Thursday 22 September 2022 06:35 PM How sedate game of chess is being rocked by cheating scandals trends now
He's had glamorous girlfriends, posts topless pictures on Instagram and is even friends with top actors and footballers.
But Magnus Carlsen is not from the glittering world of showbusiness or Hollywood - he's a chess player who happens to be the best in the world at what he does.
So when Carlsen, 31, lost to 'abrasive' American teenage grandmaster Hans Niemann earlier this month, it sparked a whirlwind of theories about whether the 19-year-old cheated to pull off the feat.
Chess fans speculated that an accomplice watching Niemann's match against Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis used a chess program to determine the perfect move, and then sent electronic instructions via vibrating anal beads.
There are certainly high stakes involved, despite chess's ordinarily understated image. The Sinquefield Cup paid $87,500 (£77,500) to the eventual winner, whilst the upcoming Chess.com Global Championship offers an overall prize fund of $1million (£886,000) and will hand $200,000 (£177,585) to the victor.
The prize money on offer in top tournaments has helped to fuel cheating scandals in recent years. In 2019, Latvian-Czech grandmaster Igors Rausis was caught consulting a smartphone in a toilet to try to get an advantage.
Similar incidents involving other grandmasters and lower-ranked players using mobile phones came in 2016 and 2014.
And in 2015, Italian player Archangel Ricciardi - who had been ranked 51,336 in the world - was caught using Morse code and a pendant containing a James Bond-style miniature camera to get to the final round of an international competition.
Even with amateur online tournaments, which are much easier to cheat in than professional meetings, players are motivated by the lure of prize money, as well as crucial ranking points they need to get them into more illustrious tournaments.
The latest furore intensified further when Carlsen and Niemann were set to face off again in an online match on Tuesday, but the world number one walked out after making just a single move.
The Norwegian initially refused to comment, suggesting that he would be in 'trouble' if he did so. But last night, the 31-year-old, who is also a top player of 'fantasy football' matches online, hinted in an interview that he believed Niemann may have been up to something.
Whilst saying he was 'very impressed' with Niemann's play, he referred to the star's former coach Maxim Dlugy as the teenager's 'mentor', saying he 'must be doing a great job'. Dlugy is a grandmaster who was previously banned from playing platform Chess.com for alleged cheating.
Chess expert Leon Watson told MailOnline that Carlsen would not have made the inference unless he was sure Niemann was cheating. A source told MailOnline that he will make a further statement on Monday, when the tournament that he walked out of comes to an end.
The new accusations surrounding Niemann come after he was banned from Chess.com for cheating online with the help of a friend in 2015 when he was aged just 12, and then did the same thing again in 2019.
He's had glamorous girlfriends, posts topless pictures on Instagram and is even friends with top actors and footballers. But Magnus Carlsen is not from the glittering world of showbusiness or Hollywood - he's a chess player who happens to be the best in the world at what he does. Above: Carlsen with US actress Liv Tyler at the G-Star spring fashion show in 2011 (left); the chess superstar is seen topless on Instagram after a swim (right)
When Carlsen, 31, lost to 'abrasive' American teenage grandmaster Hans Niemann earlier this month, it sparked a whirlwind of theories about whether the 19-year-old cheated to pull off the feat. Above: Carlsen (left) and Niemann are seen at the September 4 match at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, where Niemann's victory spurred wild cheating theories
Chess fans speculated that an accomplice watching Niemann's match against Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis used a chess program to determine the perfect move, and then sent electronic instructions via vibrating anal beads. Above: Niemann is seen playing chess
Niemann first gained his Grandmaster title at the age of just 17, prompting comparisons to the lead chess prodigy character in Netflix series The Queen's Gambit.
Aside from bribing opponents or officials, or falsifying tournament results, most cheating scandals in chess involve covertly receiving suggestions on potential moves.
With the explosion of chess computer programs and devices like cell phones and Bluetooth, tournament officials have had to navigate a minefield of challenges in detecting cheaters in recent years.
At the top levels of competition, players are now routinely scanned with metal detectors before playing in tournaments. But as the defenses against cheating evolve, so do the devious schemes of unethical players. Here are some of the five biggest cheating scandals in recent memory:
2010 FIDE Olympiad Tournament
In the tournament at Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk, French players Cyril Marzolo, Arnaud Hauchard and Sébastien Feller were busted colluding in an elaborate cheating scheme.
