Magnus Carlsen accused Hans Niemann of cheating and also went after his mentor. In an interview with DER SPIEGEL, the latter, Maxim Dlugy, speaks of those accusations for the first time and discusses whether he will take legal action.
https://www.spiegel.de-Interview Conducted by Florian Pütz
Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann during their match in St. Louis in early September: “Why is he doing this?” Foto: Crystal Fuller / dpa
Maxim Dlugy is a chess grandmaster and a chess teacher. During his active playing career, he was considered one of the best blitz chess players in the world. Outside the scene, however, very few know his name. That, though, changed quickly following the cheating accusations leveled by world champion Magnus Carlsen against his opponent Hans Niemann. In an interview several weeks ago, Carlsen implied that Niemann’s mentor Maxim Dlugy may have had something to do with the situation.
For weeks, Dlugy, who lives in New York, declined to speak to the media, but he has now released a statement. In a Skype interview with DER SPIEGEL, Dlugy has now spoken for the first time publicly about the accusations.
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Dlugy, let’s start with the day it all began for you. On September 21, Magnus Carlsen mentioned your name in an interview concerning allegations of cheating against Hans Niemann. He said that you had done a good job mentoring Niemann. A backhanded compliment.
Dlugy: I was sitting in the car when a friend sent it to me. I read it and thought: that’s good. Then he called me and said, “What do you mean that’s good?” I said, “Well, he just congratulated me on being a good mentor, why isn’t that good?” He replied, “What? Your name is being slandered and destroyed on Twitter.” He explained to me that Magnus was claiming that there were parallels between Hans and his mentor, that the latter was helping him cheat. I almost stopped. It was just crazy. When I got home, I looked at it and thought: Oh my God, these guys are just crazy. I have nothing to do with this.
Maxim Dlugy, 56, is a chess grandmaster and chess teacher. He was born in Moscow in 1966 but emigrated to the U.S. in 1977 with his family. Today, he lives with his family in New York City.
DER SPIEGEL: Before we get into that, let’s address the allegations, which came out shortly after Carlsen’s comments, that you had cheated on chess.com in 2017 and 2020. Your account was suspended, though Chess.com didn’t announce the suspension at the time. Now, though, your confidential email traffic from the time has been leaked to Vice.
Dlugy: I was playing an online tournament on my account in 2017. As I was playing, I was explaining to my students gathered around me how I decide what moves to make. I wanted them to see how a grandmaster evaluates, and they were able to suggest moves to me. My students are much weaker players, so it wouldn’t help me improve. But we discussed their ideas. Five months after I was suspended, I found out why I had been suspended. A student had been analyzing my game with an artificial intelligence program on his laptop or smartphone and suggesting the computer moves to me without me knowing where the suggestions had come from. They were, of course, good moves, so I often chose them. After the suspension, I had to deal with being called a cheater. That hurt me emotionally. I immediately contacted chess.com when I found out what had happened. They said OK, but this is still in violation of our fair play guidelines.
“He reminded me of Anatoly Karpov, whom I once coached.”
DER SPIEGEL: Later, you were given a second chance and were able to play on the platform again. But in 2020, you were once again because chess.com accused you of cheating in the Titled Tuesday, a tournament with prize money.
Dlugy: While I was playing the last round of the tournament, I was banned. They told me I had 72 hours to confess. But I thought to myself: What kind of cheating? Look at the games, where am I supposed to have cheated? There is not even a reason for me to cheat in Titled Tuesday to win $500 or something. I charge more money for private chess lessons. But if I hadn’t confessed, my account would have been suspended forever and everyone would have thought I was a cheater. I didn’t want to go through that again, so I made a false confession, after which my account was unblocked. Chess.com told me everything was confidential.
DER SPIEGEL: Chess.com assured you that everything would remain private?
Dlugy: Yes, of course. They wrote on their website and in personal emails that everything would remain private. It would all remain between us. All confessions would be confidential.
DER SPIEGEL: Was there no other solution? Couldn’t you have gone through the games with chess.com and shown that they were human moves?
