Chess

[darrelljs]

Yeah it's almost better for chess if he did cheat and Magnus isn't just being a poor sport. I suspect there is no hard evidence, but glad FIDE is finally going to speak up.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

https://www.theonion.com/niemann-cheatin...1849569131

Darrell

[Gustaran]

Statement by Carlsen:

https://twitter.com/MagnusCarlsen/status...88/photo/1

[darrelljs]

So yeah, no hard evidence. He may be right about Niemann, but without proof he should have handled this very differently.

Darrell

[pindicator]

The statement was good, I wish he would have done it a lot sooner. Now it's on Niemann to respond.

[Gustaran]

I think the problem with cheating in chess at the highest level is that there will never be direct proof. There were numerous magicians and casino employees on Reddit that stated with the advance of technology it would be quite easy to cheat at chess from a technical standpoint and security measures seem to be inadequate at the moment.

Someone even did a proof of concept using his shoes to cheat:

https://incoherency.co.uk/blog/stories/sockfish.html

So currently it's basically impossible to catch somebody red-handed at cheating (since people can just refuse to be searched thoroughly) so we are relying on clues such as statistical analysis, interview performance and body language which is unsatisfying of course.

On the other hand I believe that amateur online players can relax, since in order to cheat successfull you would have to play so many engine suggestions that the anti-cheat measures are going to catch you. Of course it is different for a super grandmaster who might just need assistance once in a key position in order to change the result of a game.

[darrelljs]

Okay, this is a very interesting analysis.



Darrell

[Brian Shanahan]

Okay, this is a very interesting analysis.



Darrell

Indeed, thanks for the video.

[Gustaran]

The chess.com analysis is out:

Wall Street Journal: “Niemann ‘likely cheated’ more than 100 times”

https://en.chessbase.com/post/wall-stree...ly-cheated

Niemann last month questioned why he was banned from the Chess.com Global Championship, a million-dollar prize event. Shortly thereafter, Rensch wrote a letter to Niemann explaining that “there always remained serious concerns about how rampant your cheating was in prize events” and that there was too much at stake. The letter added that Niemann’s suspicious moves coincided with moments when he had opened up a different screen on his computer—implying that he was consulting a chess engine for the best move. 

“We are prepared to present strong statistical evidence that confirm each of those cases above, as well as clear ‘toggling’ vs ‘non-toggling’ evidence, where you perform much better while toggling to a different screen during your moves,” Rensch wrote.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Yeah, the standard deviations on the accuracy in the Youtube video is pretty compelling.