Sébastien Feller (above) was one of three French players caught colluding in an elaborate cheating scheme in 2010
Team coach Arnaud Hauchard (left) signaled moves after receiving text messages from Cyril Marzolo (right), who was following the tournament from home
While Feller played at the board, Marzolo watched the tournament from home and tracked the game using a chess program.
Selecting ideal moves from the chess engine, Marzolo then texted the moves to Hauchard, the team coach, who would then stand or sit in a certain position to signal the move to Feller.
All three players involved were either a Grandmaster or International Master, and they were all handed lengthy suspensions from the FIDE Ethics Committee.
2014 Iasi Open
At the tournament in Romania, 2239-rated player Wesley Vermeulen was caught cheating by consulting a mobile phone in the toilet.
According to the tournament minutes, Vermeulen cooperated with officials and admitted his guilt when confronted.
He was eventually banned for one year by both the Dutch chess federation and FIDE
2015 Dubai Open Chess Tournament
Georgian grandmaster Gaioz Nigalidze was caught cheating in 2015
Georgian grandmaster Gaioz Nigalidze was banned from the tournament after officials discovered him checking a smartphone with chess software in the bathroom in the middle of a game.
Nigalidze's opponent grew suspicious when the grandmaster repeatedly bolted for the bathroom after each move during a crucial part of the game, tournament officials said.
At first, Nigalidze tried to deny the phone was his. But it was logged into a social media account in his name, and had a program running analyzing the moves in his match, officials said.
2016 Moscow Open
In February 2016, Sergey Aslanov was expelled from the Russian tournament for a consulting a smartphone in the toilet.
The phone was found hidden under a loose tile behind a drainpipe the bathroom.
Aslanov admitted to making an error in leaving he phone in the bathroom, but insisted that he was not guilty of cheating.
He was suspended for one year.
2019 Strasbourg Open
In July 2019, Latvian-Czech grandmaster Igors Rausis was caught cheating, in another example of using a mobile phone in the bathroom.
Rausis had long been under suspicion after his rating skyrocketed to nearly 2700 in a precipitous rise.
He admitted to having cheated, and announced his retirement from chess.
The claims come after a series of cheating scandals. In 2019, Latvian-Czech grandmaster Igors Rausis was caught consulting a smartphone in a toilet to try to get an advantage
'I simply lost my mind yesterday,' he explained to Chess.com. 'At least what I committed yesterday is a good lesson, not for me—I played my last game of chess already.'
2015 International Chess Festival
In 2015 Italian player Archangel Ricciardi, a beekeper, was caught cheating after reaching the penultimate round of the International Chess Festival in Italy.
He had risen from a ranking of 51,336 in the world to beat a French Grandmaster along the way.
But referee Jean Coquerat became suspicious after the then 37-year-old had a string of successes.
The referee, from Turin, noticed he always stayed sitting - despite the fact the matches could go on for hours.
And then there was the way he blinked, in an odd, unnatural way.
He also began to suspect that his constant drinking of water, and mopping his brow, might be a signal to whoever was helping Ricciardi to hurry up.
But when Coquerat confronted the player, he refused to reveal what he had hidden under his shirt.
But Ricciardi was caught when he set off a metal detector. Organisers then found a tiny neck pendant - which Ricciardi swore was a good luck charm.
But it contained a camera which was transmitting signals to a four-inch box under his armpit that had a mass of wires.
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He started playing the sport aged eight, when he joined his school's team after his teacher told him he was not good enough.
He quickly made an impression and at the age of 11, he became the youngest-ever winner of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club Tuesday Night Marathon, the oldest chess club in the United States.
Niemann is now one of fewer than 2,000 people in the whole world to ever earn the top title of Grandmaster. As well as playing chess full-time, he coaches younger players and streams matches on gaming platform Twitch.
Carlsen meanwhile began playing chess aged just five and - as well as well as his talents in fantasy football - also had a sideline in modelling.
He was a grandmaster by the age of 13 and in 2012 became the highest rated player in history when he beat legend Garry Kasparov's record of 2,851. Carlsen's current Elo rating, which measures the strength of chess players against their opponents, is 2,864.
His Instagram profile
