A chess player has been expelled from the Dubai Open Chess tournament after he was found to have cheating by using a smartphone during the match.

Gaioz Nigalidze, the current Georgian champion, was thrown out of the competition after officials found that he had been checking his moves on a mobile phone that he had hidden in the toilets of the Dubai Chess and Culture Club during his sixth-round encounter with Armenia’s Tigran Petrosian.

The Georgian’s cheating was exposed when his opponent complained to officials about the frequent trips that Nigalidze was making to the toilets after each move during a crucial part of the game.

Petrosian had suspected that his opponent was checking with a chess computer through a portable electronic device during the game and after checking the cubicle in the toilets, the smartphone and a headset were found hidden behind the pan and covered with toilet paper.

Nigalidze initially denied that he owned the device, but officials found that an application on the smartphone was logged into a social networking site under Nigalidze’s account. They also found his game being analysed in one of the chess applications, according to the report on Dubai Chess.

A back-to-back Georgian champion, as well as winner of the recent Al Ain Classic, Nigalidze now faces the prospect of being suspended from all competitions for three years.

Tournaments sanctioned by the International Chess Federation, including the Dubai Open, do not allow players to carry with them mobile phones and other electronic devices during their games.