Europe 1 with AFP 10:36 a.m., October 06, 2022

US player Hans Niemann, accused of cheating by world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, has said he is "not going to back down", after a report from the platform chess.com accusing him of having "probably cheated more than 100 times" during online games.

"In total, we found that Hans Niemann probably cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several monetary prize events," writes the world's leading online chess platform in this 20-year report. pages -plus 50 more appendices- published Tuesday evening.

Asked at a press conference after winning the United States Chess Championship on Wednesday, Hans Nieman said the game he had just won "speaks for itself and showed the chess player that I am".

"It also showed that I'm not going to back down and I'm going to play my best chess here no matter how much pressure I'm under," he added.

The platform says it is "extremely confident" in its means of detecting cheating

Chess.com banned the 19-year-old player on September 5, shortly after the first accusations were first made, but the platform is defending itself against any pressure from the Norwegian world champion, whose Play company it is in the process of buying. Magnus.

The famous platform says it is "extremely confident" in its means of detecting cheating, for which it reveals to use Grand Masters - the highest rank of chess players -, in addition to an analysis of moves made by tools automated.

His progression is the most spectacular among the young talents of the moment

The suspicions of the platform go beyond the framework of the internet: it also devotes part of the report to the spectacular progression on the chessboard of the 19-year-old American.

"While we have no doubt that Hans is a talented player, we find that his results are statistically extraordinary", with the fastest progression between the high level and the very high level of chess, affirms with great reinforcement of graphics the report.

His progression is the most spectacular among the young talents of the moment like the French Alireza Firouzja, also author of a breakthrough at the highest level, until reaching the 2nd world rank, in 2021. However, "our statistical survey does not revealed nothing in particular concerning the parties or the progression” in the parties in front of a chessboard of Hans Niemann, recognizes the platform.

This precision applies to the famous victory of the American against Magnus Carlsen at the beginning of September in Saint-Louis, although "the part", "the behavior" and "the explanations" of Niemann are "bizarre".

An investigation is opened into these accusations of cheating

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) announced Thursday, September 29 the opening of an investigation into these accusations of cheating.

If he admitted having cheated in the past on chess.com, when he was between 12 and 16 years old, Hans Niemann denies the most recent accusations, claiming to be "ready to play naked", if necessary.