One of the greatest chess champions of all time, is accusing a fellow
player of cheating. Sending the chess world into chaos rang him his
back now to explain
Judy. This is the biggest scandal the game has seen in decades. 31
year old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is the current world chess champion.
And last night he explicitly accused 19 year old American Hans Neiman
of cheating in past games and lying about it. In a recent match,
Neiman beat Carlson Carlson then pulled out of the tournament, issuing
some cryptic comments.
But he was much more explicit in this statement yesterday, saying,
quote we must do something about cheating and for my part going forward.
I don't want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly
in the past. He offered no further proof for his accusation. Nieman
has admitted, though, to cheating when he was 12 and 16 and what
he said were inconsequential games but denies foul play when he played
Carlson or in any other major tournaments, so here to unpack it all
for us is
Grandmaster Maurice Ashley. He was inducted into the U. S. Chess
Hall of Fame in 2016.
Maurice Ashley. It's an honor to have you on the news hour. Thank
you so much for being here just to reiterate. There is no evidence
that we have seen that that Neiman actually cheated. But Carlson
in his statement that I read from said that in the game where Carlson
lost to this younger player that Neiman seemed to not be concentrating
at key moments and seemed to be playing far beyond his abilities.
I wonder what you make of this whole accusation? Well, this is an
incredibly difficult situation for chess of chess fans like myself
have been involved in the game for four decades. To hear this kind
of allegation is truly troubling and coming from the world chess
champion. Maybe the greatest player who's ever touched the chess
piece that is truly troubling and and devastating for the young man.
Let's not make any bones about it. But what evidence does he have?
He says that
He can't reveal anything unless Hans gives him permission. Who's
ever heard of an accuser asking for the accused to give permission
for information against them. It is really a strange situation. I
mean, Carlson, as you say, is the highest ranked player ever. But
he's not infallible. He has lost so there's either sort of two possibilities.
It seems here, either. Neiman is the greatest up and comer in the
game or
There was some foul play going on here. Where do you come down on
that?
Let's be clear. Magnus has lost two players of Neiman's age even
younger than he is, in fact, a pregnant Nando Magnus has lost to
bring another from India. 16 years old. You can't lose despite being
the greatest player in the game. It's possible to lose the chest
in an individual game now beating Magnus in the whole match six or
seven games, for example, That's a tall order. Indeed. So this one
game, Magnus did not play very well and admittedly made some mistakes.
So it's possible that in this individual matchups he simply lost,
but he felt based on how Hans was acting and on some kind of data
that he must have had from beforehand that this particular game
It's one of those, he says. No, he's he doesn't think that the kid
playing about board. I mean, underlying. All of this is the fact
that that computer processing has gotten so good that you know, with
my little phone here. Theoretically, using a good chess engine, I
could beat Magnus Carlsen. If I could rely on the computer.
Um again, there's no evidence that Neiman did any of that in this
match.
But given that that's a possibility. How is it? The chess officials
try to protect against that kind of cheating.
Well, this is a real issue for the International Chess Federation
and for national and preparations worldwide during a chess tournament.
You are not allowed to bring in that trusty cell phone. And, yes,
programs now are so sophisticated that even Magnus couldn't take
down your smartphone.
However, they do have all these scanning devices. They t s a like
level to check to make sure no electronic devices are being brought
into the playing area into the playing hall. But can you detect absolutely
everything? That is the question and even if a player does not have
one of those
Phones, computer programs. What if they have a device hidden in their
ear or somewhere on their person with somebody else on the outside,
and accomplice is watching the game live during a broadcast, and
it's maybe sending some kind of signal. One bus means a bishop. Two
Busses means a night. Players like Hans are good enough to figure
it out on their own. We just that scant information by itself. So
that is the trick to try to stop something like outside interference.
And again. We should say there are
All sorts of wild rumors about different
Devices or signals that Hans might have been getting during the game
again. No evidence of that. Carlson, though in that statement, said
that cheating is an existentialist threat to the game of chess. Do
you believe that? That's true?
Absolutely. I'm simply terrified for this game that I love so much
and have been a part of
For much greater than half of my life. The reality is chests and
chests. Information is everything. I mean, we study chess books.
We pour over encyclopedias of chess openings and study games from
the past so that we can get key ideas in order to defeat our opponents.
But if you can just get information at the click of a mouse or a
buzz in your ear or somewhere else on your body
Then you simply upend everything that is fair in the game, And if
it's widespread, which, by the way, it's not just Hans. Other players
have been caught in the past. He's not the only one. He's not the
first and unfortunately, probably will not be the last. And this
presents a real threat to the purity of our game and moving forward,
particularly online chest where it has thrived. How do you police?
All of this is a big problem for the officials concerned, overseeing
all this. It's not something that
Will go away anytime soon.
Alright, that is Maurice Ashley. Chess Grandmaster. Thank you so