US chess grandmaster Hans Niemann cheated more than 100 times in his online professional career, according to a new report.
A 72-page report by Chess.com alleges that he broke the rules and “likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several prize money events.”
The report also noted that Niemann confessed to cheating on numerous occasions in a private phone call with the platform’s head of chess, Danny Rensch.
The document comes just a month after world chess champion Magnus Carlsen suggested Niemann, 19, was a cheaterwhich fueled rumors that Niemann used vibrating anal beads to communicate with his trainer.
During a game against Niemann on September 19, Carlsen, tthe number 1 champion of the world, he made a single move and then left the game, according to The Guardian. Then he posted a cryptic tweet announcing that he refused to play against Niemann to “preserve the game of chess”.
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“I think Niemann has cheated more, and more recently, than he has publicly admitted,” Carlsen wrote on Twitter a week after the match, addressing the matter.
“His overall progress has been unusual, and throughout our match in the Sinquefield Cup, I got the impression that he was not tense or even focused on the game in critical positions while he outplayed me in black in a way that I think only a handful of players can do it,” he added.
Amid the rumors about the wirelessly controlled pearls, Niemann offered to play naked to prove he wasn’t cheating.
“If they want me to strip completely, I will. I don’t care because I know I’m clean,” Niemann said at the time.
Niemann initially denied the allegations of cheating, but allegedly told Chess.com that he had only cheated twice, once when he was 12 and once when he was 16, calling the decision “the biggest mistake of my life,” according to The Guardian.
The report also said that many of the tournaments he cheated in included cash prizes.
After Niemann questioned last month why he was banned from the World Championship, a $1 million prize event, Chess.com Director of Chess, Danny Rensch, responded with a written explanation
Suggesting that Niemann displayed suspicious moves, Rensch wrote: “There were always serious concerns about how rampant your cheating was at awards events.”
He went on to imply that Niemann used a chess engine to identify the best moves.
“We are ready to present strong statistical evidence confirming each of the above cases, as well as clear evidence of ‘toggling’ versus ‘non-toggling’, where performance is much better while switching to a different screen during your moves,” Rensch. added
According to the report, Chess.com has anti-cheating measures, including several cheat detection tools, which have surprised many of the game players by cheating.
Niemann has yet to issue a statement on the report’s findings.
