OT: Magnus Carlsen brouhahas

[Heej]

"Oh no, my queen"

Even though no one else laughed at this, I just want you to know this one thoroughly entertained me

[Bad-Thoma]

How do you cheat at chess?

[Uncle Mxy]

En passant, I saw this thread. This problem is getting more serious.

OSLO, NORWAY—In a dramatic escalation of a story that has gripped the chess world for weeks, the Hans Niemann cheating scandal reportedly spiraled out of control Friday as one of Magnus Carlsen’s longtime rooks was found shot dead in an Oslo alleyway. “At this time we are investigating this as a premeditated murder carried out on Mr. Carlsen’s second most powerful chess pieces to strike fear into his other knights, bishops, and pawns,” said Olso Chief of Police Beate Gangås of the slain rook, known as a castle to its closest associates, which appeared to have sustained a lethal bullet wound from a point blank shot to its battlements. “Unfortunately, the rook was only able to move forward, backward, or sideways while nearby pawns looked on in horror. Otherwise, it may have been able to flee diagonally from its assailant. This is a very dark day for chess.” At press time, authorities confirmed that Carlsen’s other rook had been placed into protective hiding in disguise as a king.

https://t.ly/LQAj

[SonicMcMahon]

Is anyone else just in a bit of awe at how many RealGMers follow, and know a great deal about, chess?

This particualr drama has been very fun to read about.

[Fencer reregistered]

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/21/1124082877/chess-cheating-scandal-niemann-carlsen?utm_source=pocket-newtab

[Gus McCrae]

Knowing one of Magnus’ lines is too circumstantial to be cheating on its own. Most GMs do not think Hans cheated. The best explanation Ive heard is Magnus has access to information that other players don’t because of his relationship with chess.com which he had to sign an NDA to access so he can’t say anything.

But also that this could beg a new question, does Magnus have an unfair advantage by accessing classified information about players that not everyone has access to.

In either case, he’s acting very strange by being so dramatic without stating his reasoning. Withdrawing from a tournament like the sigfield in mid tournament is not a small deal. And doing it without explanation is bad form. Coming after he opted not to play in the finals because he’s tired of winning, idk. Hard to get a read on him lately he’s been very unpredictable.

[DutchManDanFan]

Read on Twitter

[Lou84]

Read on Twitter

Most interesting part is the paragraph where he says that he is unable to say more without Niemann's permission. As Nakamura said, there is legal action involved, hence the limited amount of information that Magnus gives to the public. Crazy stuff!

Sent from my Pixel 3a using RealGM mobile app

[CIN-C-STAR]

Read on Twitter

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

[leolozon]

Read on Twitter

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

He didn't agree. He had no choice, they were both in the same tournament.

He obviously had no evidence. Evidence are hard to come by. Still, he plays many many games every year and it's the first time he does this. When he says that Niemann wasn't concentrating in tough positions, he has a pretty big sample size of how GM reacts in different situations.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Read on Twitter

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

He didn't agree. He had no choice, they were both in the same tournament.

He obviously had no evidence. Evidence are hard to come by. Still, he plays many many games every year and it's the first time he does this. When he says that Niemann wasn't concentrating in tough positions, he has a pretty big sample size of how GM reacts in different situations.

I mean, it was his choice to enter the tournament and to take a seat across from Niemann and play the first move.
If he knew he was going to resign anyway why sit down and pretend you're going to play? Why not just withdraw from the tournament when you find out Niemann is in it?
Strikes me as odd but maybe there's something I'm not getting about the situation?

[leolozon]

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

He didn't agree. He had no choice, they were both in the same tournament.

He obviously had no evidence. Evidence are hard to come by. Still, he plays many many games every year and it's the first time he does this. When he says that Niemann wasn't concentrating in tough positions, he has a pretty big sample size of how GM reacts in different situations.

I mean, it was his choice to enter the tournament and to take a seat across from Niemann and play the first move.
If he knew he was going to resign anyway why sit down and pretend you're going to play? Why not just withdraw from the tournament when you find out Niemann is in it?
Strikes me as odd but maybe there's something I'm not getting about the situation?

From what I've read he was invited to the tournament before this whole thing started. Maybe he didn't want to withdraw because that's his living and he wants to play against other GMs. Can he resign before making a move? I don't know the rule.

