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Hans Niemann Report


CHESScom
Oct 4, 2022, 4:00 PM | c 206

We appreciate your patience over the last several weeks as we have been working on a
comprehensive report on Hans Niemann and the events following Magnus’ resignation in the
2022 Sinquefield Cup. We know many of you have been eager to hear from Chess.com, and while
there is more we want to research around the topic, we present to you this report on our findings
so far.

Our report was first referenced by the Wall Street Journal article published on October 4 2022.

We know that while we are answering some questions here, more questions will surface, and we
look forward to answering all of them soon. 

- Erik and Danny


Página 3 de 72
Hans
Report
clarify that nobody asked us to remove Hans from the CGC.
– 3 player. However, numerous top players participating in
titled
Not
over Magnus. Not Hikaru.
Hans competing Notevents
in our any other for some time, and many
our
ensureevents
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directly questioned how we were going to
in the CGC.
Magnus, like the rest of the world, found out about our
in his statements
decisions to the press on September 6, 2022. We
closing
communicatedhiswhen Hans
Chess.com
withwhile
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public
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informed
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in ExhibitifA,hewehad be
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money
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we everything have
would pay him received
the baseline participated
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to handle discreetly.
match. (He has not yet collected.) We intended Hans
elected
• DoestoChess.com
make those actions
believe thatpublic.
Hans cheated in his
game against
September 4, 2022Magnus at the Sinquefield
over-the-board (“OTB”)Cup? And more
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generally, do we believe that Hans
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cheated
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that proveswithHansMagnus, or
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past.
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site in 2020.
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future OTB investigations.
• If Chess.com was not certain that Hans cheated at the
to revoke Cup,
Sinquefield his invitation
why did to wethetakeCGC stepsand close his
with
Chess.com account in the wake of his match
Magnus?
We based this decision on several factors. First, as detailed
chess games on our site as recently as 2020 after our
in this report,
suspicious play. Hans admitted
Second, we had to cheating
suspicions in about Hans’ play
cheating-detection
which were intensified software
by the andpublicteam uncovered
fallout from the event.
against
inconsistentMagnus rise at the Sinquefield
in Hans’about rank—set Cup,
out in Section VII of this
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community. concerns we faced athe steep,
critical decision point at an
report—like
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which broaderscheduled
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beliet e i ei co ld confidentl l d ith ass i re the i i i th

Comments (206) Sort: Newest <

elilapp

4 minutes ago }0{


i dont understand why they had to release this today. the first round of US championships. talk about
vendetta. messing with the young mans head.

A30Boom

5 minutes ago }0{

“ Paganini_24 wrote:
“ A30Boom wrote:
“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and
failure to commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well
done report but the timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing
streamers to keep this going all this time violates over the board rules and you allowed and
support them as well.  Other GMs have same various master level players have cheated and
support them as well.  Other GMs have same various master level players have cheated and

been dealt with by Chess.com.  Where are their names and games?  It's a Magnus and Money
takedown.  No doubt about it.

?? The timing was dictated by the online tournament starting soon and they they say took the
circumstances around the unusual play with Magnus seriously along with Hans lying publicly after
the tournament about how much he cheated online, the circumstances and when and explained
Ready to Play Chess?
B
why. So where is the smoke screen? You wanted the report earlier? I don't understand. 
G Play Online G vs Computer
CORRECTION: "Hans lying publicly after the tournament" took place after Hans was already banned and
G Play Friends G Tournaments
removed from the tournament. So this lying cannot have been the reason for his removal.

True. It just makes it more likely that they made a reasonable decision in hindsight. 
Play Now

pardesi

5 minutes ago }0{

“ gatochdammen wrote:
Well-written report. Clear structure, clear formulations. The part about the buttplug was a bit unclear
though.

It's a bit ironic that the best remote controlled buttplug for OTB cheating on
https://lastingthedistance.com/remote-controlled-butt-plugs/ for pro players is probably the extra small
hush 2 (lower risk of detection), but the producer mentions that it is for complete beginners.

I had no idea there were such things as remote controlled butt plugs.  I won't ask how you knew.

A30Boom

8 minutes ago }0{

“ Paganini_24 wrote:
“ A30Boom wrote:
“ Grazontaka13 wrote:
Conflict of interest. You are in a business with Magnus Carlsen about buying his "chess app
Play Magnus" for 83 Million Dollars. 

Even if so there wasn't a realistic way to recuse themselves about making a decision about the
online tournament. So what's the point? Some people might not agree with the decision given all
the circumstances but I really can't see how anyone wouldn't see their decision as reasonable given
all the circumstances. 

