Former president of Swedish Chess Federation admits to losing 43 games on purpose
Ever since the 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated Magnus Carlsen, who consequently withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup 2022 (see the timetable of events related to the Carlsen – Niemann case below), the topic of cheating in chess is the top news in mass medias.
As Norwegian VG reports, the former president of Swedish Chess Federation Carl Fredrik Johansson was investigated by Swedish Chess Federation for violating the fair-play rules on chess.com. Johansson lost 43 chess.com games in a row, admitting to VG that he did it on purpose. Johansson who is now the head of Uppsala Skolschacksallskap, well-known Sweden’s chess club for children, explains that he lost 43 games for educational purposes as he uses his chess.com account for teaching. He adds that he is falsely accused of cheating because of the power struggle in the Swedish Chess Federation which he led until 2018: “I used my own account for the purpose of teaching. I shouldn’t have done that, and I’ve apologized. That the false accusations keep coming confirms that it has nothing to do with the issue. But that it is about a power struggle in the Swedish Chess Federation, of which I was previously president“.
The actual president of the Swedish Chess Federation Hakan Jalling said to VG that there are three Swedish players caught cheating online on chess.com and the federation investigated the case. The two players were banned for two years, while Carl Fredrik Johansson received a warning for manipulating his online rating: “There are three players who have been caught cheating online at Chess.com, and it happened this summer. They had manipulated their Chess.com rating, i.e. deliberately played poorly to lower the rating. Everyone had played their way down from high levels, from over 2000 to under 800, to be able to play in the lowest group“. Johansson stated the accusations are “bizarre” as there are no motives of dropping to the lower level by cheating.
Just a few days ago, the President of Norwegian Chess Federation admitted to cheating online during chess.com’s PRO Chess League. However, his chess.com account was not closed for violation of fair-play rules, and chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer Daniel Rensch explained in a written statement that there was a 1/1000 chance of being wrong. Faced with a wave of critics, Joachim Nilsen a day after resigned from his position in the Norwegian Chess Federation.
The timetable of events related to Carlsen – Niemann case: