How do you cheat at chess? Cheating player Hans Niemann scandal explained - did he cheat playing online board?

It’s the cheating scandal that’s been rocking the world of professional chess for weeks, and after making his first comments on the issue in nearly a month, a top chess player accused of foul play has declared he is "not going to back down."

A Chess.com investigation found on Tuesday (5 October) that Hans Niemann “likely” cheated in more than 100 online games - world champion Magnus Carlsen had already accused the 19-year-old American rising star of cheating.

After winning his US Championship game on Wednesday, Niemann said that his success was “a message to everyone.”

But how exactly do you cheat at chess? Here is everything you need to know about it.

How did Niemann cheat?

Chess.com’s 72-page report found Niemann had broken the rules in tournaments as recently as 2020, and noted that there were "many remarkable signals and unusual patterns in Hans’ path as a player."

The Wall Street Journal obtained the document, which also stated that the 19-year-old prodigy secretly admitted to Chess.com that he had cheated on several times - and he was banned from the site.

The investigation concluded that Niemann had almost certainly cheated "much more often" than he had admitted, including in prize money events and against highly-rated "well known" individuals in the game.

Chess.com also observed "anomalies" in Niemann’s rate of growth, which has seen him rise from approximately 800th in the world to the top 50 in classical chess in less than two years.

According to the website, this was the quickest rise in "modern recorded history" and occurred "much later in life than his peers".

The damning assessment came less than a month after Niemann made news when current world chess champion Magnus Carlsen claimed he had cheated in their match together.

The claims made headlines when rumours began to circulate that Niemann was able to communicate during the match with his coach through an unusual method.

It was speculated the player was using vibrating anal beads, through which the coach was able to relay which moves to take on the board next.

Niemann vehemently refuted the allegations, claiming that he had cheated just twice in his life at the ages of 12 and 16, and that both times were among his deepest regrets in the game.

As the anal beads rumours persisted, Niemann offered to play future games naked to prove his innocence: “If they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it," he said.

What has he said on the matter?

Niemann’s latest comments on the scandal came after another convincing first round victory in the US Championships in St Louis.

In a news conference following the win against 15-year-old Christopher Yoo, Niemann was asked about the "elephant in the room.”

"This game is a message to everyone,” Niemann said without explicitly addressing the cheating allegation. “This entire thing started with me saying ‘chess speaks for itself’ and I think this game spoke for itself and showed the chess player I am.”

“It also showed I’m not going to back down and I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure.”

Niemann abruptly ended the interview after less than 60 seconds when the interviewer tried to ask more questions, leaving commentator Yasser Seirawan laughing and asking: "What? That’s it? Ok."

How do you cheat at chess?

Cheating in chess is defined as a purposeful breach of chess rules or other behaviour intended to provide a player or team an unfair advantage. It can take numerous forms and occur before, during or after a game.

The most typical method is to utilise a chess programme while playing chess remotely, such as over the Internet. Rather than actually playing the game, the cheater enters the movements thus far into the programme and follows its instructions, essentially letting the programme play for them.

As part of an effort to discover and prohibit such behaviour, modern chess websites will analyse games after the fact to provide a determination on whether a player received assistance.