It’s not the first high-profile case where accusations of cheating were thrown around. Players often step away from the table (games often last three or four hours or even more), and that would give someone wanting to cheat an opportunity. So if you have access to a smartphone, or just a means of communication with anyone with access to a computer, you can cheat. In fact, computer analysis is often used by chess players to prepare openings because it gives information on what the best moves are and how good or bad a position is. Nowadays, matters are very different.Ĭomputers have gotten so much better at chess than humans that even a smartphone can easily defeat the best players. But even that was just another opinion from someone else, and if you’re one of the very best in the world, there are few opinions that actually matter, so few people could actually help you. If we tried to assess this three or four decades ago, the answer could only be found by talking to someone outside the room and getting their opinion. So how does one even cheat in chess? Cheating in chess

It’s just confirmation bias, seems to me.” “But you can also find evidence that supports a view that his play is completely clean. “If you wish to, you can find evidence that supports the view that he was cheating,” says Daniel King, a grandmaster, popular chess commentator, and analyst, on his Youtube. Cryptic tweets make it so that your point gets across while presumably not making you liable for any accusations, but you still made an accusation without presenting any evidence Other grandmasters (the highest rank you can achieve in chess) have argued that you can’t just withdraw from a tournament and not present any evidence. Granted, this is all just speculation at this moment, and no actual evidence has been been presented. Within a day or two, everyone was piling on with their opinions and ideas on the matter, turning what’s usually a pretty peaceful community into turmoil - and it’s spread outside the world of chess, even Elon Musk is tweeting about it (though you may want to think twice before checking out what “theory” Musk is thinking of). But when Niemann was interviewed, the computer evaluation was curiously switched off, which some interpreted as a telling sign - and Niemann’s evaluation of his own game seemed to be questioned by his interviewers, as well as people like Nakamura. This was also the case in most interviews at the Sinquefield Cup. Sometimes, the computer evaluation (which is much more accurate than human understanding) is left on as a sort of evaluator. This wasn’t the only commentary from Niemann that raised eyebrows. After the Carlsen game, Niemann mentioned that he “miraculously” saw an obscure opening that Carlsen played, which gave him an edge.

It’s a sort of “if he does this I do this, and we end up here, and that’s good or bad for me.” It’s a way for players to explain their thought process and how they were prepared for different situations. In these analyses, players routinely go through variations of the positions in their game. Although Carlsen withdrew, Niemann and everyone else continued to play, and as is customary in many tournaments, they gave post-game interviews in which they analyzed their own games. Things got even weirder on the next day of the competition. In fact, almost everyone in the community interpreted as a subtle (or not-so-subtle accusation), including Niemann. Nakamura also said that he believes Carlsen thinks Niemann cheated. The whole episode expanded further when another top player (and the biggest chess streamer), Hikaru Nakamura, also made not-so-subtle accusations against Niemann, hinting at a period when the young player would have been banned by a chess website - also with a seemingly implied connotation of cheating. So when he withdrew from the tournament after losing to 19-year-old Hans Niemann, people looked at it seriously. He’s not one to favor quick draws (a common, but sometimes frowned upon practice in chess), and while he’s often on the winning side of tournaments, he’s had his occasional share of painful defeats and always kept on playing. Whether he’s had a good tournament or a bad tournament, he toughs it out. He hasn’t shied away from criticizing (or trolling) some of his competitors, but you can’t really challenge his work ethic. Carlsen, who for the past decade has been unequivocally the best chess player in the world (and is often brought into discussions about the greatest player of all time) can be a polarizing figure.

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