Chess prodigy Hans Niemann was caught cheating online as recently as 2020, report claims

The father of Hans Niemann, the teenage chess prodigy at the center of the ‘anal beads’ scandal has defended him in the face of a damning report that accuses him of cheating online, ‘more than 100 times,’ in a pattern of behavior described as ‘rampant.’

‘Hans is a good kid,’ his dad David Niemann told DailyMail.com. ‘We love him and pray for him every day.

‘He’s given his account. He’s said his game speaks for itself and it does,’ added Niemann, 56.

‘I’m not going to comment on the cheating. It’s his story to tell and right now he doesn’t want to say more than he already has.’

The older Niemann was talking at the family’s $1.4million mid-century modern home set in six acres in Weston, Connecticut. 

‘He’s an adolescent, we’re a family that focuses on humanity and forgiveness,’ he said.

Hans Niemann, 19, sent the elite world of competitive chess into a tailspin when he defeated Magnus Carlsen in the prestigious Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri, last month.

The 31-year-old Norwegian is generally acknowledged to be the greatest player in the game’s history and had been enjoying an unbeaten 53-game streak until he sat down opposite Niemann on September 4.

The upset was so unexpected that rumors of cheating began to swirl almost immediately and lurid allegations that Niemann owed his victory to the use of vibrating anal beads that telegraphed winning moves in Morse code quickly took hold. 

In a later match Carlsen resigned after just one move in what has been interpreted as his belief that Niemann’s play is not on the level.

The game’s leading website Chess.com then conducted an inquiry which resulted in a 72-page report that said Niemann may have cheated in online games ‘more than 100 times.’

But David Niemann hit out at the site, calling it a ‘cult.’

The Chess.com report revealed that it had frozen Niemann’s account and rescinded an invitation to compete in its first $1million prize tournament. 

Niemann has furiously denied cheating in any ‘Over The Board’ tournament but he admitted to having cheated on two occasions while playing online; once as a child of 12 and once aged 16 but never, he said, in a game or event of any importance. 

Chess.com is one of the largest online chess sites in the world and counts some of the greatest players in the game among its 80 million members.

It hosts prize money and chess rating tournaments which are recognized by, and considered comparable to, those of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) as well as providing a social network and forum for players to discuss the game and strategy.

Site organizers said they had ‘suspicions’ about Niemann’s Sinquefield Cup game with Carlsen and, unknown to Niemann, his admission that he cheated in online games triggered a forensic investigation of his games.

Now the organization is not only claiming to have uncovered a slew of occasions on which he says it employed a host of sophisticated analytics, as well as expert reviews of Niemann’s games and determined a pattern of cheating that far outstrips anything to which he has publicly admitted. 

The report states, ‘In fact he appears to have cheated against multiple opponents in Chess.com prize events (beyond the Titled Tuesday event that Hans admitted to having cheated in when he was 12), Speed Chess Championship Qualifiers, and the PRO Chess League.

‘We have evidence that he appears to have cheated in sets of rated games on Chess.com against highly rated, well-known figures in the chess community, some of which he streamed online. 

‘These findings contradict Hans’s public statements.

‘Overall, we have found that Hans likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several prize money events. He was already 17 when he likely cheated in some of these matches and games. He was also streaming in 25 of these games.’

In fact, Chess.com found evidence that Niemann was cheating in 2020 and allowed him to voluntarily close his account and privately suspended him for a year to ‘save face’ and because of his youth.

On returning to the site Niemann assured organizers that no cheating would ever happen again.  

There is no doubt, the report states, that Niemann is a ‘talented player.’ 

Self-taught, he has competed in tournaments all over the world, taking part in his first US rated tournament when he was just eight years old.

The eldest of four children born to David and Mary Niemann, chess was the one constant in a peripatetic childhood that saw him move from San Francisco to the Netherlands when he was seven, then back to the States three years later. 

His family settled in Orinda, California, a suburb of Berkeley, and during his sixth grade they moved to Connecticut. He was homeschooled through his seventh grade.

