Scamfluencers - Chess Cheater

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

From a young age, Hans Niemann knows he loves chess and wants to face off against his hero, Magnus Carlsen. Hans grows into a brash and intense player who makes questionable moves during online chess tournaments, but he doesn’t want that to define him. When he finally gets the opportunity to compete against Magnus, the combined force of their egos and ambitions collide, threatening to tarnish both of their legacies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to ScanFlancer's ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Sarah, how competitive would you say you are? I am really competitive, despite not being back good at things. Well, I'm curious if you would cheat at like a board game or something because I think you know that I would absolutely cheat. You know, I actually don't cheat. Okay. It's not because I think cheating's so bad.

It's more that I'm just like, it is a lot of work. I might as well just get good at whatever I'm doing, you know? Okay, I collect your lixiness. That's impacted this. I mean, we say this on the show all the time. get good at whatever I'm doing, you know? Okay, I collect your licksiness. That's impacted this. I mean, we say this on the show all the time. If you just do the thing legitimately,

it's probably less work. Yeah, so is cheating really cheating? I don't know. Good question. Well, today I have a story for you about what has quickly become a topic near and dear to my heart, the wild world of cheating at chess. The Wild World of Cheating at Chess.

It's September 4th, 2022 at the St. Louis Chess Club. The room has high ceilings and it's full of wooden tables set up for games of chess. This is the third day of the prestigious Sync field cup, and there's no crowd, but cameras are ready to broadcast the matches to tens of thousands of chess fans watching live around the world. It's the final tournament in a five-part series and 1.4 million dollars in prizes are at stake. Ten of the world's best players are competing, but the star is Norwegian Grandmaster of Magnus Carlson. He's not just a chess player. He's also an entrepreneur and a model, and in 2013 he was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People. That was a decade ago, and he's been the reigning chess world

champ ever since. He's called the Mozart of chess, and at just 31 years old, he's arguably the greatest player of all time. And he looks like a young Matt Damon, if someone just kept punching Matt Damon in the face face like over and over again. Okay, rude. I don't actually think he looks like Matt Damon, but I do know of this guy. Like he is so famous that I feel like people who know nothing about chess like me know who he is. Yeah, he's big time.

And so Magnus sits down across from Hans Neiman, a dishevelled 19-year-old with a curly mop of hair. Magnus is probably not too worried about this particular matchup. He's the heavy favorite, and though Hanz is a rising star in the chess world, he's the lowest rated player in the tournament. Then the game begins. Hanz throws Magnus off guard by making a series of surprising moves that, against incredible odds, give him the advantage.

And then he starts taunting Magnus. He alternates between looking extremely bored and then making really aggressive eye contact. I actually have a photo from this game. Sarah, can you describe it for me? Yeah, this is so intense. It looks like it's from a comic book or something. We see Magnus's back and Hans is staring at him and probably the most aggressive way you can stare at someone without physically attacking them. He honestly looks like he's going to kill Magnus. Well, ultimately Magnus can't recover. And in a shocking upset, Hans wins.

Magnus shakes Hans's hand and leaves the table stunned. Magnus replays the game over and over in his mind. How was a relatively inexperienced newcomer able to outplay him? He's the world champion. And so Magnus is left with just one conclusion. Hans must have cheated. And when Magnus shares this theory with the chess world, it snowballs into one of the biggest scandals

in the history of the game. From Wondry, I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggi. And this is Scanflancers. Come and give me your attention. I'll go have the moon. I'll say, turn my speakers to a loving outfit. and I'm Sarah Haggy. And this is Scamful Inswers. Today's scam takes us to the competitive world of chess. You might not believe me now, but trust me, the story is going to take us through the agony and the ecstasy of being incredibly gifted at something. So gifted that you'll do whatever it takes to be considered the best.

I'm calling this episode the Chess Cheater. Many involved in crypto saw Sandbankman freed as a breath of fresh air from the usual Wall Street buffs. But in just one month, his crypto exchange would collapse. From Bloomberg and Wondery comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docuseries about the wild rise and fall of FTX and its founder, Sam Bankman Freed. Listen to Spellcaster on Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love my kid, but is a new comedy parenting podcast from Wondery that shares a refreshingly honest and insightful take on parenting.

