The Full Chess Cheating Report of Hans Neiman
This report provides a detailed background of Hans&#x27; potential cheating, and detailed breakdowns of certain aspects of chess.com&#x27;s cheat-detection methodology, including previously unknown (or little known) methods such as window focus change event monitoring and post-focus-change move analysis.[1]<p>The report also reveals Niemann&#x27;s engine move correlations alongside over two dozen chess Grandmasters who have <i>admitted</i> to cheating on chess.com.  The fact that online cheating is so widespread even among top chess players is certainly news to many, including me.  Perhaps it is a good thing that this scandal is highlighting the issue, and given how widespread cheating may be, perhaps chess tournaments both online and physical need to take cheating much more seriously than they apparently have been.<p>There is also an interesting analysis of Hans&#x27; rating improvement history, his over the board tournament performance and key game analysis, and a rundown of key moments in his game against Carlsen in the Sinquefield cup. Each raises concerns.<p>Chess.com&#x27;s report also makes it clear that Niemann lied outright about his history of cheating in post-Sinquefield interviews, as he admits in communications with chess.com Fairplay staff to much broader cheating.<p>All in all, the report raises many concerns and it seems reasonable for the chess community to demand much higher standards of cheat prevention and detection across competitive venues.  How long might cheating issues have gone on merely rumored vs fully investigated or acted upon, had this intrigue not developed due to Carlsen&#x27;s withdrawal from Sinquefield &#x27;22?<p>[1]Tangentially, this induces an obvious concern about cheat and cheat-detection arms races.  A clever cheater might scrutinize this report and refine their cheating plan.  For example, they might recognize the need to use a second device (such as a phone) to cheat.  They might use the data corpus presented in this report to establish limits on how often they use chess engine moves per game, and they might manage their ratings progress over time carefully, so as to stay in acceptable ranges of engine move correlation, rate of improvement, etc.