Not since the Bobby Fischer days has chess seen this kind of interest, and has grown correspondingly. Enhanced by the Covid pandemic online chess, usually at faster time limits than what was traditional for over the board chess has really taken off. Since it’s on the internet, it’s a given that scammers are involved. And their main weapon is AI - current chess playing programs anyone with a smartphone has access to are far better than any human will ever be. They simply do not make mistakes. There are some human and AI based review tools to combat cheating on the major sites, but it really doesn’t appear to be too effective.
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The talk about cheating in chess is at an all time high. Top grandmasters are giving interviews. Accusations are flying. Accusations are being retracted. Lawsuits are popping up. Frustration and s being vented. The number of chess related YouTube channels is rapidly growing, a source of media that by its nature even if it’s just recapping games played recently will give at least a quick recap on cheating news. Some with opinions, some without.
As expected, Hans Niemann is the clear front runner for the Donald Trump figure in chess conspiracy culture. This post was initiated because of this event:
He’s even been quite open about his image as the bad boy of chess. Which involves a lot of the conspiracy guru mentality of, “I don’t need to follow the rules.” Even post doomed to fail lawsuit he continues to lash out as being persecuted, the projection tactic of muddying the waters for a cover of his own inappropriate behavior. His stance is apparently, “The Saint Louis Chess Club are the bad guys, because I’m special and I deserve to be allowed to trash my hotel room.” The Club has every right as a business to make their own business decisions. Hans has every right to be angry and voice his opinion. But the problem doesn’t end in a feud between them.
The problem is the Hans fanboys. He’s garnered a dedicated group of internet trolls who hate following rules. Some are misguided people who are just pains in the asses. Some are not serious and just like antagonizing for fun outside of 4chan. Some are grifters and their sock puppet’s deliberately stirring the pot for the inevitable outcome of all the attention. Entire sites claiming to be a haven for fair chess play where most of the activity is AI related. They have their unjustified hero. They have their psychological projection of the witch hunt. And they have the entire planet with internet access to tie in opposing ideas with message boards and crank magnetism available to free speech cover up defend to the end commentary.
Having an entire site based on AI is not an entirely stupid idea. There’s no reason to through away a perfectly good system and start something new. And the online poker community from decades ago serves as the perfect template. Players engaged in a 5 minute blitz game don’t see their opponent and have no idea if it’s actually a real human they are playing against. The choice of chess as opposed to a deliberately “wrong” topic like Ivermectin may seem odd. Skilled chess players are that way because of the higher IQ claim to fame of pattern recognition skills. What it does have, like poker, is the perfect format for gaslighting. Court some with a honeymoon period to make them feel smarter than they really are. Frustrate those that have shown they are skeptical and make them feel they should move on. Frustrate the middling player who might hit the retail store for an upgrade. Maybe even to the point of offering products for sale at a nominal price that don’t ever get delivered, and it’s just not worth the effort to fight for the $10 you were scammed out of. And don’t underestimate the power of astroturfing. People are notoriously blind to how millions of games of poker or chess played between computer programs gives the illusion of coolness. See how popular we are? See how many games were played yesterday? See how we don’t have any effective regulating body to ensure these are actually real people, nudge nudge wink wink?
Now with all the furor and so many genuinely talented people involved it will be easy to find some Robert Malone type personalities. The sellout who is invited to participate and be involved at a higher level. Either totally in on it, or just clueless. Like how John Travolta was treated different in Scientology than the child labor. Like the World Series of Poker wannabe champion who gets paid to sponsor a site by wearing their swag. A real human spokesperson to defend the online shenanigans brought on by unregulated popularity of a currently hot topic. A real life person providing a voice to defend AI generated activity. The logical fallacy of being louder makes you right. (No, it doesn’t.). Only this time the topic is the “smart game”. Where being smart gives more credibility to being right. Smart people have cognitive biases and opinions too. And somehow we’ll end up with lots of content that we’re supposed to believe because it’s a smart source, when it’s a genuinely debatable topic with no easy answer. The proposed answer will amount to vote for Trump or give Hans Niemann money because they obviously are right and behaving like an entitled brat is a good thing.
As the St. Louis Chess Club says about Hans’ off board antics, you are supposed to learn from your mistakes and show genuine remorse and growth as a human being. The immediate retaliation is yet another Trump comparison. The true believer fanboys don’t get this. And these are the kind of people that will grow into (if they aren’t there already) the kinds of people that will do sports gematria decodes about how <insert marginalized group here> are ruining the world because I’m smart.
And before I forget I’m throwing in another recent event. Apparently ex World Champion Vladimir Kramnik is a top notch accuser. Look for him to endorse one of the first new sites with questionable player base stats. He’s apparently accused a talented 14 year old of cheating after losing an online game.
I originally predicted a couple of years from now for this. Maybe even by later this year is a better guess.
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