Each week, the host will share a parenting story that'll have you laughing and thinking, yes, I have absolutely been there. Listen to I love my kid, but on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts. So before I can tell you about one of the biggest cheating scandals in chess history, we have to go back to May 1997 in New York City. The stage is set for arguably the biggest chess match ever, and I mean a stage is literally set. It's been decorated to look like what a dumb person

thinks a smart person's office looks like. There's leather-bound books and wooden duck statuettes. Television cameras are focused on two men wearing ill-fitting suits, sitting across from each other on opposite sides of a chess board. One player is the current world chess champion, Gary Kasperov, a Russian with close-cropped brown hair and a humorless expression. And the other isn't a famous chess player.

He's an employee of IBM, and he's playing the move suggested by the company's supercomputer, Deep Blue. This actually isn't the first time Gary has played Deep Blue. He defeated it last year, but IBM did some reprogramming, and now he's agreed to a rematch. He has the world's highest international chess federation or Fidey rating. And Fidey ratings are how professional chess players are measured. Only games played in person on a physical chess board at sanctioned events count towards a player score. The average chess player starts at a rating of around 400, and they need to reach a rating

of 1,000 to be officially ranked, and 2,500 to be eligible for the title of Grandmaster, which is chess's highest honor. But Gary has completely surpassed that. His rating is 2800, and it's the highest in the world. Deep blue can analyze billions of positions per minute. But Gary is confident that if he plays aggressively and unconventionally, he can throw the computer off. But when it starts to outplay him, he completely crumbles.

He quickly conceives and he storms off set, sending shockwaves through the chess world. As Gary recently recalled to the New Yorker, Many people believe it was a watershed moment where machines establish its dominance over human players. Deep blue was just the beginning. Artificial intelligence has grown exponentially in the last two decades, and it's made cheating an even bigger temptation. If you can find a way to get the computer suggestions to a player, it's game over.

Today's chess engines are actually AI programs built to recommend chess moves, and they can beat a grandmaster every single time. Wow. I mean, you thought AI was coming for our jobs as writers, but it's really the chess players who need to be worried. Oh Sarah, we should all be worried. Well, chess cheating is simple, but the stakes are high. If your cot, Fide can find a player up to $25,000, pull their grandmaster title and ban them from competition for up to 15 years. Even a hint of cheating can damage a young player's reputation

and threaten to completely end their careers. Hans is only 9 years old when he first sees Magnus Carlson in person. Hans has only been playing chess for a year, but he's hooked. So, in November 2012, his mom brings him to a chess event held at the headquarters of Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California. About 100 people, most of them young players, pack a windowless conference room to see Magnus. Hans must be feeling excited, maybe even overwhelmed. He's about to meet his hero. Honestly, Magnus is every young player's hero. At just 21, he's the youngest person

to ever be ranked number one in the world. And he's not just a hopeless nerd. He's self-assured, charming, and even a little bit arrogant. Like in this interview with Charlie Rose from around this time. You need to have that edge. You need to have that confidence. You need to have that absolute belief

that you're the best and you win every time. Hans watches as Magnus plays four randomly selected kids at the same time and he beats them all in about 15 minutes. Magnus is his hero. He doesn't want to just play like him. Hans wants to play against him. He even tells his mom that he's going to make it happen someday. Hans goes home with an enormous chest piece signed by Magnus. Here's a photo of it. Wow, that is a giant chest piece. This is a funny photo because the first photo I saw,

Hans was an adult and he was staring down Magnus. And it's funny because he still has this look of intensity in his eyes in this photo. Like even as a small child, you can tell he's like, I'm going somewhere here. Well, after this event, Hans throws himself into the world of competitive chess. Over the next year, he participates in 100 tournaments and doubles his Fide score from 1,000 to 2,000.

