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The date is September 4th, 2022. Two elite players sit down at a chess board. In the third round of action at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri, the number one classical chess player in the world Magnus Carlsen loses to 19-year-old Grandmaster Hans Niemann, who has been making his name as the bad boy of chess. Magnus accuses Hans of cheating - and this ends up being the first domino to fall in what would soon become one of the most outrageous scandals to shock the chess world. Anal beads, Elon Musk, and a $400-million dollar lawsuit ensue…in that order. And that’s just the beginning.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly mentions sexual abuse within the chess community and physical abuse by law enforcement in the last 10 minutes of this episode. If you wish to avoid mention of either or both of these topics, you can turn this episode off at the 57-minute mark or 60-minute mark, respectively, and pick up with the next episode.
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Magnus Carlsen accused Hans Niemann of cheating at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup - but the story leading up to how he got there actually started over 30 years ago. Magnus was captivating the chess world way before this scandal: from breaking records and claiming his place among the greatest players of all time, to winning on and off the chessboard in poker and fantasy football, to selling a multi-million dollar website and app - Magnus is a cultural phenomenon. But like many phenomena, he’s not entirely…knowable. Even authors writing entire books about him can’t get an interview with the man himself. Hosts Jess and Ryan try and figure out why Magnus so publicly accused Hans Niemann of cheating, how he’s been allowed to behave like no other chess player possibly can…and what he stands to gain from the scandal.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly mentions autoerotic asphyxiation (skip from 9:30 to 9:46), sexual abuse (27:30 to 29:00), and child abuse (turn this episode off at the 61-minute mark and pick up with the next episode).
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Hans Niemann had already made a name for himself in chess prior to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup scandal…the bad boy of chess, plagued by online cheating revelations, and already marked as an oddball at the young age of 19. But what exactly did Hans do to earn the ire of Magnus Carlsen and his legion of fans - was it really just the OTB cheating allegations? Or were Hans and Magnus already enemies even before the events at Sinquefield? Was it really all just a business acquisition cover-up? Why did Hans walk away from a lucrative streaming career to lock himself in hotel rooms across Europe, only leaving his room to play in tournaments and practicing chess 15 hours per day? If we had questions about the unknowability of Magnus last time, buckle up - because hosts Jess and Ryan have even more questions about the weirdness that is Hans “The Heel” Niemann.
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Finally, it’s the episode you’ve been waiting for: we talk about all things cheating, from the device itself (how easy is it to make and use?) to the history of cheating in chess, and what cheating means to the future of the game. Because if everyone is doing it, is it really that big of a deal?
Pause and watch this video at the 6-minute mark: Actually making THAT chess cheat device video - Mike Boyd And pause to watch this one at 8m30s: Does my chess cheat device get past the metal detector? - Mike Boyd |
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What does good sportsmanship in chess look like? Does it actually matter whether its best players are good sports? Well, we think it does - and so do some other people like, oh, I don’t know, Magnus Carlsen (not sure if you’ve heard of him, but he’s kind of a big deal.) Plus our main guest for this episode, Bill Cole - aka The Mental Game Coach - thinks so, too. But, decide for yourself, I guess.
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Just what exactly is the psychology of chess? Damned if we know, we’re not psychologists. But Julia Rios and JJ Lang of the chessfeels podcast do a great job of discussing exactly that, among other things…and we were so inspired by them that we decided to do our own episode on psychology (well...pseudo psychology is probably a better term for what we do in this episode, honestly.)
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CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly mentions the National Inquiry into the Missing and Murdered Women and Girls at the very end of the episode after the credits.
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CONTENT WARNING: This episode briefly mentions Canadian Residential Schools at the very end of the episode after the credits.
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Here’s a little bonus while we keep working to make sure the next episode is as good as we want it to be. Please enjoy this thrilling tale of two chess murderers: Alexander Pichushkin, aka The Chessboard Killer, and the conniving Claude Bloodgoode who killed his mother and manipulated the USCF rating system from within prison to become the second-highest rated player in the USA. Now, you might be thinking "How does this have anything to do with the Sinquefield Cup scandal?" The answer is, it doesn't - that's what makes this a bonus.
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Misogyny and sexism are the two biggest issues we’ve encountered in chess outside cheating. It’s an institutional issue that has for too long been accepted in the sport as normal. Abuse of women in chess is still ongoing at a high frequency, and the organizations and governing bodies surrounding chess have seemingly let it slide…to the point that it’s become an open secret. Featuring Jen Shahade’s brave disclosure, and the actions and other revelations it has brought it its wake.
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CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses horrendous serial killer murders - feel free to skip this one, it doesn’t have any bearing on the rest of the series
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CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses acts of assault, sexual assault, and abuse, including abuse of minors. The end credits also include brief mention of suicide prevention.
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Last episode, we took a deep dive into the open secret in chess of rampant sexism, misogyny, and abuse of women. This time we continue that conversation, and look at the ways that the chess community is fighting back to create not just better equality, but better chess. We talk about what needs to change to finally bring the game we all love into the 21st century.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses acts of assault, sexual assault, and abuse, including abuse of minors. The end credits also include brief mention of suicide prevention.
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We’re back with our regularly scheduled scandal, this time examining the legal implications of the Hans-Magnus Sinquefield Cup anal beads cheating affair (say that 10 times fast). A half a billion dollar lawsuit, the Sherman antitrust act, tort law, jurisdictional requests for dismissal…this one has a lot of legal jargon. But we take you through all the twists and turns with not one, but TWO law professors to get to the bottom of exactly what happened (heh heh), speculate about NDAs, and talk about what this lawsuit means for the future of chess.
CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. Take care.
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Sometimes to figure out where you’re going, you have to look at where you’ve already been - so, here’s a brief history of ALL OF CHESS. Not really, but at least the parts that we think are interesting: who we think chess’ mommy is, the dictator lovin’ FIDE president who was abducted by aliens in yellow space suits, and where the Hawk Tuah girl fits into all this. If you’ve forgotten everything you learned in history class about the Russian revolution, you’ll love this one.
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