Wild allegations swirl around chess cheating scandal

The world of professional chess is being rocked by a scandal surrounding grandmaster Hans Niemann, who has been accused of cheating his way to victory hundreds of times. There is even one outlandish theory that involves vibrating anal beads to help inform of correct moves to make. 

It all began earlier this year when the 19-year-old Niemann shockingly defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in a stunning upset that helped ignite the cheating allegations.

The anal beads theory — which remains unconfirmed — suggested the beads would pass through tournament security, undetected, and allow Niemann's coach to signal to him which moves to make. When Niemann showed up in St. Louis for a tournament this week, he was the only player to have his backside scanned with a metal detector upon entering the tournament. 

After losing to Niemann, Carlsen withdrew from a major chess tournament that had more than $350,000 in prize money and sent a cryptic Tweet that seemed to accuse Niemann of wrongdoing. 

Chess.com, the top Chess website in the world, recently released a 72-page report that outlines the argument against Niemann, accusing him of cheating hundreds of times. 

The report alleges that Niemann used illegal computer aids to get assistance in more than 100 online games, many of which came with cash prizes for winning. 

The report says in part:

Outside his online play, Hans is the fastest rising top player in Classical chess in modern history. Looking purely at rating, Hans should be classified as a member of this group of top young players. While we don’t doubt that Hans is a talented player, we note that his results are statistically extraordinary.

Niemann admitted to cheating twice in online play when he was younger and was banned from Chess.com in 2020 due to what the website called "blatant cheating." While he admitted to cheating in online games, he denies having ever cheated during an in-person match. 

What made his victory over Carlsen so stunning is that the latter was in the middle of a two-year run of unbeaten matches, while Niemann was the lowest-ranked player in the tournament and considered to be the least likely player to defeat Carlsen. 

One of the other allegations is that Niemann was able to see Carlsen's strategy ahead of time, which allowed him to anticipate his opening moves. 

Niemann has maintained his innocence, saying after a match in St. Louis this week: "I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure that I’m under, and that’s all I have to say about this game. Chess speaks for itself, that’s all I can say."