By: Reese Yan

The chess world is shaken up overthe incident where the chess world champion Magnus Carlsen accused Han Neimann, the 6th highest rated Junior in the world, of cheating. After Magnus Carlsen’s withdrawal from the match with Han Neimann at the Sinquefield Cup on September 4th, the second time they were paired together was last week in the Julius Baer Generation Cup. This has caused a rift in the chess world. There is no clear evidence, so many think that Carlsen might’ve been jealous of Hans because of his progress and great play. Even so, Carlsen had fully thought through his thoughts before saying it out loud, and many are agreeing with him.

Carlsen said the reason he accused Han of cheating is because he had a feeling Han wasn’t fully focused on the game. “I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do.” Carlsen said

Neimann admitted in an interview that he had previously cheated by using an electronic device to find the best moves. He said the incidents happened when he was 12 and 16, and he said he hasn’t cheated since. Carlsen claims this is an additional reason why he doesn’t want to play against Han. After playing against Han once during the Siniquefield cup, when it came time for him to play again Carlsen forfitted aftet one move. “ I am not willing to play chess with Neimann,” the 31-year-old said via Twitter, after stating he believed Neimann “ has cheated more than he has publicly admitted.” Though it was just twice, Carlsen said he would never be able to trust a player who had cheated in the past, because you don’t know what they are capable of doing in the future. Although Calsen said Hans was cheating, they aren’t sure how he cheated.

During in-person matches like the one on September 4th, organizers try to do everything they can to block cheating, grandmaster Maurice Ashley told the NRC. But, players don’t always need a device in order to cheat, he said. “I know of a situation with a player where the coach had a code for where they stood on the floor,” Ashley said, “and they just had to stand in the right place for you to know what piece to move.” For instance, if the coach stood in the corner, that could signal to the player to move their bishop. Maria Gevorgyan, a grandmaster and four-time Armenian women’s chess champion, said she had heard of cases where the player at an over-the-board competition consulted a phone hidden in the bathroom.

Although winning a match could earn you a lot of money, it is definitely not worth going to such lengths. Therefore, I hope such things won’t happen anymore in the future and the security in chess tournaments will be improved.