Another case of defamation?

Hello, friends

I noticed in the last month or so, that people are starting to upload videos accusing the man behind the "Pegasus System" (Jonas van Dael) of cheating. What are the "proofs" and motive presented by the accusers?

1. The guy owns "banned for fair play violations" accounts both on chess-com and lichess-org. 

2. Some analyses the accusers  made of the games shown on past videos, where "Pegasus" plays against chess-com bots (ranging from 1900 to 2100 rating) and some live games (with opponents of about the same level as the bots).

3. A combination of both (1) and (2) - "since there are suspicious (engine 2nd or 3rd best) moves and bad explanations for good moves, and many accounts have been banned, THEN cheating is involved.

4. As a "motivation" behind the cheating, people say it is money, since the man is trying to sell coaching and his book on the "Pegasus System".

5. The man refuses to address the issue openly, in a dedicated video or open-to-response blog/site post.

I was following his channel on YT since a while, and It was (at least for me) enjoyable to watch the games. When the accusations started, It caught me by surprise. At first, I was starting to believe in those accusations... but that changed since last week, and I think I can write here a sort of "defense" for the man (though I really think he himself should take action once and for all).

For proof n. 1, I am not completely sure, but I have some certainty that "fair play" bans do not cover only cheating, but the creation of speedrun accounts without the permission of the website admins as well (among other stuff). In fact, unauthorized speedrun accounts can be considered a sort of "cheating", in the sense that one may be "dwarfing". But you get the point: it is not "cheating" in the sense of using illegal means to win rating in your "main" account, or money in a tournament.

For proof. n 2. (and I think this is the main point), my argument is somehow "delicate", but I think it is still reasonable. I can't "criticize" anyone's analysis, for I am myself a horrible player (I just can't go beyond 999 rapid), but bear with me... For the last two weeks, the Pegasus guy has been posting the games he is playing in an OTB Standard tournament in  Belgium. For the first videos of this series, my "suspicion" grew a lot, because I am used to search for tournaments on chess-results, and this tournament he was talking about was not showing there. But last week it finally was up for consultation. What I found is that he is a 1900+ FIDE rated player, and in this tournament, as for today (after 7 rounds), he has won, drawn and (of course) lost against players ranging from 1900 to 2000+ FIDE. His overall performance in the tournament untill now is 2003 FIDE. Haiving this in mind, then, I ask (and ask you, friends, as well): can't a player with that FIDE ranking be finding 2nd and 3rd best moves in positions against 2000 rated bots on chess-com, and players of that same rating on chess-com, just like the accusers' analyses have shown as "proof" of cheating? I think he can find those moves, and therefore, those are not "proof" of cheating. Here is the link for the tournament: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1232579.aspx?lan=1&art=9&snr=124

For proof n. 3, I would say that, since the man is such a strong player, and since he created those unauthorized speedrun accounts, it is perfectly reasonable that those accounts get a ban due to "dwarfing", and NOT for "cheating" in the most important sense here. In fact, though "Pegasus" himself, in the only time he addressed this matter, never mentioned "dwarfing" as the reason, he did say that the bans were enforced because of the unauthorized multiple account creation.

For proof. n. 4, I can say this... There ARE videos in the man's YT channel showing him actually LOSING games while playing according to his own "teachings". Now, WHO in the world would try to push a product while showing that very same product FAILING to do its job? It doesn't make sense.

For proof n. 5, I think that it is always suspicious when someone refuses to address an accusation (in "famous" cases we are all aware of here, Jospem, Navara, Danya, Hikaru and even Hans managed to go and give public responses), but then, the absence of such response is not, on its own, a proof of a wrongdoing. Maybe the guy just want peace of mind, and he knows that an answer will soon demand another, and another, and so on. We saw this, painfuly to be honest, during the last year.

I hope my points could go through my poor English, and I am looking forward to read what opinions you people have on this matter.

Best regards,

Benny Blanco from the Bronx.

Here we go again. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