The Top Most Juiciest Chess Scandals of All Time
Introduction .
Chess is a game that has been played for more than a thousand years, erupted in ancient India, is not just a mental competition between two players. It mirrors human nature— it's very strategic, complicated, and sometimes involves disputes (by that I mean arguments ie. Scandals). Although chess is usually linked with intelligence and self-control, the chess community has also experienced its share of conflicts and scandals. These range from accusations of cheating to political maneuvering, and they have drawn public attention, sometimes even taking the spotlight away from the game's skill. Humans are funny, aren't they?
In this article, we'll look at some of the most exciting and hilarious moments in chess history. I've taken a few that I've asked from you guys, which you loved the most and the least. We'll talk about the big arguments, strange disappearances, unusual accusations, and the constant worry about cheating. Each scandal not only shows what was happening at the time but also tells us more about the people involved and the world they lived in. So, get ready to enjoy a thrilling journey through the most shocking moments in chess history. Grab your popcorn and let's jump right into it!
Table of Contents
- Toilet Gate 2006
- 'Chess' Boxing (Bobby Fischer vs Pal Benko)
- Hypnotized Chess Playerzzz...
- Yo dude I love Yogurt'— 1978 Championship, Again.
- 'Hey, what's that in your back? A device!?'
- A Circle of Accusations— 'You, then Him'!
- 'I want Justice! I did nothing wrong.'
Toilet Gate 2006
During the 2006 chess match between Grandmasters Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik, Topalov claimed that Kramnik was cheating by frequently going to the bathroom. Topalov's team said Kramnik went over 50 times, but this was never proven.
To prevent this, the players' private bathrooms were locked, and they had to use a shared public bathroom if needed. Kramnik was upset and protested by sitting outside his old bathroom, asking for it to be unlocked. According to a New York Times article, Kramnik wasn't cheating; he was just drinking a lot of water. The bathroom remained locked, and Kramnik gave up and didn't play the next game.
So, let's start with the games, and then the drama for the last.
Kramnik won the first round of this match in a 75-move game that lasted six and a half hours. They started with a Catalan opening, but Kramnik didn't gain any advantage. In the middle part of the game, Topalov played a risky move, 26...Bf3!?, which let him place a pawn on f3. This was a strong move, but it was difficult to protect. The pawn pushed against White's f2-pawn and kept White defending, enough so that Topalov didn't accept a draw on move 42. Topalov was close to winning when Kramnik made a great move, 56. d5!, starting a counterattack at the right time. Topalov didn't respond well, and with 57...f5? missed his last chance for a draw. After that, Kramnik had a winning position with two extra pawns.
Kramnik won the second game of the match after 63 moves, giving him a 2-0 lead. Topalov missed chances to win at moves 32 and 36. Some mistakes later in the game caused him to lose the chance for a draw.
The third game resulted in a tie after 38 moves, maintaining Kramnik's lead of 2½–½. Kramnik, playing with the white pieces, had the upper hand for most of the game. Commentators noted that he passed up at least two opportunities to make moves that had higher chances of winning but were also riskier 17. Ne4 and 32. exd5.
The fourth game finished as a tie when White made the 54th move, giving Kramnik a 3–1 advantage. Topalov tried very hard, giving up a pawn. He got a better endgame situation, but even after playing for five hours, he couldn't turn it into a win.
And in the 5th game, Kramnik forfeited his game. Looks like someone wasn't happy about that..
Yes, having an accusation like that hurts badly if you didn't really do it. But what if I tell you, there's been quite a lot of cases where players are caught red handed over the toilet. One very much known one is IM Igor Rausis was on the toilet holding a device that gave him the evaluation. His grandmaster title was taken away as soon as that.
He was already suspected of cheating by a FIDE arbiter, who said that he was suspicious about the fact he reached 2700 in a very short time.
isn't it weird to have someone take a photo when you're trying to take a dump? But that isn't the case here...
But well, back to the championship games 6 to 12, the results came out to be a tie (6-6) and then in the Tie-breaks it was 2½-1½. That's fine that Kramnik won, or who knows what'd have happened.
