The chess drama continues to give. There is no drama in the chess community. There is a game that is based in skill. Chances are your opponent was better than you. I was wrong to think it was impossible to cheat at chess.
The world's best player Magnus Carlsen accused fellow grandmaster Hans Niemann of cheating during a match they had at the Sinquefield Cup. Two days ago, Carlsen came forward with an official statement on the matter, which had been rumored for a long time.
Several big names in the chess community came to Carlsen's defense, claiming that Niemann was playing out of character and acting strangely after the match, but there was never any proof that he was using a chess engine to feed him moves during his match. I don't know if there will be. I don't think anyone will find the wire, electronic device, or anal beads that Niemann had up his sleeve during that game. The only thing anyone could do was analyze the match. The cheating allegations against Niemann seem to be more believable now that someone has taken the time to do so.
Yosha Iglesias, an up-and-coming chess YouTuber, posted a video using an online software called ChessBase to review the game against Carlsen. The engine score is determined by ChessBase. Engine scores are used to determine how good a move is based on how a chess engine is designed to play. Most world champion play at a 70-75 percent engine score. At the peak of Carlsen's career, he was playing 70%. He played at 72 percent during his 20-game winning streak.
According to Iglesias, Niemann played perfect in this match with Carlsen.
It is not uncommon to play a single game at 100%. Things are starting to get suspicious. Sébastien Feller achieved 98 percent optimal play at a tournament in 2010 and was the only person in recent history to consistently reach 100 percent. The French Chess Federation found that Feller cheated by communicating with two other players. Cyril Marzolo was being fed moves by grandmaster Arnaud Hauchard. Marzolo would send messages to Hauchard letting him know what the best move would be. Hauchard sat at a table in Feller's line of sight while he was playing. He would know what moves to make based on what table he was sitting at. It wasn't easy, and it was. Chess officials caught on to the ruse and banned Feller for two years.
The purpose of the story is to show how unlikely a string of games is. There is a game where Niemann played engine perfect for 45 moves against Camilo Rios in the second round of the Sharjah Masters. I don't know what it is if that isn't proof of cheating.
Similar to Feller, the man has denied any accusations against him. It becomes more difficult to defend him as more evidence comes out. He can't explain the perfect play. Do you think he is the greatest player of all time? It is not possible to say yes. He admitted to cheating in the past, and as many other grandmasters have said, his demeanor after his game against Carlsen was suspiciously detached. The ball is in someone else's possession. The data against Niemann is damning, even though the smoking gun hasn't been found. He has to explain what happened. We can only speculate, and the community isn't leaning in the other way.
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