The decision is not reasonable. In any case, the report does not provide a reasonable foundation for the
decision. Hans' cheating past has been dealt with. There is no evidence of new cheating online after
2020. The only reasoning you can find in the report is some suspicion about is OTB progress, of which the
report itself says that the evidence is inconclusive. The gist of it is that Magnus quitting from the
Si fi ld C d i i i d i b " G "( h db h ld
Sinquefield Cup and suspicions raised against Hans by "numerous GMs" (who are not named but should

be exposed as Hans was), only these two factors, were already sufficient for Chess.com to remove Hans
from the platform and the CGC. To my opinion that is very meagre.

Him being that big an outlier is reasonably a bit suspicious in itself. The odds of someone being a known
cheater, lie about the circumstances and be that good all together are very low. There isn't a reason to consider
them independent events because cheating itself is what we are looking at for why he's an outlier. It seems like
you are considering the odds of all that has gone on independently. That's simply not how probability works. All
the factors together make it increasingly likely that he cheated. 

RooksHeaven

8 minutes ago }0{


I have a question about chess.com's Strength Score (described in the article).  Is it the same as the
"accuracy" score generated by the site's post-game analysis?  I ask because I just played a number of games
against low-ranked bots (1000-1200 range).  My accuracy was usually in the 80s, with a couple in the high 70s
and a couple in the low 90s.  This puts me somewhere in the middle of Table 2 showing the cheating-based
Strength Scores of a bunch of "confessed GMs".  Surely I am not that strong?  Back in my OTB playing days I
was a B player.

rivuchess

8 minutes ago }0{

“ HexStone wrote:
“ A30Boom wrote:
“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and
failure to commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well
done report but the timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing
streamers to keep this going all this time violates over the board rules and you allowed and
support them as well.  Other GMs have same various master level players have cheated and
been dealt with by Chess.com.  Where are their names and games?  It's a Magnus and Money
takedown.  No doubt about it.

?? The timing was dictated by the online tournament starting soon and they they say took the
circumstances around the unusual play with Magnus seriously along with Hans lying publicly after
the tournament about how much he cheated online, the circumstances and when and explained
why. So where is the smoke screen? You wanted the report earlier? I don't understand. 

There's been no documented cheating for the last 2 years so fear of the online tournament is bogus.
(Shall we talk about Hikaru's bracket.  That deserves a discussion) Not excusing Hans past behavior but
stepping into this when there a 84 million dollar deal on the table that will just about take over all of
internet chess is suspect no matter how you try to spin it.  If that report had Hans cheating lately it would
have been a whole different ball game.  I give Chess.com credit for publishing something that doesn't
help their cause.  Respect.
Get @HexStone some chocolate man or he'll go up in smoke

RiverDoge7

15 minutes ago }0{

“ Astlin_J wrote:
I have one doubt, why chess.com is keeping the details of online cheaters confidential, doesn't public
have the right to know or other player who is trusting the chess.com have the  right know the truth. what if
people are cheating till now? 

Any player that chess.com has confirmed to be cheating will be banned. There isn't any good reason to publicly
expose a normal online cheater. Hans is an exception because he has cheated in events that gave cash prizes,
the fact that he is a GM, and because of the massive controversy that was sparked because of the Hans vs.
Magnus match.

HexStone

17 minutes ago }1{

“ A30Boom wrote:
“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and failure
to commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well done report
but the timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing streamers to keep this
going all this time violates over the board rules and you allowed and support them as well.  Other
GMs have same various master level players have cheated and been dealt with by Chess.com. 
Where are their names and games?  It's a Magnus and Money takedown.  No doubt about it.

?? The timing was dictated by the online tournament starting soon and they they say took the
circumstances around the unusual play with Magnus seriously along with Hans lying publicly after the
tournament about how much he cheated online, the circumstances and when and explained why. So
where is the smoke screen? You wanted the report earlier? I don't understand. 

There's been no documented cheating for the last 2 years so fear of the online tournament is bogus. (Shall we
talk about Hikaru's bracket.  That deserves a discussion) Not excusing Hans past behavior but stepping into this
when there a 84 million dollar deal on the table that will just about take over all of internet chess is suspect no
matter how you try to spin it.  If that report had Hans cheating lately it would have been a whole different ball
game.  I give Chess.com credit for publishing something that doesn't help their cause.  Respect.

HC-SSF

19 minutes ago }0{


https://drive.google.com/file/d/11IokKgTVSXdpYEzAuyViIleSZ_2wl0ag/view?usp=drivesdk

If you are on a phone, this is the link to the drive file, will make it easier to read and download. (Shared directly
by Chess.com CEO Erik)
RooksHeaven

19 minutes ago }0{

“ Wickie1 wrote:
how can i download this as pdf?

Click on the arrow-in-a-box icon in the upper right.

donlaiq

19 minutes ago }0{

“ Wickie1 wrote:
how can i download this as pdf?

Click on the top right icon appearing in the embedding PDF from this page. It will open it in a new tab. Then
you'll find some way to download it from there.

