Live data from Hacker News

Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

bbc.com

31–40 of 71 posts

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#31

This has gotten so ridiculous to the point that I actually feel bad for Neimann. He has admitted to cheating, there's no debate about that. But he maintains that he has cheated in two isolated incidents, at age 12 and 16. These are mistakes, and given he is a titled player, very serious mistakes. But, beyond barring him from chess.com (a platform with whom his chief accuser has significant business ties), they've abs…

When you said "at age 16" it made me feel the guy was 40 or so and it was long ago. Not that the cheating took place only two year before the game against Carlsen, which is close enough to keep the same behaviors..

> only two year before

He's 20 today, and the convroversy was last year.

It seems more like three years, in a period of one's life where a person probably does the most changing.

(FWIW, I don't play chess or have side, it's just an interesting issue.)

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neimann openly admitted to cheating on chess.com matches (and chess.com released a lot of evidence to the same end). It's not a boogieman.

It gets complicated as Carlson has large monetary investment in chess.com https://www.chess.com/news/view/chesscom-acquires-pmg It's not some independent platform or non profit. It muddys the water at least.

> It gets complicated as Carlson has large monetary investment in chess.com

How does that complicate the fact that Niemann admitted cheating on games he played on chess.com?

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

chess.com should release the cheating probabilities of every titled player who has ever registered and verified on chess.com . That would be the only fair thing to do. It should be in fact updated dynamically and visible on a player's profile at all times.

I agree, but the standard rebuttal is that this would allow cheaters to quickly learn the algorithm, which relies heavily on secrecy to disguise the tools they use to detect cheating. What say you?

Yeah, if you make your security features public, it is so much easier to circumvent them.

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#34

This has gotten so ridiculous to the point that I actually feel bad for Neimann. He has admitted to cheating, there's no debate about that. But he maintains that he has cheated in two isolated incidents, at age 12 and 16. These are mistakes, and given he is a titled player, very serious mistakes. But, beyond barring him from chess.com (a platform with whom his chief accuser has significant business ties), they've abs…

When you said "at age 16" it made me feel the guy was 40 or so and it was long ago. Not that the cheating took place only two year before the game against Carlsen, which is close enough to keep the same behaviors..

It wouldn’t be the same behavior, though. No one is able to really come up with a good explanation of how Niemann cheated in a game where he was being watched by a crowd of people. Hence the sex toy theory; one has to come up with some outlandish guesses to make it work. Cheating on an online chess game is a completely different beast.

It would be like if a team was losing to the Patriots, and they walked away and claimed that all the Patriots were on steroids, and their only evidence was that they deflated the footballs against an opposing team some years before. Is that evidence of unsavory behavior? Sure. Is it a carte blanche to throw any accusation at them and walk away when they win claiming they cheated? That seems insane.

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#35
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the thing about trust, ain’t it

We all did mistakes when we were teenagers, its part of the process. It takes courage to admit that. Whats the lesson to be learned here? Never be honest in the public ever again?

"Never be honest in the public ever again?"

Yes and demand for right to be forgotten to maintain the facade /s

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#36
post #3

The Daily Star really pulls it's weight. The original claim was just "cheating", it was the jokey British Tabloid press that made up the sex toy angle. The daily star isn't supposed to be taken seriously, but somehow it spread and took off a life of it's own.

FYI: Possessive its .

I'll bet they know that. I know that. Getting it wrong is gonna happen, because (stated anecdotally/without proof) there is a phonetic component to typing muscle memory. In a casual written conversation, I'm not hammering out keys on my QWERTY keyboard thinking about spelling. I am mindful of spelling, it's just not the primary foreground process.

IMO, of all the English misspellings to cringe over, this one is the easiest one to apply forbearance & focus on the message.

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#37

I never believed this for a moment, and I think the accusation was so disingenuous and in poor taste that it borders on obnoxiousness. Carlsen has an ego problem. To be fair, Neimann has been accused of cheating when he was a teenager, but based on the world champions behavior I'm willing to give Neimann the benefit of the doubt. Magnus got beat and he couldn't handle it.

> Magnus got beat and he couldn't handle it.

I've repeatedly seen Carlsen delighted when someone beats him.

> To be fair, Neimann has been accused of cheating when he was a teenager

Niemann has admitted to cheating when he was a teenager. And this wasn't in the distant mists of time, as this sort of phrasing implies. Niemann was still a teenager when Carlsen's accusation occurred.

Now, I think it's likely he's cheated more than he's admitted to, but I don't know that it's likely that he's ever cheated OTB.

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#38
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you said "at age 16" it made me feel the guy was 40 or so and it was long ago. Not that the cheating took place only two year before the game against Carlsen, which is close enough to keep the same behaviors..

It wouldn’t be the same behavior, though. No one is able to really come up with a good explanation of how Niemann cheated in a game where he was being watched by a crowd of people. Hence the sex toy theory; one has to come up with some outlandish guesses to make it work. Cheating on an online chess game is a completely different beast. It would be like if a team was losing to the Patriots, and they walked away and cl…

No it would be like making the same exact accusation, as if the Patriots got caught using steroids two years before and now two years later you suspect they are still using them.

Re: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you said "at age 16" it made me feel the guy was 40 or so and it was long ago. Not that the cheating took place only two year before the game against Carlsen, which is close enough to keep the same behaviors..

> only two year before He's 20 today, and the convroversy was last year. It seems more like three years, in a period of one's life where a person probably does the most changing. (FWIW, I don't play chess or have side, it's just an interesting issue.)

Did he get caught then and suffer actual consequences? Because if not it's not as if character development happens automatically, especially if there are significant gains to be had from cheating.
Post reply on HN