And then, in 2014, he selected to compete in the Fide World Youth Championships in South Africa. Thousands of kids from more than 100 countries compete in the week-long tournament. It's like the baby Olympics of chess. In between official tournament games, Hans plays chess for fun against some coaches from Belgium, and he completely destroys them. He mocks the adults so ruthlessly that some of them look like they would like to hit him. Another player's father actually has to step in

and deescalate the situation. And like his hero, Hans has skills and a really cocky attitude. Months later, 11-year-old Hans becomes the youngest ever winner of a prestigious event called the Tuesday Night Marathon, which is held at the oldest chess club in the US. He's officially become a player to watch, but he's got his eyes on an even bigger prize, playing Magnus and winning.

A few months after winning the Tuesday Night Marathon, Hans is hanging out with one of his friends, probably at his family's new home in Connecticut. That's when he decides to compete in the online qualifier for an upcoming chess.com tournament. It's called titled Tuesday Blitz. His Fede rating is around 2200, which is still 300 points shy of the grandmaster title, along with all the bragging rights and the tournament invites that come with it. An online tournament won't raise Hans' Fede rating, because qualifying tournaments have to be in person.

But Chess.com is the premier site to compete, and Hans needs to raise his profile to get on the radar of the world's best players, and sponsors. Flying all over the world to compete in tournaments isn't cheap. So pro players wear button ups and blazers covered in brand logos. Like soccer players or race car drivers. I mean, just look at this picture of noted model Magnus. That is so dirty. Very terrifying. It's funny because he's clearly concentrating so hard on this game, but he's wearing like a white button up shirt and a blazer,

and it's like, just covered in weird sponsor names, and you're like, wow, this guy has no idea how dumb he looks because he's so into this game. It's a very white collar soccer jersey happening over here. But Hans is really feeling the pressure to win. So Sarah, he cheats. He later talks to the St. Louis chess club about how he pulled it off. I was with a friend and I was playing Tettle Tuesday. And he came over on the iPad with

engine and I was 12 years old and he said, you know, he started giving the moves. Cheating is easy and no one catches him. And the win brings him the online hype he was hoping for. And it's about to make him even bolder. Four years later, Hans gets a scholarship to Columbia Grammar, a private school in New York City. And what's even more impressive is he's doing it all by himself. At just 16, Hans leaves his family's house and Connecticut and moves alone into a Manhattan apartment. He supports himself by teaching chess for 20 to 30 hours a week. And on top of teaching and school, he's working tirelessly to earn the title of Grand Master.

Over the next two years, Hans competes in tournament after tournament. Until finally, his Fede score reaches 2,465. That's just 35 points shy of Grandmaster. It's so close, he can almost taste it, and then comes March 2020. Suddenly, the only place Hans or anyone can play chess is online. In the first month of the pandemic, the number of daily players on chess.com,

Sky Rockets from 280,000 people to 1 million. Oh, and around this time, the Queen's Gambit comes out on Netflix and so people get really hyped up on chess. And with millions of new fans gathering online, some big chess players become outright celebrities. Streaming also opens up a whole new source of revenue. Instead of relying on sponsors, prize money, and teaching, players can get money directly

from fans. And since Hans' teaching jobs have mostly dried up, he needs to make it in the world of online chess. So, he starts playing on chess.com constantly, and streaming more and more. His infamous temper actually makes him a really compelling watch. He's always screaming, which I know personally is a great revenue model. Here listen to this clip from Han streaming a game. And by this fucking dude get fucking down and bow down I absolutely hate this he's bringing

toxic gamer culture to a quiet Game that's as old as time buddy. This is not a fortnight Okay, you were rewriting the history of chess in real time Since when it's just been like full of wholesome characters? What are you talking about? I don't think it's been full of wholesome characters, but there is like a level of self-respect. Here's the thing, to me, this isn't what chess stands for.

Like, I someone who has heard of chess and seen people play at the park. Okay, well, we will all take your suggestions on this game that you don't play under advisement. But the point is that Hans is very good at this and everybody other than you does really want to watch it. So now, Hans is desperate to create an online following fast and he knows he needs to win as many games as possible.

