Absolute bedlam has erupted in the world of chess. Not even chess, a game where a battle of wits plays over moving pieces across a board, is safe from a cheating controversy. I can’t get into the minutiae of the fiasco that started when a world chess champion withdrew from a tournament after accusing his opponent of cheating since I don’t know this world—but it has taken a life of its own. Social media has undoubtedly spiced up the cheating allegations, veering into the world of the sexually explicit concerning novelty toys, forming the foundation for a new layer of claims in this emerging scandal.
The whole story is beyond ridiculous, given that it’s the world of chess. How can one cheat, especially in a setting where there are no electronic devices involved? The explosive scandal—I cannot write that with a straight face—began when chess champion Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis in early September following his defeat by Hans Niemann, a reported ascendant player who is still a teenager. The meteoric rise of Mr. Niemann is a statistical anomaly, which has raised some eyebrows in this elite community that places the integrity of the game above all else. The mere allegation of cheating could inflict lasting damage on one’s reputation (via NYT):
My statement regarding the last few weeks. pic.twitter.com/KY34DbcjLo
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) September 26, 2022
When Hans Niemann beat Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, in the Sinquefield Cup on Sept. 4, he ended Carlsen’s 53-game unbeaten streak in classical over the board tournaments, and set into motion a debacle that has turned into one of the biggest chess scandals in years.
The next day, Mr. Carlsen withdrew from the tournament, which is an exceedingly rare move, especially among top players in elite events. He also tweeted a cryptic video of José Mourinho, the Portuguese soccer manager, saying, “I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble.” In the video, Mourinho is speaking at a news conference after a game in which his team might have lost because of questionable officiating, so online observers interpreted Mr. Carlsen’s post as insinuating that Mr. Niemann cheated in some way during the game. A representative for Mr. Carlsen did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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Though many people accused Mr. Niemann of cheating, few of them offered any concrete evidence. Mr. Niemann did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Hikaru Nakamura, an American grandmaster once ranked second in the world, said on his Twitch stream: “There was a period of over six months where Hans did not play any prize-money tournaments on Chess.com. That is the one thing that I’m going to say and that is the only thing I’m going to say on this topic.”
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Among the 10 players participating in the Sinquefield Cup, Hans Niemann was the lowest rated and the least likely to upset the world champion.
And yet he did.
In fact, he was the first chess player to beat Mr. Carlsen with the black pieces in a classical over the board, or in person, game in more than two years. Mr. Carlsen is a universal player, capable of playing almost any opening or position. He is well known for his accuracy and calculation, sober playing style and solid opening choices, especially with the white pieces.
There is no question that Mr. Niemann’s performance is a statistical anomaly, not just in this one particular game but also over the last year. As Mr. Niemann said in his postgame interview on Tuesday, for the last two years, he went from one tournament to the next, without pause, living out of a suitcase. His Elo rating, a metric used to gauge the strength of chess players, rose above 2700 after his win over Mr. Carlsen last week, from 2484 in January 2021 — an increase so sharp many people don’t believe it is possible. Statistical analysis by Pawnalyze, a chess analysis blog, showed that Mr. Niemann had consistently outperformed his rating strength to an astonishing degree.
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Those who think that Mr. Niemann may be cheating can also point to circumstantial evidence from his past. In a recent interview that took place after Mr. Nakamura’s comments, Mr. Niemann acknowledged that he had violated rules of fair play at least twice in the past by using computer assistance in online games.
There were mitigating circumstances: He was young, and a friend was running a chess engine, a piece of software that determines the best move, and calling out those moves while Mr. Niemann played in a tournament online. But such a violation of trust in a community that prizes integrity and greatly discourages cheating makes a player’s reputation difficult to repair.
Barring a medical emergency, people say that withdrawing from this tournament for no reason is exceedingly rare. Carlsen then took to social media to accuse Mr. Nieman of cheating and clips of other chess players who have done the same. The issue with the allegations is that there’s little evidence to support the claims. Mr. Niemann was reportedly searched the day after Carlsen’s withdrawal for any devices that could offer an unfair advantage—none were found.
But that’s when the tin foil was broken out, with folks alleging that electronics were woven into his clothing. The latest and most salacious is that Niemann inserted a specific novelty toy into his backside to give him a leg up on Mr. Carlsen. It was a joke posted by a user on Reddit, but like Frankenstein’s creature, it got pulsated to life. It’s now apparently taken as a legitimate allegation to the point where Mr. Niemann has offered to “strip naked” during his next match.
We’ll leave the sex beads to the Reddit universe, but others have focused on Niemann’s astonishing spike in his Elo rating, which measures the strength of a player. It’s the 'PFF rating' for chess, but Niemann has admitted to cheating on electronic games, which led to Chess.com removing his account from their services. It seemed unlikely that he could knock off Carlsen, one of the world’s best, but the fact that sex toys, chess, and cheating were threaded into a potential scandal regarding this game is beyond incredible.
