Petrosian banned, Armenia Eagles disqualified

Tigran Petrosian has been found violating fairplay rules by Chess.com’s anti-cheating crew both in the semifinal and final of the PRO Chess League last week-end. The hosting platform and the league have banned the Armenian grandmaster for life. The league has also disqualified his team, the Armenia Eagles, and stripped them off their prize money. The $20,000 first prize is passed on to the Saint Louis Arch Bishops, while the semifinalists China Pandas and Canada Chessbrahs each receive an extra $5,000. The semifinals and finals are normally held as a live event but were played online this year due to the pandemic. Update: Petrosian denies the allegations about which he learned from his team manager just before Chess.com went public. “I am playing internet chess for 20 years on 15 websites and always play fair”, Petrosian told ChessTech. He played the semifinals and finals from a friend’s office with strong internet connections complying with the requirements to share his screen and have his webcam on from 30 minutes before each game to its end. Reddit has translated a press conference by Petrosian and his team manager.