Carlsen decries lack of anti-cheat measures in Qatar after shock defeat

The world’s highest-rated chess player suffered a massive loss in the second round of the Qatar Masters Open 2023 tournament to Alisher Suleymenov, a 2512-rated Kazakhstani grandmaster who was the 47th seed at the event and number 578 in the world rankings before it began. Suleymenov performed an incredible sacrificial attack to demolish the chess GOAT, who took to Twitter after the game today to complain about a lack of anti-cheat measures at the event.

It is tough to overstate just how brutal a beatdown Carlsen received in round two of the Qatar Masters Open, where he succumbed to a significantly lower-rated opponent in just 31 moves, who pulled off a devastating sacrificial attack against the world No. 1 in incredible fashion.

It took just one inaccurate move from Carlsen to get into trouble, a miscalculated knight retreat enabling a spectacular double piece sacrifice to rip open his defenses and force a quick resignation soon thereafter. It was a performance worthy of the chess elite, so Carlsen blamed the opponent’s wristwatch for his poor performance.

In a quick Twitter thread, the Norwegian voiced his frustrations in detail:

Clearly, “as soon as I saw my opponent was wearing a watch early in the game, I lost my ability to concentrate” belongs in the pantheon of legendary quotes from the modern chess era like “chess speaks for itself,” “now you resign,” or “takes, takes, takes, takes.”

The world No. 1’s main point, however, was about the lax protocols at the tournament. Qatar Masters 2023 relays the moves to online platforms without a delay, and spectators are apparently allowed to walk around with their phones, prompting Carlsen to reignite the discussion about the possibilities of high-profile offline chess cheating incidents.

Carlsen further elaborated on his concerns when it comes to wearing any sort of watch in a later tweet, but it seems he may not have the regulations right in this instance.

FIDE’s arbiter manual states that “during a game, a player is forbidden to have any electronic device not specifically approved by the arbiter in the playing venue,” but clause 11.3.2.1 and the rest of the document only specifies smart watches. In fact, one of the test questions at the end of the manual specifically refers to a scenario where the player is discovered after the game to have worn one, and the explanation states that “if the player had been wearing an ordinary watch he may not have been happy if the Arbiter disturbed him to check,” suggesting a regular wristwatch is fine.

Two years ago, an Indian player was forced to forfeit a match because he was wearing a regular watch, but that was due to India’s extra-stringent regulations on the matter.

That said, for “maximum protection” tournaments, the handbook states “watches, pens and other writing devices containing metal are not allowed in the playing area,” listing the following criteria for such competitions:

• FIDE Level 1 events (Official FIDE events as defined by the FIDE Events Commission or FIDE World Championship and Olympiad Commission)
• Round-robins with an average rating of 2600 or more (2400 for Women’s events)
• Events with prize funds in excess of EUR 100,000

Qatar Masters 2023 is not a round-robin event (and even if it were, the average rating of the participants is 2459). The prize pool is $100,000, which is also barely below the specified threshold.

These aren’t just sour grapes from an underperforming player. Not only did Carlsen specifically congratulate his opponent (stating he “played an amazing game” and emphasizing how “this is not to accuse my opponent of anything”) before going on to complain about the tournament organization, he’s been on quite a tear lately.

He flew to Qatar after winning the European Club Cup for the first time with his team just a few days ago, which itself came straight after his runner-up finish at the AI Cup, the latest entry of the Champions Chess Tour. He also finally dethroned Nakamura at the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, and finally added that last missing big title to his collection by winning the World Cup.

This isn’t the first time in recent memory Carlsen courted controversy with regard to cheating-related statements: last September, he ignited the Hans Niemann saga, outright accusing the young American player of cheating “more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted” after an unexpected loss that ended his 53-game unbeaten streak.

This single defeat cost Carlsen a whopping -8.7 Elo. To contrast and compare, his victorious World Cup run only netted him +3.8. That’s the price to pay when you’re this far ahead of your competitors, but as today’s result shows, that doesn’t make you invulnerable.