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the scandal that shakes the world of chess

BarcelonaThe world board of the chess world has been shattered, with all the pieces rolling on the floor. Norwegian grand champion who has revolutionized the game for the last decade, Magnus Carlsen, has started a war against 19-year-old American Hans Niemann, accusing him of cheating. Chess, far from its elegant image, is a sport where there have always been scandals. There has always been cheating, with accusations of doping to be more focused, of giving substances to rivals to make them feel bad or of using new technology to defeat rivals. In fact, Niemann has seen the rumor spread, in part because of the likes of tycoon Elon Musk, who defeated Carlsen using an anal stimulator. A sex toy inserted into the anus that, modified, vibrated making signals in Morse code that were used to let Niemann know what movement to make. An assistant of the young American would have used a computer program that decides in a second the plays to be made, and would have delivered the message in code to Niemann, a player who has been surrounded by an unprecedented controversy.

Niemann, a young man who had made a name for himself in part in online chess matches, where he explained in live streams how he was going through the moves, defeated Carlsen for the first time a few months ago in the tournament in Saint Louis, to the United States. It was a surprise, because Carlsen was on a streak of 49 games without losing, but playing with black, Niemann beat him. When they met again two weeks ago in an online tournament, Carlsen folded after just two moves. The game had raised great expectations and Carlsen’s decision to retire when he had barely moved his pieces surprised everyone. And that the tournament was organized by one of his companies, the Play Magnus Group. The Scandinavian, world champion since 2013, would shortly after publish a message on the networks justifying himself and vaguely accusing his rival of not playing fair.

At 31, Carlsen is the king of chess. The man who has taken the game to a new dimension, knowing how to sell a modern image. The Mozart of chess, as he is known (because, like the Austrian composer, he was brought up by his father from an early age to be a genius), has become one of the most famous people in Norway, where he appears in the pink press every time he has a new romantic partner. Carlsen has built a business empire and earned a reputation as a despotic player who uses his fame to organize tournaments as he pleases. Chess fans were waiting for a young man to emerge to challenge him, but no one could have expected that he would arrive surrounded by so much noise. When Carlsen refused to continue playing with him, everyone understood that he was accusing him of cheating. For some, it is dirty play by the Norwegian to defend his empire. Others believe he is right and Niemann is playing dirty.

Born in the United States and raised in the Netherlands, where he spent much of his childhood, Niemann was a loner who discovered the world of online chess and became a phenomenon. Just like the e-games have turned young teenagers into billionaires, chess has also grown with games in which the players are in their bedroom. Niemann’s success allowed him to jump from the screens to live tournaments, while making YouTube videos as a teenager. But more than one player facing him was hesitant. His performance was amazing. The youngster has in fact admitted to cheating between the ages of 12 and 16, when he used a computer program to choose which moves to make in online matches, but it wasn’t until he ran into Carlsen that the case came to a new dimension. The Norwegian, after abandoning the second game, began the campaign against the young aspirant. Carlsen also accused one of Niemann’s mentors, Maxim Dlugy, a former Russian player with a U.S. passport who served time in prison for money laundering and was accused decades ago of cheating to sing his players the moves that they had to do

The siege on Niemann tightened this week when the leading online chess platform, Chess.com, issued a 72-page report accusing the American of cheating in more than 100 games played with them. , some in tournaments where he won money. The last game in which he allegedly cheated was one in 2020. The platform’s administrators explained that they called the young man that year to tell him that he had been caught. Niemann reportedly admitted guilt and was pardoned. The first time someone is caught cheating, they get a second chance. Your previous user is blocked, but you can create a new one.

A life sentence

However, if he is caught a second time, he is banned for life from being able to play on this platform again. In the report, it was explained how some of the key movements were made just when he was browsing in a second tab of his browser, a sign that he was using help. The bad reputation of the young American had caused in recent years that great masters such as the Russian Ian Nepómniasxi already asked for explanations after losing three strokes with him, or that other level players, such as Fabiano Caruana, declined to play against him.

But Caruana himself, analyzing Niemann’s triumph over Carlsen, sees no signs of cheating. When the Norwegian champion accuses the young American, he does so without providing clear evidence. Regarding the defeat a few weeks ago, he limited himself to saying that “I was too calm for such a game”. A report by the Norwegian press, with the help of a computer program that calculates the best moves you can make, was used to spot some very important games by Niemann in which he strung together 25 perfect moves. That is, the same ones that the computer program would have chosen. “It is almost impossible to believe,” complained former Norwegian player Atle Gron, convinced that he must be cheating. Niemann, who is not speaking, denies this to authorities. Now, the great masters know that, in a state of grace, you can play this well without help. “Niemann is an inconstant genius,” Caruana said to define him, although since he doesn’t want to play against him, he seems to suspect it.

Suspicions hover over the young American, especially because in the last 12 months he has risen in the international rankings at a very surprising speed. But no clear evidence has surfaced to expose him in the past two years, and even the great chess cheating expert, mathematician Ken Reagan, has not found any evidence of cheating when asked about it. Speculation about how she might have cheated ended up sparking rumors of an anal vibrator, with US social media abuzz with the debate. Niemann is silent and does not speak, although in a message he sent to his entourage, he would have said: “I have learned from the mistakes of the past.”

The International Chess Federation, then, has opened an investigation just as the US championships are coming up where Niemann will be in the spotlight. The young, irregular, is for some a cheater. Others believe that Carlsen, frightened by the talent of this boy, has launched a campaign against him without evidence, to eliminate him and continue to be the king of a sport that is also a business. Carlsen is organizing more and more tournaments, in person or online, and promoting chess courses and games through his company Play Magnus. Having become a multi-millionaire champion, he doesn’t seem willing to share the cake with anyone. And his accusations against Niemann have the International Federation investigating him as well.

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