Confessions of a serial chess cheat: I’m quite enjoying the Carlsen v Niemann fallout | Stephen Moss

After 40 years out of the spotlight, the game is hot gossip again, thanks to a major beef between two grandmasters

I have a shocking admission to make. I am a chess cheat. Or at least world champion Magnus Carlsen would brand me a chess cheat. Occasionally, in online games where I have been testing out particular openings, I have used a chess engine (a dedicated computer program) to look for the best moves to try to get an understanding of positions.

Strictly speaking, that is cheating and if the chess platforms on which I play found out, I would be banned. But they never have, because after the first 15 or so moves I abandon the engine and just play on my wits, usually making the litany of blunders for which my chess is noted. Any suspicions anti-cheating systems have about my perfect play up to move 15 are allayed by my decidedly imperfect play over the next 30 or 40. I am a cheat who has got away with it.

Stephen Moss is author of The Rookie: An Odyssey through Chess (and Life)

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