[JellosJigglin]

Read on Twitter

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

He does give his reasons though. The guy already admitted to cheating in the past and his rating has increased dramatically in a short time duration. If you are already recognized as the best in the world then you have more to lose by playing a self admitted cheater. I heard after they increased security measures by delaying the livestream and implementing metal detectors he lost several matches in a row. Dude is sketchy.

[Lou84]

Read on Twitter

Makes no sense to me why he agreed to play him again a week later, only to resign after one move.
And his shared reasoning for suspecting Niemann cheated is basically: *vibes, man, total cheat vibes*
He may be right that this guy cheated, but he has not presented a compelling case nor any evidence, and thus I don't think he's really conducted himself all that well in this regardless.

He literally says he would like to add more but is unable to do so at the moment because of legal reasons. He plays the ball back to Niemann asking for permission.

Just to add maybe a little bit of understanding because it really is not easy to understand. There are certain moves in chess that are not "human". It means non of the absolute top players would ever (EVER) play these kind of moves because they make not much sense at the moment they are played. Chess engines,which are way stronger than Magnus for example, are able to make these kind of moves. Now super GM's do one thing like mad people and that is playing the game all the time, looking for new variations, analysing all kinds of variations and games etc. Heck they have whole teams behind them that are assisting with it. They are used to play against all kinds of opponents of different strengths and against cheaters as well in online chess. They can literally see and feel when something is off. Magnus is not the only one that feels that something is "off" with Niemann's play. Magnus is a sore loser, he always was, but if he accuses somebody of cheating you can bet your behind he is 100% certain of it. Dude is Top1 or Top2 player ever in one of the oldest games in human history. The other guy is a known cheater.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using RealGM mobile app

[JustLucky]

How do you cheat at chess?

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

maybe 30 years ago... computers have gotten alot faster then ibms from the 90's

[SalmonsSuperfan]

on one hand, it's exceedingly rare for carlsen to lose as white especially against such a relatively weak opponent, rating wise. it's odd that niemann seemed to predict the uncommon line carlsen played. on the other hand, it's probably just a coincidence and niemann likely just happened to play the game of his life. it happens. cheating accusations in chess are typically braindead, alireza firouzja got banned from chess.com because it looked weird that a 14-year-old iranian kid was beating grandmasters. turns out he's just really **** good. and man, what a bitter press release this guy released. he just keeps making himself look like a sore loser

[SalmonsSuperfan]

Get moves messaged to you that have been played out on Chess engines

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

maybe 30 years ago... computers have gotten alot faster then ibms from the 90's

some would argue that the game at the highest level is pretty boring now because the computer can tell you the perfect line up to like 30 moves, so now one has to memorize that many opening moves instead of 10 or so. i like looking at these games from the 1800s because these guys played in such a wild, aggressive way, paul morphy in particular, but they would get smoked today by probably any international master. bobby fisher, arguably the goat, if he played in the same manner today would probably just be an average grandmaster.

[JustLucky]

How do you cheat at chess?

you have someone calculating the best move remotely and messaging it to you in an earpiece basically. computers pretty much have it solved. im sure the way top chess players study are by seeing the moves the computer makes. Thats how I study poker which is probably the closest thing

[BoatsNZones]

I would not say that it comes off as a bitter press release. He is implying that Niemann has effectively admitted to cheating in the past. The ball is very much in Niemann's court to respond here.

[leolozon]

I thought it was proven that the computers can’t beat humans? Didn’t Bobby Fischer beat the IBM computer

maybe 30 years ago... computers have gotten alot faster then ibms from the 90's

some would argue that the game at the highest level is pretty boring now because the computer can tell you the perfect line up to like 30 moves, so now one has to memorize that many opening moves instead of 10 or so. i like looking at these games from the 1800s because these guys played in such a wild, aggressive way, paul morphy in particular, but they would get smoked today by probably any international master. bobby fisher, arguably the goat, if he played in the same manner today would probably just be an average grandmaster.

Fischer was far ahead of his time. Look at the game of the century analyzed my stockfish on youtube. It's incredible he could pull move like that at 13yo without the help of computers. I think he would dominate in any era as long as he has his head straight.