Fulvio Fantoni (born 9 November 1963)[1] is an Italian international bridge player. He is a six-time world champion, a World Grand Master of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), and was the WBF first-ranked player for much of his period of success.[2] He is one of 10 players who have won the Triple Crown of Bridge.
Fantoni was born in Grosseto.[citation needed] November 1963, Fantoni says that he has lived "practically since I was born" in Ostia, in the coastal district of Rome. His regular partner for many years is Claudio Nunes, formerly the second-ranked World Grand Master. [2] Nunes also lives in Ostia and they see each other socially.[3]
They play "Fantunes", for their surnames, an innovative bidding system characterised by natural but forcing one-level opening bids in all four suits. The pair was implicated in a cheating scandal in 2015 resulting in sanctions against them, only some of which were negated by appeals.
Emigration to Monaco
Since 2011 Fantoni and Nunes are full-time members of a team led and paid by the Swiss real-estate tycoon Pierre Zimmermann, under contract expiring 2016. From 2012 all six members would be residents of Monaco and the team would represent Monaco internationally.[4] The team finished third in the 2010 world championship, not yet full-time, and competed in the 2011 European Bridge League open championship (neither is a national teams event). In the 2012 the team won the European Team Championship and got the second place in the 2014. They were also runner up in Bermuda Bowl 2013 in Bali.
In September 2015, Fantoni and Nunes were publicly accused of cheating by orienting a played card to show a missing high honour (Ace, King, Queen) in the led suit at the European Bridge Championship in 2014. Three separate investigations were conducted and they were found guilty.
On March 19, 2016, the FIGB banned the pair for three years.
On July 18, 2016, the European Bridge League (EBL) banned each from play for five years and as a partnership for life.[5]
On January 10, 2018, the players' appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport resulted in a judgement in their favour.[7] It found that:
"the majority of the Panel concludes that the exchange of information through the Code has not been proven to its comfortable satisfaction and rules that the appeal filed by the Players shall be upheld. Such conclusion does not mean that the players are innocent of any wrongdoing, it only means that the EBL did not manage to prove to the comfortable satisfaction of the majority of the Panel that the Players committed an infraction of the EBL Rules."
On July 15, 2018, the FIGB's Federal Appellate Court reversed its own decision and all sanctions were canceled.[8]
Only the ACBL sanction remains in place; all others have been overturned.
Subsequent controversy
In the 2021 European championships, Italy included Fantoni on its team. In protest, the remaining national teams refused to play against the Italians and subsequently forfeited their games.[9][10] Several national bridge associations indicated support for the forfeitures.
^"Blue Ribbon Winners"(PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 3 December 2013. p. 7. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
^"Mitchell BAM Winners"(PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 1 December 2013. p. 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
^ ab"Reisinger Winners"(PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 6 December 2013. p. 6. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
^ ab"Spingold Previous Winners"(PDF). American Contract Bridge League. 21 July 2014. p. 12. Archived from the original(PDF) on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