'Chess' Boxing (Bobby Fischer vs Pal Benko)
Before chessboxing became popular, two players were already doing something similar (pretty sure it was a championship as well haha). In the 1960s, famous chess players Bobby Fischer and Pal Benko decided to have a fight, but not on the chessboard. Frank Brady wrote about this event in his book about Fischer called Endgame.
Brady says that Benko went into Fischer's hotel room while Fischer was working with his assistant (another famous chess player named Arthur Bisguier, who was also Benko's assistant). Fischer tried to make Benko leave, saying he couldn't come in. Benko answered, "Yes, I can. Bisguier is also my assistant."
"Yes, I can. Bisguier is also my second," Fischer imitated with a different accent. Benko then wondered if the young chess champion was teasing him. Bobby repeated the same line again. This back-and-forth went on until Fischer once more told Benko to go away. It's not clear who started the physical altercation, but it turned into a fight, and Benko came out on top. He later expressed regret for fighting Fischer, and somewhat unkindly mentioned, "He was unwell even back then." I agree 1+.
Probably a very hilarious moment now but mean if they can do it now why not before (just kidding).
Just a normal one of Chess Boxing since it's popular :-)
Hypnotized Chess Playerzzz...
This an the next section will be showing you how 2 scandals were born in one incident. Crazy, huh.
- TIP: You can watch the full video by GothamChess here
Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, during the very controversial 1978 World Championship match against Grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, didn't want to take any risks. One of the people watching from the Soviet team was a hypnotist named Dr. Vladimir Zukhar. He believes that he was being hypnotized. Well.. they didn't like each other very well.
"His main role appeared to be sitting in the front and glaring at Korchnoi with his large, frightening eyes." Korchnoi, not surprisingly, found this man distracting and said he felt like he was being put under a spell. He was very upset when his worries were ignored. In the seventh round, he shouted that he would come off the stage and push Zukhar's nose. After this event, the so-called "parapsychologist" was relocated from the front row.
Looks like someone wasn't happy about that..
'Yo dude I love Yogurt'— 1978 Championship, Again.
Hypnosis wasn't the only scandal in the 1978 Chess Championship. There were also other means of 'cheating signals'. Yogurt was one of the case (mm I love yogurt).
There was a big argument when Korchnoi said that his opponent's meal was a hidden message to give him hints about the game.
While playing the games, Karpov had someone bring him yogurt with different fruit flavors. Korchnoi believed this was a hidden message meant to help Karpov cheat. This led to the start of what was called "yogurt-gate."
People believed the claim and started an investigation. The first yogurt, which was raspberry flavored, was delivered early in the game, before any important moment. They agreed on a solution: Karpov could still get yogurt, but it had to be the same flavor and given at the same time in each game.
If I was Karpov then this would be me:
'Hey, what's that in your back? A device!?'
Certainly, when discussing cheating in chess, the name Borislav Ivanov is the first to come up. He is a Bulgarian chess player who held the title of FIDE Master and was not well-known until 2012. His significant achievement was at the 2012 Zadar Open, a prestigious chess tournament, where he placed fourth. During this event, he beat several Grandmasters and saw his Elo rating rise by 70 points. It was claimed that he had received assistance from someone outside the game, but no proof was found, and the organizers later apologized to him.
On April 14, 2013, Ivanov beat grandmaster Kiril Georgiev in a tournament in Kyustendil. He ended up winning the whole competition by tying for first place. But, Kiril Georgiev thought Ivanov's actions during the game were strange and claimed there were problems with how the game was played.
Because of claims made against Ivanov after he won a recent chess competition, many top Bulgarian chess players said they wouldn't play in tournaments with him unless extra steps were taken to prevent cheating. Soon after, the Bulgarian Chess Federation stopped him from playing for four months because of things he said about other players, not because of the cheating claims. Some people didn't agree with the Federation's choice, and Ivanov got help from local leaders in Blagoevgrad and other well-known people from different places.
In June 2013, the Sofia administrative court said that the penalty given to Ivanov by the chess organization was not done correctly, and they said Ivanov could play in competitions again. On June 19, 2013, the Bulgarian Chess Federation planned a special event with a lie detector to prove Ivanov was not cheating, but he didn't show up. He later explained that he couldn't come because he was playing in another chess event.
