Niemann, the American chess prodigy, was accused of cheating by Carlsen following their match at the Sinquefield Cup 2022 in St. Louis. Niemann admitted to cheating in a single online game during his youth, labeling it as his "greatest regret."
Despite these allegations, FIDE, the international chess federation, determined that while Carlsen's suspicion of cheating was justified, general manager Niemann was not found guilty. FIDE's investigation concluded that Niemann might have cheated in around 32 to 55 online games, a significantly less number than Chess.com's estimate of over 100 games[2].
The discrepancy between the two estimates is partly due to FIDE's analysis conducted by expert computer chess cheater Professor Kenneth Regan, who noted inconsistencies in Niemann's claim of only cheating between the ages of 12 and 16. The analysis also found no statistically significant evidence of cheating during match evaluations or in Niemann's overall performance in the tournament.
Niemann's accuser, Carlsen, was found not guilty of three alleged offenses: making unfounded charges of cheating, disparaging FIDE's reputation, and attempting to defame FIDE's honor. FIDE ultimately concluded that Carlsen's decision to leave the Sinquefield Cup in 2022 was "without justifiable reason" and ordered him to pay a fine of 10,000 euros.
As mentioned earlier, Chess.com, a popular online chess platform with over 10 million daily games, investigated and reported that Niemann potentially cheated in more than 100 online games[2]. However, FIDE's analysis focused on a smaller sample of games, resulting in the lower number of potentially cheated games.
Enrichment Insights:
Total games Chess.com analyzed in 2023: 2.5 million Chess.com banned 1 million accounts in 2023 for cheating Our analysis does not specify how many of the 1 million banned accounts belonged to Hans Niemann or how many games he might have cheated in.
Source (Chess.com data): [_]
References:
[1] [2]
