– I am absolutely certain that there are enormous dark figures, it is not even a question. These cheating algorithms only take the clear cases, says Grønn. On Tuesday, a crushing report came from the website Chess.com, where they claimed that Hans Niemann (19) has cheated in more than 100 games. Among other things, the American allegedly cheated in a tournament where he played for the Norwegian team “Norway Gnomes”. But even if there are not many great chess stars who have been caught cheating in recent years, many believe that there may be large numbers of dark figures when it comes to cheating both online and face to face. – If you take the Niemann case, then surely Chess.com thinks it is cheating for approx. 100 lots, it does not necessarily mean that there is no cheating in 500 lots or 1000 lots, says Grønn. He continues: – The algorithms take the simplest cases. Those who get caught are the dumbest cheaters, and those who cheat a little smarter will have a better chance of getting away with it. news has been in contact with Niemann about the debts, but he has so far not responded to the inquiries. Niemann about his own cheating: “When I was 12, I played a tournament with a friend. We had a tablet with a chess computer, and he started giving me moves. It was in a tournament with prize money. Four years later, when I was 16, I just wanted to get a higher ranking on Chess.com so I could play against better players. So I cheated in random matches without prize money on Chess.com. I was confronted about it, and I confessed. It is the biggest mistake of my life and I am ashamed.” The statement was given to the organizer of the major tournament in St. Louis in early September. Cheaters are anonymized The recent report on Niemann was over 72 pages long and was released by Chess.com. The report established that Niemann has probably received illegal help in more than 100 online parties. This must have happened as recently as 2020. But Grønn is unsure how far back in time one should go to catch former cheaters. – Chess.com takes about 20 cheaters every month, but most of them are at an extremely low level. There are people who come across chess via the TV series Queen’s Gambit and have been inspired. Then they sit down, play and take out their mobile phones, but then they don’t think that they are breaking the biggest code of honor that exists in chess. Many of these are not chess players, actually, Grønn explains. Photo: Fredrik Hagen / NTB He points out that there must be hundreds of big players who have cheated online, but that we don’t have many of their names. The anonymity of cheaters is also highlighted in VG, where the newspaper has referred to an e-mail from the Chess.com report. It shows a chess player who is flagged for cheating, but is anonymized because he admitted and apologized for cheating to Chess.com. The anonymous player is described as one of the best chess players in the world. Four top players cheated TV 2’s chess expert Jon Ludvig Hammer, who was part of “Norway Gnomes” together with Hans Niemann, believes there are many cases if you work hard and look back in time. – Cheating in internet chess is not as unusual a phenomenon as we might hope. If you search with the improved methods you have now, I guess we will find other cases, too. Unfortunately, says Hammer to news. FORTVILAR: Jon Ludvig Hammer believes that cheating over the internet happens more often than many people think. Photo: Carina Johansen / NTB Scanpix – Has this been a big problem online? – I don’t know if I would call it the big problem. But every case of cheating is a big problem. Even if the number of people who cheat is small, the problem is big every time it happens. The report from Chess.com says that four of the top 100 chess players in the world have been caught cheating. Torstein Bae, chess expert for news, believes that the case of Niemann may be the “tip of the iceberg”. – Chess.com has itself disclosed that they arrest thousands of players every year for cheating. There are many people at a very high level who cheat. We know there is a lot of cheating in online games, and it is easy to do it with another window open or with your mobile phone. That is probably a bit of a challenge for the union, because if they are to punish Niemann severely for this – what about the other thousand cheaters? Should they be allowed to escape? Bae asks. He concludes by saying that they now also get a job of exposing cheating face to face. In Niemann’s case, all the debts are for cheating over the internet. The dispute surrounding Niemann started when Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup last month after a loss to the American. He suggested through a cryptic message on social media that the reason was cheating. Later, he elaborated on this and made it clear that he does not want to play against Niemann because he suspects the American of cheating. According to Chess.com, Niemann admitted to cheating in a private conversation with representatives from the chess website in 2020. After the Sinquefield Cup in September, Niemann admitted that he had previously cheated twice on Chess.com. See what he said in the fact box below. This is the case of cheating On 5 September, Magnus Carlsen abruptly withdrew from the major tournament Sinquefield Cup after he suffered a surprising loss against Niemann. Afterwards, Carlsen published a Twitter message, which many have interpreted as an accusation of cheating against the American. On 7 September, Niemann hit back and claimed that he had not cheated on Carlsen. The 19-year-old nevertheless admitted that he had cheated on two occasions online – as a 12- and 16-year-old. On 19 September, the two players met for the first time after the Sinquefield Cup. The game still only lasted a few seconds because Carlsen retired after only one move. On 21 September, the renowned professor Ken Regan appeared on news and concluded that “everything was normal” with Niemann’s party. He had analyzed over 300 of Niemann’s party in the last two years. A few days later, chess profiler Yosha Iglesias published another analysis, which established that the American has played several “suspicious” games. On 26 September, Carlsen spoke for the first time about the row and said that he thinks Niemann has cheated more than he has publicly admitted. On 29 September, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) confirmed that they had started an investigation into both Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann. Both risk punishment.
ttn-69
– Should they be allowed to escape? – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