Then, in early December 2013, Ivanov played in a big chess tournament in Cáceres, Spain. After five games, he had 4½ points out of 5 and was tied for first place, ahead of 19 grandmasters. But then, Ivanov was not allowed to play anymore, and there were different stories about why. The people in charge later told the news that they checked Ivanov's shoes after the fourth game, and they didn't find anything suspicious.
Some people thought there might be something unusual on his back. One person even touched it and believed it was a gadget.
Even though they haven't found any cheating device on him so far, advanced studies by chess and math experts strongly suggest that he might have used a chess computer during the competitions.
After that, it was reported that he was arrested in Bulgaria for forging and selling driver's licenses. He is "facing eight years of jail for producing fake documents" and there might be additional charges. I didn't find any information about where he is today, but when I checked his FIDE profile, it seems to show he's unrated. So, that's how society can ruin someone's career (well it was unclear so..).
A Circle of Accusations— 'You, then Him'!
Remember in the first section Kramnik was accused of cheating? Yeah, it hurts. But what is in a funny world, where Kramnik accuses someone else the very same way? Okay some backstory before the dramatic stage—
In 2023, Hikaru Nakamura had accused Arjun Erigaisi of cheating online via through messages. It made him quite upset, but recently since November 2023, Hikaru's been accused of cheating by Kramnik!?
Hikaru is the very last person to think of cheating. He streams 5 hours at least all live, and all busting out moves really quickly. How can anyone just simply accuse someone like Hikaru? While eating and munching on music, using stockfish?
But chess.com took these accusations really serious. See this tweet:
And it isn't just Hikaru, it's E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E!
See this hilarious video of Kramnik accusing an 'obvious' cheater.
Hikaru's laugh gets me everytime. I saw one comment, hilariously describes Kramnik in only one quote—
'A day without accusations is a day wasted'
—Kramnik's Tombstone
Another quick video before we move on to the next section with a meme..
And to end this section with another ACCUSATION!!!
'I want Justice! I did nothing wrong.'
And now for the final and most juiciest scandal that happened in 2022, that was the most craziest event that happened in 2022. That is none other than, The Carlsen-Niemann Controversy!
In the late September of 2022, Magnus had already decided to not defend his World Title for which Nepo-Ding would fight for. He had participated in the Sinquefield Chess Cup, and in the third round he lost to Hans Niemann. He withdrew from the prestigious event and went on to say in an interview that if he speaks more he'll be in grave trouble!?
This way of speaking meant to the audience that Magnus had suspected Niemann of cheating. Nope. He never said that. Chess just speaks for itself
"Chess Speaks For Itself"
—Hans Niemann
After the fifth round, Hans admitted in an interview to using cheats during his past (12 and 16). He said that he didn't cheat recently and has learnt from his past. A few weeks later Magnus gave a statement that Hans's suspicious behaviour and early suspicions on how he got into the tournament had made him to withdraw.
A few days after Carlsen's withdrawal, Chess.com banned Hans from accessing the site. FIDE however, expressed disapproval for Magnus. They acknowledged the claims and soon started investigation in the claims.
Then in October Hans filed a lawsuit of $100M on Magnus, his company, Chess.com, Chess.com's Chief Officer Danny Rensch, and Hikaru Nakamura for defamation and unlawful collision.
The complaint claimed that the Chess.com report wrongly said Niemann had cheated more often than he had previously admitted, and also claimed that these statements were part of a plan to harm Niemann's reputation. The lawsuit was ended on June 27, 2023.
And finally on August 28, 2023 Chess.com decided that it was time to move on. They agreed that Hans would be able to play on the site and take back the allegations. Carlsen as well, acknowledged the statement and agreed that he is okay with being paired up against Hans as well. Hans was pleased with the whole thing and was willing to compete against Magnus in Chess rather than in the court. Hikaru said he was happy that the chess world was moving on and leaving all the false negativities behind. Happy ending whatsoever 🎊
Conclusion
So, in this world of very much excitement, what was your favourite scandal? Did you ever face a controversy like this? If so, please, do mention it in the comments section! We would love to hear your thoughts.
If you loved this blog, please do check out my other blogs as well. They're much as fun as this one! All the way, Happy Chess! ♟️😀