So he cheats and he's not even being sneaky about it. He does something called second screening, and that's where you toggle between your game and another window with the chess engine suggesting moves. It is literally the laziest way to cheat. Hans isn't thinking about the ramifications. He's willing to do anything to support himself playing chess, but he's about to face a crackdown.

Danny Ranch lives in Arizona and he looks like how Joe Rogan would look, I think, if he played chess. He's an international master, which is one level below a grandmaster. He's also the chief chess officer of chess.com. Danny and the chess.com team always knew that playing online could be huge. But even they were shocked by the explosion of virtual matches during the pandemic.

And this surge in online players also comes with a surge in cheating. Chess.com's Watch.Grupp literally called the Fair Play team compares finished game results to suggestions from a computer engine to determine if players have cheated. And in June 2020, Danny learns that one of the site's strongest players, Hans Neiman, has likely been cheating on their site. Danny emails Hans to tell him that Chess.com believes he's violated the site's anti-cheating

rules. As a result, they're suspending his account. At first, Hans plays dumb, and he pretends not to understand. Danny believes Hans is a young player who lost his way. So he tells Hans that if he just admits to cheating, he can start a new account after a brief suspension period. Hans privately confesses, and Danny gives him a new profile and a fresh start.

I understand not wanting to punish someone at the full extent of chess law, but also if this guy was getting popular on this platform and he was cheating, I do think people have a right to know that like, hey, this is what happened, we're giving him another chance to create a new profile. Well, some people notice Hans is new user name on chess.com and they assume that it's because he got caught cheating.

But Hans never admits to it publicly. And since it's only speculation, it doesn't stop him from competing in feed-a-tornaments. So when in-person games begin again, Hans jumps right back in to go after what he always wanted, the Grandmaster title. In December 2020, Hans travels to Spain to compete in a chess festival. And when he defeats a French grandmaster who's more than twice his age, he finally gets

his Vidae rating over 2,500. He's officially a grandmaster. Hans jumps headfirst into being a professional chess player. With less than a semester of high school left, he decides to continue traveling through Europe and finish school remotely. He plays in 10 tournaments in less than three months, stopping in Belgium, Italy, Serbia, and Montenegro. He wins the US Junior Chess Championship, and less than a year later becomes one of the top 50 ranked chess players in the world. Hans is the fastest rising chess player in modern history.

Other chess players are taking notice, including his idol, Magnus. Hans is the fastest rising chess player in modern history. Other chess players are taking notice, including his idol, Magnus. On top of being the world champ, Magnus has his own chess company called Play Magnus, where people can learn and play chess online. And the company invites 18-year-old Hans to be one of its ambassadors. They pay him, put him into tournaments, and raise his profile. As Hans's star continues to rise, his attitude steadily gets worse. The fiery personality and raging antics that were entertaining on Twitch are not translating to real life tournaments. In June 2022, after losing the Prague Chess Festival, Hans explodes in the ballroom of the hotel Don Giovanni.

He very publicly rails against the tournament, the city, and the accommodations. By now people are sick of Hans' shit, but he doesn't seem to care. He taunts his critics, he claims he'll be such a dominant chess player that he'll be able to play any tournament no matter how badly he behaves. player that he'll be able to play any tournament no matter how badly he behaves. Two months after his blowup in Prague, he throws a tantrum during a game at the FTX crypto cup in Miami. A technical malfunction temporarily pauses the game and Hans thinks it causes him to lose. Here he is in a post-game interview with Chess24.

He might be especially worked up because this snafu happens the night before a life-long dream is about to come true. Hans is finally going to sit across the board from his childhood hero, Magnus. So that night he goes back to his hotel room, shuts off childhood hero, Magnus. So that night he goes back to his hotel room, shuts off the lights, orders Uber Eats, and decompresses with some Netflix. Hans has been dreaming of this moment ever since he was a little kid, and now it's going to make him or break him. The next day, Magnus sits down across from Hans to play the second round of the FTX Crypto

Cup. There's a $210,000 prize and thousands more in Bitcoin at stake. Magnus and Hans sit in leather gaming chairs, but instead of playing on a board, they're playing online, and their computers are placed back-to-back like a high-tech game of battleship. The walls are video screens all displaying trippy graphics and sponsors logos. Sarah, I have a photo. I am dying to make you look at it. Okay, this is bleak.