Dlugy: We never got as far as thinking about such a solution. I didn’t even know that there was another one. My experience in 2017 made me realize, there is no way to prove to chess.com you didn’t cheat, even if you didn’t. When I was still active, I beat Garry Kasparov, the reigning world champion, with black in a must-win game in the World Blitz Chess Championship. I’m not afraid of playing against the best players in the world.
DER SPIEGEL: How do you feel about cheating in online chess?
Dlugy: I agree that it is very unpleasant when someone cheats against you online while you are playing and trying to improve your rating. I understand the goal of chess.com to prevent that. But they completely lose the measure of it. Online cheating is not like cheating at the board.
DER SPIEGEL: You are a chess grandmaster yourself. But mainly you are active as a chess teacher. How did you get to know Hans Niemann?
Dlugy: Hans is a friend. I met him for the first time eight years ago when he was 11. I met his father at the U.S. team during the Youth World Championship in South Africa in 2014. We got to talking, and I watched Hans.
DER SPIEGEL: What was Hans like when you met him?
Dlugy: He wasn’t very respectful of people he competed against. He beat chess masters and talked crap during games. But when we played against each other, I beat him in pretty much every game. So he had to stop being disrespectful to me. That’s probably one of the reasons we get along well. After the tournament, his father came to me, asked for my number and whether I wanted to teach Hans.
DER SPIEGEL: How did the training go?
Dlugy: We talked to each other via Skype. He was in California, I was in New York. We built an opening system for him, and he played perfectly according to what I taught him. I thought: Oh my God, this boy is absolutely brilliant. He reminded me of Anatoly Karpov, whom I once coached. When Hans was eleven, he beat a Fide Master in a very complicated endgame. He played perfectly. I had tears in my eyes.
DER SPIEGEL: But at some point, he stopped improving. What happened?
Dlugy: The problem is that there was significant upheaval in the family. Hans has three siblings. One parent lost their job, they had to move, and there was a lot of turmoil in the family. During that time, my teaching of him came to an end. But later, his mother called me and asked me if I could outline a plan for them for what Hans would have to do to become a grandmaster. That was a bit ridiculous, because you could write entire books on the subject. Hans then basically hardly received any training.
DER SPIEGEL: But he was still good at chess.
Dlugy: When he was 16, he was offered a scholarship to Columbia Grammar School, a high school in Manhattan, because he was such a good chess player. So he decided to move to Manhattan to a room near the school. At 16, he was on his own. He started giving chess lessons and went his own way. He was already a strong international master. It’s an incredible story.
DER SPIEGEL: You continued to follow his career?
Dlugy: I continued to follow his games and was interested in his career because for me, he is the most interesting talent in mainstream chess. I’ve seen a lot of talented kids, but there’s something inexplicable about Hans. But we didn’t train together, just played blitz games sometimes.
DER SPIEGEL: But you did teach him again later.
Dlugy: One day in 2021 he came to me. And by analyzing his games, I came to the conclusion that the weakest part of his game was the endgame. I still think that, by the way. So I said to Hans: “You had an absolutely unique feeling for the endgame when you were 12 years old. But it’s stagnated. You need to improve it.” I showed him some really difficult endgames. He understood that he had to learn that.
“He often behaves obnoxiously. That’s the way he is. Hans is Hans.”
DER SPIEGEL: It was just a training session?
Dlugy: Yes, but I tried to put him in touch with good coaches. Eventually he found an excellent coach who improved his game. But we stayed in touch, and he sometimes asked me for advice when it came to participating in tournaments or something.
DER SPIEGEL: In early September, Niemann surprisingly beat Carlsen in an over-the-board game in St. Louis. The next day, Carlsen left the tournament. He didn’t say why, but actually everyone knew it had to be allegations of cheating. In his first interview after that incident, Carlsen mentioned your name and said you were Niemann’s mentor. How did that come about?
