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Chess player Hans Niemann has “likely cheated” in more than 100 games, an investigation has claimed, Mr Niemann, ranked 39th in the world, was accused of cheating in a tournament game by world chess champion Magnus Carlsen.
An investigation by Chess.com has now alleged it is likely Mr Niemann has cheated “much more often” than he has acknowledged.
The site, which has banned the fast-rising player over the allegations, claimed it is likely he cheated as recently as 2020, including in prize money events and against highly-rated “well known” figures in the game.
Its analysis compared Mr Niemann’s moves to those suggested by chess computers, which are far better than even the best players, and the probability of his results among other factors.
The report then said: “Overall, we have found that Hans, including several prize money events. has likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games
“He was already 17 when he likely cheated in some of these matches and games. He was also streaming in 25 of these games.”
In the 72 page document however, Chess.com acknowledged it had no specific evidence to prove Mr Niemann cheated.
It said: “We present evidence in this report that Hans likely cheated online much more than his public statements suggest.
“However, while Hans has had a record-setting and remarkable rise in rating and strength, in our view there is a lack of concrete statistical evidence that he cheated in his game with Magnus or in any other over-the-board, i.e. in-person games.
“We are presenting our findings here and will cooperate with FIDE on any further investigation.”
Chess.com also stressed it was “never pressured” by Mr Carlsen or his team “whatsoever to remove Hans from Chess.com or revoke his invitation to the Chess.com Global Championship”.
They added: “Nor did we communicate with Magnus regarding our decisions on these issues before we made them. In fact, Magnus did not even know we were going to remove Hans until Hans went public with our private correspondence.
“We uninvited Hans from our upcoming major online event and revoked his access to our site based on our experience with him in the past, growing suspicions among top players and our team about his rapid rise of play, the strange circumstances and explanations of his win over Magnus, as well as Magnus’ unprecedented withdrawal.
“In order to have more time to investigate the OTB situation and our own internal concerns, we uninvited Hans from our event and prevented his access to Chess.com. We are open to continuing a dialogue with Hans to discuss his status on Chess.com.
“We believe that chess organisers, federations, companies, and players can all work together more effectively to create great_ and assuredly fair- chess events.”
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Mr Niemann previously admitted cheating in informal games when he was younger, but denied doing so in competitive games
The report contradicts statements previously made by the player that he had only cheated in informal games on the site when he was 12 and 16, but never in competitive games or when he was streaming on gaming platforms such as Twitch.
In September, Mr Niemann said he was willing to play naked to prove he was not concealing electronic devices that could allow him to cheat.
He added: “I don’t care, because I know I am clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don’t care. I’m here to win and that is my goal regardless.”
Earlier in September, Mr Carlsen was defeated by Mr Niemann, who was playing at the black pieces and went second, at the Sinquefield Cup.
The defeat ended Mr Carlsen’s 53-game unbeaten streak in real life games, and was followed by him abruptly abruptly withdrawing from the tournament.
Two weeks later, Mr Carlsen and Mr Niemann faced off in the sixth round of the online Julius Baer Generation Cup, where the champion resigned after making just one move.
He then issued a statement saying he was unwilling to “play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past” and that he believed Mr Niemann had cheated “more than he has admitted”.
Fide, the sport’s world governing body, issued a statement last week saying it will convene its own three-person panel to look into the allegations.
It said: “The focus of the investigation would be twofold: checking the world champion’s claims of alleged cheating by Niemann and Niemann’s self-statement regarding online cheating.
“The panel will ensure a fair ruling, protecting the rights of both parties during the investigation.”
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