Paganini_24

21 minutes ago }0{

“ A30Boom wrote:
“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and failure
to commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well done report
but the timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing streamers to keep this
going all this time violates over the board rules and you allowed and support them as well.  Other
GMs have same various master level players have cheated and been dealt with by Chess.com. 
Where are their names and games?  It's a Magnus and Money takedown.  No doubt about it.

?? The timing was dictated by the online tournament starting soon and they they say took the
circumstances around the unusual play with Magnus seriously along with Hans lying publicly after the
tournament about how much he cheated online, the circumstances and when and explained why. So
where is the smoke screen? You wanted the report earlier? I don't understand. 

CORRECTION: "Hans lying publicly after the tournament" took place after Hans was already banned and
removed from the tournament. So this lying cannot have been the reason for his removal.

A30Boom

26 minutes ago }0{

“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and failure to
commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well done report but the
timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing streamers to keep this going all this

time violates over the board rules and you allowed and support them as well.  Other GMs have same
various master level players have cheated and been dealt with by Chess.com.  Where are their names and
games?  It's a Magnus and Money takedown.  No doubt about it.

?? The timing was dictated by the online tournament starting soon and they they say took the circumstances
around the unusual play with Magnus seriously along with Hans lying publicly after the tournament about how
much he cheated online, the circumstances and when and explained why. So where is the smoke screen? You
wanted the report earlier? I don't understand. 

Paganini_24

27 minutes ago }0{

“ A30Boom wrote:
“ Grazontaka13 wrote:
Conflict of interest. You are in a business with Magnus Carlsen about buying his "chess app Play
Magnus" for 83 Million Dollars. 

Even if so there wasn't a realistic way to recuse themselves about making a decision about the online
tournament. So what's the point? Some people might not agree with the decision given all the
circumstances but I really can't see how anyone wouldn't see their decision as reasonable given all the
circumstances. 

The decision is not reasonable. In any case, the report does not provide a reasonable foundation for the
decision. Hans' cheating past has been dealt with. There is no evidence of new cheating online after 2020. The
only reasoning you can find in the report is some suspicion about is OTB progress, of which the report itself
says that the evidence is inconclusive. The gist of it is that Magnus quitting from the Sinquefield Cup and
suspicions raised against Hans by "numerous GMs" (who are not named but should be exposed as Hans was),
only these two factors, were already sufficient for Chess.com to remove Hans from the platform and the CGC.
To my opinion that is very meagre.

gatochdammen

49 minutes ago }0{

“ AhmedLutfi1 wrote:
Do you guys really read those 72 pages? WOW can anyone summarize it?

He did it
3

Wickie1

51 minutes ago }0{


how can i download this as pdf?
HexStone

59 minutes ago } -2 {

“ warlard69420 wrote:
“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and failure
to commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well done report
but the timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing streamers to keep this
going all this time violates over the board rules and you allowed and support them as well.  Other
GMs have same various master level players have cheated and been dealt with by Chess.com. 
Where are their names and games?  It's a Magnus and Money takedown.  No doubt about it.

You're a joke. 

War Lard.  The Jokes on You and You alone.  Smart People will figure out that this was all about protecting your
boy Magnus and his childish behavior.  Online activities and Money have always had cheating issues.  Cheating
Scandals have rocked most pro sports and all those organizations and top players handled it better than the
Chess World.  Quitting Tournaments, falsely (and this report emphasis falsely quit well) of cheating and being a
master level player that defames others without evidence is all against FIDE rules.  Hopefully FIDE will punish
the lot of your. Right now, Chess looks like a game babies and mean girls play.  Bottom Line.  Magus lost and
handled it like a LOSER !!!!

mikbas69

1 hour ago }1{

“ Bobby4785 wrote:
Who was the student from Dlugy when he was caught cheating? The report does not say anything about
that.

Come on haha you really believed Dlugy's desperate story "oh it wasn't me it was my student" ... A man who later
admitted to cheating himself? There was never any "student," it was Dlugy himself obviously

Bobby4785

1 hour ago }0{


Who was the student from Dlugy when he was caught cheating? The report does not say anything
about that.

warlard69420

1 hour ago }1{

“ HexStone wrote:
When all the dust settles the worse thing for Chess this year has been Magnus quitting and failure to
commit to playing in the Candidates and Chess.com's handling of Hans.  It's a well done report but the
ti i k it l k lik bi k f M All i t t k thi i ll thi
timing makes it look like a big smoke screen for Magnus.  Allowing streamers to keep this going all this
time violates over the board rules and you allowed and support them as well.  Other GMs have same
various master level players have cheated and been dealt with by Chess.com.  Where are their names and
games?  It's a Magnus and Money takedown.  No doubt about it.

You're a joke. 

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