‘My family felt there were better schools on the East Coast, and that I might have access to more diverse chess opportunities there,’ he said.. 

‘The Marshall Chess club was only an hour away in New York City and I would go there two or three times a week.’

At age 10 he was the youngest winner of the Mechanics Institute Chess Club tournament in its 159-year history, qualifying to compete in the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa.

But according to Niemann his parents never pressured him to play. Speaking to Chess Life on becoming a grandmaster at 17 he said, ‘I simply loved the game – if I had had the opportunity, I would have played a chess tournament every day of the week. If it were possible, I would have played multiple tournaments every day.’

He later said: ‘At this point winning tournaments took little effort on my part. So, my ‘study plan’ combined Madden Mobile on my iPad, some Netflix and the occasional 15 minutes of glancing at Garry Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors. 

‘It’s no surprising that I had a very rude awakening ahead.’ 

After his period of homeschooling, he reluctantly returned to school, attending Weston High School before he won a scholarship to attend Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in New York City where he became chess team captain. 

In what was, by his own admission, a difficult time he lived in New York alone as the family remained in Connecticut. He told Chess Life that he worked 20 to 30 hours a week teaching chess to help make rent. 

By 2016, when he was in seventh grade, he had hit an Elo (the system by which chess players skill level is measured) of 2400. 

A rating of 2500 is required to be a grandmaster. But two and a half years later he had only progressed to 2434. 

According to Chess.com, ‘As an active player at ages 15, 16 and 17, (pre-pandemic years) Hans had ratings of 2313, 2460, and 2465 respectively. 

‘The conventional wisdom is that if you are not a GM by age 14 it is unlikely that you can reach the top levels.’

Niemann himself has spoken of turning to online chess during shutdown. He has credited it with ‘saving his game.’

Chess.com noted that, while they do not doubt that he is a talented player, ‘his results [during that period] are statistically extraordinary.’

Gavin Spandow, 19, was Niemann’s chess partner and best friend at Weston High School. Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com he recalled Niemann as prodigiously talented and ‘fiercely competitive.’

He said, ‘He was incredibly competitive, always a phenomenal player and supremely talented.’ 

He also admitted that Niemann’s character – which has been described by some in the chess world as ‘abrasive’ – won him few friends in that world.

He said, ‘He was fiercely competitive and far from humble. He was really an incredibly egotistical, confident, cocky player.

‘In my experience he couldn’t quite let his skill speak for itself. He was somewhat insecure in that way.’

Intriguingly, knowing Niemann as he does, Spandow did not express surprise at the idea of his friend cheating at games of online chess.

He said, ‘I know he talked about the intricacies of online chess compared to Over The Board chess [he felt] that they were very different games.

‘It’s less surprising to me that he would cheat at online matches. He always made a distinction between online and in person.’

But Spandow was adamant, ‘It would surprise me incredibly if he cheated in an in-person game.

‘When I asked him about the intricacies of online chess compared to Over The Board chess, he said it’s so important to be respectful and maintain an air of integrity. 

‘He always played with a great deal of integrity.’

Despite their exhaustive investigation, Chess.com could find no evidence that Niemann had cheated in the Sinquefield Cup game or any in-person game.

Yet the site states, ‘We had suspicions about Hans’s play against Magnus at Sinquefield Cup, which were intensified by the public fallout from the event.

‘[And] we had concerns about the steep, inconsistent rise in Hans’s rank.’

‘In our view,’ they concluded, ‘this game and the surrounding behaviors and explanations are bizarre. And, in light of Hans’s past and his record-setting rise, it is understandable that some in the chess community have used this game as a way to justify additional scrutiny of Hans’s play.’

There is plenty of opportunity for them to do so in the days ahead.

Despite his previous banishment by Chess.com, there is no concrete evidence of Niemann ever having cheated Over The Board.

Niemann, is currently competing in the 2022 US Chess Championships – a tournament with a prize fund of $262,000.

The winner will walk away with $60,000 and any player with a perfect score standing to win another $64,000. 

And one thing is certain, all eyes are on Hans Niemann.