It's like some weird Jetson's version of chess. And I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to the game of chess. I think it should only be played in the classic way that men have been doing since the beginning of time. I'm so glad you found a new annoying thing to shape your personality around. Honestly, it's not really fun to look at. No, it's deeply fun to look at. That's true. It's kind of like, of course, a crypto cop

will make a chess tournament look like this. Yeah. Well, this is not a Fide sanctioned game, as I'm sure you can tell, but it does get a lot of attention. The reigning champ starts by making the first move. And Magnus' style is to slowly dominate and demoralize his opponents.

He likes watching people sweat. But that doesn't happen here. Hans gradually takes control, giving Magnus a taste of his own medicine. And after 37 minutes, Hans beats Magnus. Magnus doesn't stop for a post-game interview, but Hans does. And the interview is, well, it's weird. Instead of celebrating after achieving a life goal of beating the world champion, Hans says this

to the Chess 24 interviewer. Hans, yesterday was a terrible day for you and today, you start out with a masterpiece. How would you summarize it? Chess speaks for itself. Is it something special doing this against Magnus, Hans? So, you know, the supporter is doing his job and asking Hans a very normal question. And Hans looks at him with dead eyes and walks away mid-interview.

To me, it shows that, you know, as arrogant as he is, it is kind of a mask for being a bit scared. You know what I mean? Like the more he talks about strategy or how he won, the easier it is to poke holes in whatever he says, you know? Yeah. Well, Magnus Rally's and he goes on to Beat Hans in the next three games and he wins the entire tournament. A few days later, chess.com announces

that it's buying play Magnus for almost $83 million. The two biggest online chess sites are about to become one. This is a huge deal for Magnus. He's 31 and he's starting to think about his legacy. He's been the number one player in the world for more than a decade now, and on his podcast, the Magnus Effect, he announces that he isn't going to compete in the next world championship. He's relinquishing the title, and he pretty much says that it's because he's tired of winning. He wants a new challenge, so he's going to focus on breaking his own record

of playing 125 consecutive Fede sanctioned games without losing. But this new goal is put in jeopardy when Hans and Magnus face off again, just days later in the Fede sanctioned Singfield Cup in St. Louis. Sarah, this is the scene where Hans is staring really intensely at Magnus. Do you remember that photo? Oh, I remember that photo. Well, losing this game ends Magnus' 53-game unbeaten streak in Fede Sanction games, and he is not happy about it. To make matters worse, in a post-game interview with St. Louis Chess Club, Hans talks major trash. I think he's just so demoralized because he's

losing to such an idiot like me. It must be embarrassing for the World Champion to lose to me. I feel bad for him. In the same interview, Hans claims that he, luckily, studied Magnus' opening moves that morning, but Magnus isn't buying it. He's only played those moves twice before in his long career. Plus, he's been hearing rumors about Hans' attitude problems and possible cheating. So Magnus allegedly goes to the event organizers and asks that Hans be disqualified for cheating.

They have zero concrete evidence, so their hands are tied. They decide to add a 15-minute delay to game broadcasts so that potential accomplices can't help players cheat by watching in real time. Still, Magnus is unsatisfied. So the next day, he rocks the chess world. Here's a clip from the St. Louis chess club's live coverage of the tournament. Until we have breaking news, it would appear that a certain world champion, Magnus Carlson, has decided to not play today's game.

