Dlugy's Encounter with Cheating
The recent scandal involving Hans Niemann has exploded his name into mainstream chess media. Maxim Dlugy, his former coach, has seen a huge rise is in discussion along with Niemann, especially after Magnus Carlsen's comments. Recently, he has had many past cheating scandals brought to light, similar to Niemann. One particular scandal involves him as the victim of cheating, unlike his other instances.
Chess.com informing Dlugy that they have caught him in the act once again
Borislav Ivanov
Born December 21st 1987 in Blagoevgrad Bulgaria, Ivanov was not an avid chess player. Only until the 21st century when he was in his teens did he finally start playing chess. Although he started in his teenage years, he did not take chess seriously until 2012, when he was around 25 years old. Ivanov began "learning seriously the chess theory and practising with a computer", seemingly causing his rating to skyrocket...
Ivanov "practising" chess at home
Zadar Open
Taking place from December 16th to December 22nd with a top prize of 2200 Euros ($2150), the Zadar Open was a serious tourney. 36 players signed up for the highest section in the event,16 of them being Grandmasters. Of all of these strong competitors, one lowly untitled player stood out in the event.
Results from the 2012 Zadar Open
His performance was out of this world. The untitled and unknown Borislav Ivanov managed to tie for third place with 6/9 with a near super-GM performance! Not only that, he beat the top seed Grandmaster Ivan Saric in the final round!
Takeaways: A strong attack will stop for nothing. Moves like 19... Na5! and 32... Nb6! demonstrated how pieces are sometimes less significant than an attack. Aside from that, Saric made calculation errors such as 31. Rc7?? in complex positions.
Insights: This game was not the most suspicious of his games. Ivanov displayed a strong attacking ability, along with a strong calculation prowess. Saric was not playing on the same level as Stockfish. Oops, I meant Ivanov.
During the tournament, arbiters and players both figured he must have been cheating some way or another, but nothing was found. In the tourney, he was apparently "stripped and had his clothing searched after judges decided he must have a hidden aid telling him what moves to make after he beat much better-ranked chess players". But Borislav had a different account of what happened.
Well, I know my body is handsome and beautiful, but I didn't find it enough to show them the real sexual affection I have for other people around me, so I just said no, although they checked my pockets very slowly and my jacket and after they found nothing.... well, may be they were a bit disappointed, cause they were 100% sure I was cheating and of course that's a total lie. - Ivanov
Although Ivanov was not proven to be a cheater in this tournament, most top players believed he cheated. After the Zadar Open, players were boycotting events that Ivanov was playing in, ChessBase was creating articles on the drama, and most importantly, Ivanov continued playing.
Blagoevgrad
Around 9 months after the Zadar Open, Ivanov signed up for the stacked Grand Open Blagoevgrad. Starting off to a strong 4.5 in the first 6 rounds of the tournament, it seemed like it would be a Zadar Open all over again. He had even resigned in a dead-drawn position against GM Vladmir Petkov!
In this position, it was black(Ivanov) to move. Ivanov decided not to move because he resigned in this position. But in this position, after ....a2, white would simply be unable to break through. The black knight will cut the c-pawn off and the white's bishop simply can not leave the a1-h8 diagonal. If someone like me can spot it, then surely Ivanov with a 2700 performance would spot it.
This game was seemingly an alibi, and with this alibi, Ivanov could go on to have another spectacular performance without being questioned. That was, until he was paired against Maxim Dlugy in round 7.
Maxim Dlugy Encounters Ivanov
Staying in Europe longer than he had expected for family reasons, Dlugy decided to play in the Blagoevgrad Open, even though many grandmasters had told him not to. He knew of the ongoing situation and he had to see it for himself. During the tournament, Dlugy noticed how Ivanov was playing very strongly, and not necessarily focusing during the games (Magnus Carlsen reference??). Most importantly though, he noticed something strange with Ivanov's feet. His sneakers were very large and he had a strange walk as if he was "afraid to step on a part of the shoe".
Yes this is definitely the playing hall
From his observations, Ivanov was a dirty cheater. This had to be stopped and he would be the one to stop Ivanov. In round 7, Dlugy got the perfect opportunity as he was paired against Ivanov.
Before the match, he and his accomplice requested the tournament director to do a search of Ivanov. After searching all over Ivanov's body with metal scanners, they could not prove anything. Nothing was found, and Ivanov got away with it again. Or so he thought...
Okay, and now take off your shoes. - Dlugy's friend
In an instant, the world rightfully flipped on Ivanov. He refused to take his shoes off, resulting in a forfeiture from the tournament, and a tainted legacy. Everyone knew he was a cheater. Coined the shoe assistant by Chessbase, his entire chess career was ruined and he was caught for good. This wouldn't be the last time he would be caught though.
Arrest
After giving up on chess cheating, he decided to turn to crime. Ivanov began scamming in Bulgaria, engaging in the production and distribution of counterfeit legal documents. Using Skype, he sold people fake documents that they needed for 1,000 Euros. He likely made a fortune with this scheme, but it didn't last forever. In 2017, it all ended for him as he was arrested for forging documents.
Additional comments + Thanks for Reading
For the sake of the readability of the blog, I did not use in-text citations. This is a link to all the sources and citations for the quotes used in the blog. Anyways, all feedback is appreciated. Good luck and have a nice day!
