The ongoing chess cheating scandal won’t go away, and it’s starting to look like the rest of us are just pawns being shuffled from class to class. Earlier this week, during a preliminary match against chess player Hans Niemann in the ongoing Julius Baer Generation Cup played via the Chess24 online platform, Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen abandoned both the game and the stream after the second move. It was a sudden shock to both the hosts and the chess community, and seemed to imply that he was still protesting Niemann’s participation in the tournament. At the time he did not make any statements, but on Wednesday he broke his silence on the Chess24 stream. He declined to be specific and actually make any real accusations of cheating, adding “but people can draw their own conclusions and they certainly have. I have to say that I am very impressed with Niemann’s game and I think his mentor GM Maxim Dlugy should do a great job.” Magnus Carlsen at The Last Tournament (FULL INTERVIEW) Despite saying he’s not making a full accusation scene, his reference to Dlugy also appears to be another accusation of cheating. Chess coach and FIDE (Fédération Internationale de Chesse) Yosha Iglesias tweeted that Dlugy was allegedly caught cheating on Chess.com in 2017. It appears that the ongoing chess cheating scandal hinges on circumstantial evidence that, while giving Niemann a bad look, provides no real proof. Other chess players have also reported how Niemann performs “strange moves” during his game, but this is still far from the actual facts. G/O Media may receive a commission 40% discount. Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Listen These are some of the best headphones Samsung users can get, with active noise cancellation, incredible sound quality, and a long-lasting fast-charging battery. According to their own news release, Chess.com CEO Erik Allebest reportedly declined to make a statement. FIDE Director General Emil Sutofsky said on Wednesday’s Julius Baer Cup stream that his organization intends to connect with Chess.com and issue some kind of statement, saying it’s something they need to “consider carefully.” 19-year-old American chess player Niemann beat Carlsen during the Sinquefield Cup earlier this month. The 31-year-old Norwegian grandmaster, one of the world’s most decorated players, pulled out of the tournament and posted a tweet that appeared to suggest there was something untoward about his opponent. It has sparked a firestorm of speculation, even some wild conspiracies that Niemann used vibrating anal beads to clue him into his next move. Niemann previously admitted to using computer aid in online chess when he was 12 and 16, which also led to a ban from Chess.com and the end of his streaming career. In an interview earlier this month, Niemann called his cheating past “the biggest mistake of my life” and went on to say that if his critics wanted to strip him and force him to play outside a box with “zero electronics broadcast, no I don’t care. I’m here to win.” Gizmodo’s previous coverage pointed out that the case could be less of a cheating scandal and more of how amazing improvements in chess AI have changed the game, forcing a new paradigm where players memorize opening moves and play through replay. and less through calculations. Chess.com’s fraud detection was developed in part by Kenneth Regan, a chess researcher and professor at the University at Buffalo. He has written extensively about the differences between how computers and humans play chess. He recently told the Chess24 stream that, based on what he watched, he found no evidence that Niemann was cheating, although few if any researchers consider anal beads, so who knows.
