Chess: Chess.com accuses Hans Niemann of cheating in 102 games

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Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann in St. Louis in early September: No evidence of fraud

Photo: Crystal Fuller / dpa

It is the biggest chess scandal in years: world champion Magnus Carlsen accuses his opponent Hans Niemann of cheating.

In early September, Carlsen dropped out of a tournament after surprisingly losing to the 19-year-old American.

Since then, grandmasters, streamers and fraud experts have been discussing the truth of the allegations.

Chess.com has now released a 72-page report accusing Niemann of cheating on an even larger scale.

How reliable are the allegations?

And what conclusions can you draw from this?

The overview.

What does chess.com accuse Hans Niemann of?

Chess.com has examined Hans Niemann's games played on the platform and concludes that he "probably cheated a lot more online than his public statements suggest."

In addition, chess.com publishes a table listing 102 games in which Niemann is said to have cheated.

He was first noticed at a tournament in July 2015, then again in April 2017 and then in numerous tournaments and games in 2020. Among other things, Niemann is said to have cheated in a series against vice world champion Jan Nepomnjachtchi.

Maybe he didn't know who his opponent was at the time, because Nepomnjachtchi apparently played with an anonymous account.

Niemann admitted in early September that he had cheated for fun in a tournament on chess.com that involved prize money when he was 12.

This is the tournament in 2015. Niemann also admitted to cheating indiscriminately in a few games when he was 16, but not in prize money tournaments or during his live streams on the Twitch platform.

Chess.com now accuses Niemann of not telling the whole truth.

The analysis shows that Niemann probably cheated in four prize money tournaments in 2017 and 2020 and in 25 games during his live streams, even at the age of 17.

Niemann reportedly admitted to cheating in 2020 in a private phone conversation with Danny Rensch, the platform's chess boss.

That's why his account was blocked at the time.

He was later released again.

How reliable are the allegations?

The information from chess.com seems plausible.

Niemann had publicly admitted to fraud.

It doesn't come as a surprise that he might have had computer help for even more games.

Chess.com relies on its own analysis data, a so-called Strength Score.

This measures how often a player plays the strongest moves calculated by a chess computer.

Put simply: the accuracy of the game.

The higher the accuracy, the greater the indication that the player may have had computer assistance.

The value can be used well for comparisons: does someone play well above their average level?

"Any player can play strong games of chess, but the strength rating can tell us whether sustained strong play is plausible or beyond the range of statistical probability when compared to the player's overall skill level," the report said.

According to chess.com, human peak values ​​are 90 to 100 out of a possible 150 points.

Niemann is said to have had a strength score of around 85.

Convicted fraudsters on the platform sometimes had significantly lower values.

Chess.com also writes that Niemann plays better when he calls up a different window on his computer during games.

This would suggest that Niemann ran a chess program on his computer that showed him the right moves.

In addition, the renowned expert and so-called chess detective Ken Regan should support the chess.com analysis.

Did Niemann cheat against Carlsen?

World chess champion Magnus Carlsen unexpectedly lost a game in a personal encounter with Niemann at the beginning of September and then suddenly left the renowned tournament in St. Louis.

Weeks later, he accused Niemann of cheating, saying his opponent's play in the game was suspicious.

Experts have so far found no evidence of possible cheating in the game.

Chess.com agrees: "In our view, there is no concrete statistical evidence that he cheated in a game against Magnus or in any other over-the-board, that is, face-to-face, game."

Is Niemann's development unusual?

Chess.com also looked at Niemann's development in classical chess for more evidence of cheating.

Niemann is the only young player in the top 50 in the world rankings who only became a grandmaster at the age of 17.

All other talents would have won the title between the ages of 12 and 16.

Niemann's Elo performance, the measure in the world rankings, would also have stagnated twice, unusually for up-and-coming talent.

Most recently, Niemann had become a very strong player in a very short time.

These statistics are not evidence of fraud.

They only show that Niemann has developed unusually well.

The American had stagnated performance with a time without good training.

The turning point came at the age of 16: he moved to New York City alone, decided that he wanted to become a chess professional and, according to his own statements, invested much more energy in hard training of around ten to twelve hours a day.

That's what made him so good.

What does Niemann say about the report?

Hans Niemann is currently playing in the US Championship.

In larger tournaments of this nature, it is normal safety precautions to screen all players for prohibited devices.

In the case of Niemann, however, this time it became a media event.

Niemann won his first game and was subsequently asked about his current situation in an interview.

"I think this game is a message to everyone," said Niemann.

“The whole thing started with me saying that chess speaks for itself.

I think this game speaks for itself and shows the chess player that I am.

It also showed that I will not back down and that I will play my best chess here, no matter what the pressure is.

Chess speaks for itself, that's all I can say.« He did not comment on chess.com's allegations.

What role does chess.com play?

Chess.com and World Champion Magnus Carlsen - there was something.

The platform recently announced plans to buy Carlsen's Play Magnus group of companies.

So there is a business relationship between chess.com and Carlsen.

This ultimately raised the question of whether the employees could not have provided him with information about Niemann's fraud past and whether he had therefore raised the allegations.

Specifically, chess.com does not comment on this and only writes that Carlsen and his team never put pressure on the platform to block Niemann's account.

The question is also whether the scam scandal, which is attracting considerable attention worldwide, benefits or harms the platform.

On the one hand, it is prominently in the headlines due to the bloated report, which could have been limited to online fraud, on the other hand, fraud problems could damage the site's reputation.

When asked by SPIEGEL, chess.com declined to comment on how user numbers have developed since the beginning of September.

How do the allegations affect the Fide investigation?

The world chess association Fide launched an investigation into the Carlsen-Niemann conflict a few days ago.

When asked by SPIEGEL, Fide said that the committee used is looking at the chess.com report.

The company sent the report directly to the world association.

Since it was already known that Niemann had cheated online in the past, many observers are now concerned with whether there will still be evidence that the 19-year-old also cheated in classic chess on the board.

For some observers from the chess world, cheating on the board weighs more heavily than online, possibly also because the prize money there is usually higher.

The world association has not yet commented on whether Fide would punish Niemann if fraud could only be proven online.