To me, this is what the game's all about. It's these moments where you don't know what's going to happen and suddenly Magnus doesn't show up. What more could you want out of the game? Great question. I can tell you what more you would want. You would want some tweets because that's what Magnus does. He tweets,

I've withdrawn from the tournament, I've always enjoyed playing in the sinkfield cup and hope to be back in the future. He doesn't say why he's quitting, but he includes a clip of a big-time football manager who, at a press conference, said he couldn't speak his mind for fear of getting in big trouble. To those who follow chess closely, the implication is clear. Magnus thinks Hans is a cheater. And when Magnus speaks, the chess world listens. Immediately after Magnus' surprise withdrawal

from the tournament, chess streamers and influencers report the news. And they start speculating about it. Among them is Hikaru Nakamura, an American grandmaster and the chess world's top streamer. His Twitch channel, where he lives streams his online games and ads commentary, has more than half a million followers. Right after Magnus quits, Hikaru weighs in on a live YouTube broadcast. I mean, I think of the game Magas played poorly, but I've never seen Magas just lose like that, where it seemed like he never had a chance in the game. Within hours, there are tons of theories about whether or not Hans cheated.

And if so, how? And before I tell you about one of the more scandalous theories, I have to give you some context. Back in 2006, there was this huge chest cheating scandal involving a chest engine. And it was called a swear to god, toilet gate. Basically, a grandmaster was accused of looking up moves on his phone during his bathroom breaks. So now, bathroom breaks are heavily restricted and monitored.

To cheat at in-person chests today, you need an accomplice who can get you the chess engine suggestions, either through hand signals, an earpiece, or even a buzzer placed strategically on your body. And the internet thinks that Hans used a buzzer to cheat, and there are many theories about where he placed it. One, in particular, grips the cultural imagination, and the theory is that Hans cheated using wireless anal beads. Yeah, that makes total sense to me. I do remember seeing this when this story got picked up in mainstream news.

And I remember thinking, yeah, I mean, that's where people hide stuff all the time. That's true. Like, it's a classic hiding spot in your body. It's notorious, yes. Well, later that day, Chess.com emails Hans to say they're suspending his account and rescinding his invitation to their global championship. He no longer has a shot at the $1 million prize fund. Hans is shocked. He knows he has to get ahead of the scandal before he's blacklisted from even more events, and his whole career goes up in flames.

So he tries to defend himself in a long, rambling interview with the St. Louis chess club. He swears repeatedly that he didn't cheat against Magnus, and he says he's devastated that Magnus, of all people, has put him in this position. To see my absolute hero, try to ruin our reputation, ruin our chess career, and to do it in such a frivolous way is really, really disappointing. Han says that he'll do anything to prove his innocence. He even offers to play in a zero electric transmission box or stripped naked. He also admits that he cheated twice online at ages 12 and 16, but he swears that

he never cheated while streaming or internments with prize money. Han says that he would never cheat an in-person chest. It's the worst thing he could ever do. He must be hoping that his honesty will win people over and allow him to get back to playing chess. But Magnus isn't going to let this go. The men of professional chess are messy, and the drama is just the beginning. I feel like a... Let's do that.

Less than two weeks after Hans beat Magnus in the sink field cup, Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, commentators as the game begins. I don't think he cheated in the same field cup, but everything else is still a- Oh sorry, a lot of her. Sorry, Alejandro, I just have to interrupt you, because the game started, and Magnus has logged off, what's this happened? Magnus has resigned. After making one move, Magnus stages a protest. He just logs off. Hans is left stunned and disappointed, blinking at the screen.

Magnus goes on to win the whole tournament, even after forfeiting the game with Hans. It's not only humiliating for Hans, it's also furthering speculation that he is a cheater, which is now threatening his entire career. But then things get even worse for Hans. Magnus releases a lengthy statement on Twitter clarifying his protests, saying explicitly that he thinks Hans is a cheater.

Sarah, can you read this excerpt from his tweet? Yes, he goes, I believe that Neiman has cheated more and more recently than he has publicly admitted. His over-the-board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the sinkfield cup, 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. He goes on to write, we must do something about cheating, and for my part going forward,

I don't want to play against people who have cheated repeatedly in the past because I don't know what they are capable of doing in the future. Wow, I mean, this guy, he is the pro of the world. I guess if you know you really are the best, you can pull shit like that, you know? Yeah. Well, Magnus wields a lot of influence, and Hans is worried now that he won't get invited to tournaments where Magnus is competing, which is basically every worthwhile tournament. There goes his potential prize money, the sponsors, and the Cloud. And if Chess.com bans him, he'll lose his main ability to stream and connect with fans. Play Magnus and Chess.com are the two biggest online sites in Chess.

