles publishing my name on its official site before the end of the investigation.

I’m waiting for the disciplinary hearing in order to say more about this case and I deny the facts attributed to me on the site.
Arnaud Hauchard, International Grand Master

You can read more here.

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