Did the Hand of God that helped a chess grandmaster, or did artificial intelligence? | Michael Arace

Clear some space on the list of “biggest scandals in sports history,” maybe somewhere between the 1919 Black Sox and Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal at the 1986 World Cup.

The chess world is rocking like it hasn’t rocked since Ron Weasley’s wicked Wizard’s Chess match in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." It is shuddering with a scandal that may or may not be scandalous, involving Norwegian Magnus Carlson, 31, the game’s LeBron James, and a G-League upstart American, Hans Niemann, 19, who got really good really fast – and is thus automatically suspect.

Granted, chess isn’t exactly sport, it’s just a 1,500-year-old board game that has for centuries maintained its grip on the world's imagination.

Geezers among us remember Bobby Fischer, an American icon of the Cold War whose victory over Boris Spassky in 1972 inspired movies, musicals, psychological studies and an episode of Drunk History. (Richard Nixon, by the way, famously forgot to invite Fischer to the White House, but, then, he had bigger problems.)

“The Queen’s Gambit,” a Netflix miniseries, has drawn more than 62 million viewers since its debut two years ago.

There’s an online video of Carlsen, at the age of 13 in 2004, playing the then-world champion, Garry Kasparov. The game was a draw. The video has drawn 13 million views since it was posted in 2011.

Carlsen and Kasparov are most often ranked 1-2 on the chess GOAT list, and who is 1 and who is 2 is a source of daily argument. Kasparov, a noted, clear-voiced critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has 995,000 Twitter followers. Carlsen has 693,000, and right now, he isn’t tweeting much. He should be.

Earlier this month, Carlsen was beaten by Niemann at a tournament in St. Louis. Carlsen withdrew in a quiet huff, then issued a cryptic tweet that included a clip of famed soccer manager Jose Mourinho saying: “I prefer not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble. Big trouble. And I don’t want to be in big trouble.”

In the chess world, this was like Carlsen had rented an airplane and flew it over Reykjavik trailing a banner that said, “NIEMANN CHEATS.”

There was much anticipation, then, for the next meeting of the GOAT and the accused goat. It happened Monday, when a roiling controversy turned into a full-blown scandal: Carlsen made one move, turned off his camera and (presumably) walked away.

In chess, that is not good form, not for a grandmaster – especially not for (arguably) the grandest of them all.

Another grandmaster, Maurice Ashley, told NPR that what Carlsen did is akin to LeBron James and the Lakers watching the opening tip roll out of bounds and then walking off the court.

Ashley said, “This is literally the best player in the world playing in a tournament and simply quitting (without an explanation). This is not what sports are about. We just can’t continue like this.”

Maybe you’re asking yourself, “How does one cheat at chess?” The short answer is “artificial intelligence.”

There are AI programs that can beat Carlsen almost every time. And you don’t need IBM’s massive, Deep Blue computer to run the software.

If an opposing player is good enough, and he is somehow wired to an accomplice, this player only needs a nudge or two to turn the course of a high-stakes game. It’s like the Houston Astros stealing signs, but without the garbage cans.

AI’s impact on chess is being widely chronicled, especially this week (see: The Atlantic or TechCrunch). All the top players are studying AI-generated matches and memorizing the moves. A clever player could find a way to use this technology to cheat.

Niemann has admitted to cheating before and has been suspended by Chess.com. The caveat: Niemann said it only happened twice, once when he was 12 and another time when he was 16, and only in computerized matches, never during “above the board,” or ATB matches.

Chess.com released a statement saying it has evidence "that contradicts his statements regarding the amount and seriousness of his cheating," but to date, nobody has publicly shared any proof that Niemann has cheated – beyond, of course, what he confessed to.

So Niemann is being pilloried by half the chess world and defended by the other half. It’s sad.

Forced to publicly defend his name, and Niemann has faced the onslaught head-on.

Bobby Fischer (RIP) was not a mentally stable human being, but when he thought the Russians were cheating on the world stage, he wrote a piece for Sports Illustrated and spelled it out. Carlsen? He memes Mourinho. Weak.

Carlsen sailed through the preliminary round, despite handing away precious points in the Niemann match, and is through to the quarterfinals of the Jules Baer Generation Cup. Niemann has also reached the quarters. There is a chance they will meet in the final.

Wednesday, Carlsen sarcastically praised Niemann's mentor, Borislav Ivanov, and said, “People can draw their own conclusions, and they certainly have. … I hope to say a little bit more after the tournament.”

Carlsen has been the best player in the world for more than a decade. His actions this month are no credit to him, to his game or to sports in general. He needs to talk, and somebody needs to investigate. There is no place for cheating Astros, not anywhere.

marace@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A 1,500-year-old board game generates the latest sports controversy