And now they're merging, and they're shutting Hans out. And meanwhile, Hikaru keeps analyzing Hans' past games, and insinuating that Hans is a cheater in front of his millions of fans. As Hans the greatest chess player of all time, someone who did not really show glimpses of brilliance in the high 2400s, suddenly becoming the absolute best player of all time, so he just clicked randomly at the age of 17 or is something going on? Hans is getting chess world canceled, even though there's no concrete evidence that he cheated.

As he says in an interview with the St. Louis chess club, the question is, why are you going to remove me from chess calm after I beat Magnus? Just what's what's with the timing? And Fede seems to share Hans's concerns. It issues a statement calling Magnus out, saying it strongly believes that there were better ways to handle this situation. And they announced that they're starting their own

official investigation into the matter. Chess players and fans hope that their investigation will come down definitively on either Hans' or Magnus' side and settle the controversy for good. But things are about to get much worse. Because Chess.com isn't going to sit back and let Hans accuse them of colluding to wipe him from the Chess world map. They're sitting on some shocking information that might undermine Hans's claim that he is the victim. claim that he is the victim. Among that after Hans' fall from grace, Chess.com releases a report detailing his past behavior

on the site. The report alleges that he cheated on over 100 games, which is way, way more than what Hans coped to. And contrary to what Hans claimed, they say that he actually did cheat while live streaming, and in games for prize money. They say he didn't do anything super smart or sophisticated. He just kept second screening.

But, all those instances of cheating are from before Hans was briefly banned from the site when he was 17. So they don't contradict what Hans has always claimed, that he never cheated in person and he never cheated once he earned the title of Grandmaster. This is such an unnecessary shit show, but I do think at the end of the day, it should have been known earlier, like even if he was very young,

like it's a part of someone's history that they cheated, even if he never cheats again, I think people playing with him should know. Well, that's true, I agree. But Hans' claims are also sort of supported by a guy named Ken Regan. He's a computer science professor from the University of Buffalo. He developed the only system approved by Fede to find cheaters in in-person play. He analyzed all of Hans' in-person games after August 2020 and says there's

no concrete evidence that Hans cheated. But others, like Magnus and Chess.com, believe that the proof is circumstantial. In its report, Chess.com pointed to Hans' shockingly rapid rise in the Fede ratings. Plus, the report says that Hans' strength scores went down significantly after the Sinkfield Cup enacted the 15-minute broadcast delay. A strength score basically determines how strong of a game you played compared to the best moves determined by a chess engine. So this could mean that Hans was weaker because cheating got harder, or it could just mean that he cracked under the pressure of the chess world calling him a cheater. As the speculation continues, the pieces on Hans' metaphorical chessboard just keep falling.

A teenage Grandmaster cancels a highly anticipated game with Hans in Germany. The Tata Steel Tournament, often referred to as the Wimbledon of chess, totally ghost Hans and stops responding to him about their 2023 event. Things are so bad that Hans can't even land a teaching gig at a school. His passion and his livelihood is all vanishing in front of his eyes. He's sick of being a pawn in the chess establishment's game, so he fights back and files a defamation suit against Magnus, chess.com, and Hikaru, and he demands $100 million in damages. $100 million in damages?

That's insane. It's a lot of money. It's so too much money. Well Magnus, Chess.com, and Hikaru all quickly file motions to dismiss the lawsuit. All of them declined to comment for this episode, citing the ongoing lawsuit. A representative from Chess.com wrote to us, saying,

we hope to have that dismissed soon, and we'll then be able to talk about it more openly. And because our legal system is even slower than a chess game, they're all still waiting for a court date. Since the lawsuit's filing, Hans has gone uncharacteristically silent. He's been quiet on social media, and he hasn't played a Fede Sanction chess game in months. And meanwhile, Magnus is still the number one ranked player in the world. Huma even sent him custom shoes to help promote their brand partnership.