Dlugy: Two days before Magnus dropped my name in the interview, an old friend of mine had contacted me and asked about my relationship with Hans. I said I wasn’t his coach, more like his mentor. He asked what I thought of the cheating allegations. I said they were reprehensible, ridiculous and slanderous. There is no evidence. There is not even a crime. I told my friend, who knows Magnus Carlsen, to contact Team Magnus and tell them that it’s all absurd. So he contacted them, and I think he told them, Max is Hans’ mentor.
DER SPIEGEL: And then Carlsen suggested that you might have something to do with Niemann’s cheating.
Dlugy: I think something happened in Magnus’ head. Something very bad.
DER SPIEGEL: Did you know him personally?
Dlugy: Yes, and I had the greatest respect for Magnus. We played a lot of blitz chess at the Sinquefield Chess Club in St. Louis about six years ago. He was very surprised that I was basically his equal. And then we played tandem chess with Yasser Seirawan and Maxim Vachier-Lagrave until 4:30 in the morning. I was so happy about this experience. The shock was all the greater that he now mentioned my name. I had nothing to do with Hans at that time, I only gave him advice now and then. And suddenly I am dragged into this without Magnus thinking about what he is doing to me. Why is he doing this?
DER SPIEGEL: What do you think?
Dlugy: Magnus was very upset that against Hans, his streak of 52 games without defeat was broken. Maybe he also has a personal problem with Hans. He often behaves obnoxiously. That’s the way he is. Hans is Hans.
DER SPIEGEL: So you think it’s just because Carlsen doesn’t like Niemann and is a bad loser?
Dlugy: That’s what I think. Magnus lost the balance.
DER SPIEGEL: Have you had any contact with Niemann recently?
Dlugy: I spoke to him before the U.S. Championships. And before that, I gave him some information that he didn’t have yet. For example, I told him that Magnus wanted to have him thrown out of the tournament after his defeat in St. Louis. Without any evidence of cheating. Just because he had a bad feeling. Only because he thought his opponent had been too relaxed during the game.
DER SPIEGEL: In public, Niemann still seems confident. What was your impression when spoke with him?
Dlugy: I spoke to him during the tournament that Carlsen had left. He said he just couldn’t sleep. He said he couldn’t concentrate during the games. I told him to focus. There’s nothing else he can do. It’s extremely hard for him.
DER SPIEGEL: How can he save his reputation?
Dlugy: I think the best way is to go to court. All the information has to be made public. A jury or a judge has to decide what to do. What Magnus did is absolutely ridiculous and very bad for chess.
DER SPIEGEL: Are you afraid for your reputation?
Dlugy: I’m not worried about my reputation. I feel comfortable in my skin. My students trust me. Many of my friends, whom I haven’t spoken to in years, have come forward and said how disgusting they find these accusations.
DER SPIEGEL: Will you file a lawsuit?
Dlugy: There will be lawsuits. If I had to bet, I would say that Hans will sue. I’ve taken advice on that, of course. I’m keeping my options open. I’m ready to fight. In my professional career, I’ve fought some battles where no one gave me a chance, and I still won them. I’m ready to call a spade a spade. I just can’t take it anymore.
DER SPIEGEL: Why did you decide to speak publicly now, three weeks after your name first came up in the conflict?
Dlugy: I had to weigh my options. I consulted with three law firms. Some are very expensive and powerful, and extremely knowledgeable about this issue. One piece of advice was to make my position public. And my point of view is that chess.com is acting like the judge, jury and executioner. Chess.com accuses, chess.com judges, chess.com punishes and brandmarks potential cheaters. In what world is that fair?
DER SPIEGEL: Did you have any further contact with chess.com?
Dlugy: We had an email exchange in which I wrote them that I am interested in a peaceful solution. I asked for a public statement in which they exonerated me. But I was put off.
DER SPIEGEL: And what are you demanding now?
Dlugy: An apology from Magnus for dragging me into this. And an apology from chess.com for publishing our confidential emails.
Editor’s note: Maxim Dlugy had said in the interview that Hans Niemann was 13 years old when he won the endgame against an International Master described above. This is wrong. Hans Niemann was eleven years old and his opponent was a Fide Master. We have corrected the passage.