At the same time, Hikaru creeps closer and closer to two million followers on Twitch and YouTube every day. And chess.com recently passed a new benchmark of having over 10 million active players in YouTube every day. And Chess.com recently passed a new benchmark of having over 10 million active players in a single day. As the court date looms and the Fede investigation drags on, the Chess world is left in limbo, watching grown men bickering over a game that the app on their phone could beat them at every time.

This story is far from a clear checkmate, Sarah. I think maybe it's just a draw. Sarah, should I assume that you'll be buying a chess board and boring me with the details of how chess works? No, I don't think it's for me. My chest journey's over. It started and ended with this episode. Well, I'm curious. I mean, do you think Hans was a cheater or was he like an underdog that got crushed by the big guy? I think Hans was absolutely a cheater. I think there's only a debate as to whether or not he cheated. Because like, even though everything is pointing towards that direction,

you cannot really accuse someone of cheating unless there's concrete direction, you cannot really accuse someone of cheating unless there's concrete evidence, you know? But also, everything he did was so out of the ordinary. Like, it doesn't match anything that's ever happened. It's not even like an underdog who came from nothing and was always good at chess. It's kind of like, yeah, all those points that Hikaru was making are extremely valid. Like, this isn't how it would happen if someone was like that,

like some sort of prodigy, you know? To me, the most compelling piece of evidence is them saying that when they put in the 50 minute delay, he got worse. I do think, you know, he probably really does love chess and is probably better than most people on Earth at chess. I don't think you could cheat that well and just be

totally bad at it or average at it even. But also he's kind of like a cartoon villain, you know. I think he got really obsessed with what he perceived to be the coolest thing he could do, which is be very good at chess and go against his idol. This story to me feels like a testament to wanting everything immediately. Hans was so young. He had so much time to beat Magnus. He had so much time to become really good. If he had just stayed focused on the actual work

and the actual, the skill of chess, frankly, he probably would have gotten to a point where he would have beat Magnus, but instead he's known as the guy who may or may not have put like a butt plug in his anus so that he could cheat in a live match. What a grizzly legacy to leave behind. It is a very grizzly legacy,

but at the end of the day, what Hans wanted was a legacy. And, you know, I love rooting for an underdog, but again, even if he's not cheating, which I think is highly unlikely, he has bad energy. I don't like the way he talks. Like, you know, being someone who's pleasant to a degree and able to balance that kind of arrogance that people think

Magnus Carlson has. He just doesn't have the alchemy of it, right? And I think that's his biggest failure is that he like created this character that's very unlikeable. And I think if you want to scam properly, you have to play the likability game a bit, you know? Yeah, correct, absolutely. It really expedites the sunlight that gets shown on your scam. The worse you are, the faster people will figure out that you are lying. Absolutely.

And that is why no one has ever figured out that you and I have been pulling scams this whole time. Oh, because you're so nice to people. Because I'm such a sweetie. Everybody's always talking about it. Like behind my back, they're always like, oh my god, she's. So nice. So victorious, Lee Jen Teal.

Sure, yeah. That's the world we live in. Is it not? That's the reality I'm in, baby. Hey, prime members, you can listen to scam influencers add free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. a short survey at Wundery.com slash survey. This is the Chess Cheater. I'm Socky Cole.

And I'm Sarah Haggi. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfulinswersatwundery.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were he's the bad boy of chess, but did he cheat? By David Seagal and Dylan Loeb McClain for the New York Times, and the question behind the Magnus Carlson Hans-Nemen drama, how to cheat at chess by Joshua Robinson and Andrew Beaton for the Wall Street Journal.

Rachel Borders wrote this episode, additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Haggi. Our senior producer is Jen Swan, our producer is John Reed. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peary. Our story editor and producer is Sarah Annie. Our story editor is Eric Thurm. Sound design is by Sam Ada,

fact checking by Will Tavlin. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freeze on Sync. Our senior managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Our managing producer is Matt Gantt. Our coordinating producer is Desi Blaylock. Kate Young and Olivia Rashard are our series producers. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle.

Our senior producer is Jenny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Gens, Jenny Lauer Beckman, and Marsha Luey. Go Wendry. I'm your one.