@@DavidPNeffguys it's normal to multi task, I myself have some experience as I am in a strict family and need to clean the house everyday, therefore when I want to play while cleaning I play chess
I love Columbo. One of the best shows of all time, anyone who has never seen it needs to give an episode a try. They are all the same yet all different. If this was his case he would do demonstration in front of the accused. Columbo would sit down in a game of chess with the accused. He would have a rice cooker set up in the corner. He would make the brilliant move. Then he would get up and turn on his rice cooker and come back and immediately make the move after sitting down like a normal person. He would look at his watch and say “ah 25 seconds have passed, where has all the time gone?”
He'd then need to check with the housekeeper to see if she was the one that turned on the rice cooker. If he's too poor to have a housekeeper he's innocent. I've seen enough episodes of Columbo to know that the guilty party is always very wealthy.
My advice is to never publicly accuse or hint at someone being a cheater while live streaming. You cannot control the actions of what your viewers will do in their vain attempt at social justice or whatever. With edited videos, you can curate the message that you want to send, sort of like you did with this one. Good luck, thank you for addressing it head on. I bet it'll be a distant memory and under a week.
Yeah, i always like Naroditsky way of handling cheater, he just say his opponent was way "underrated" then archiving the game for evidence and report them. lol, but he always make a point that his opponent also could have the best game of their life, and tell the viewer not to accuse them of "cheating". unless it was so blatant and he just laugh.
Worth noting a couple of things. 1.) He hit an accuracy of 93.4&, against a much higher rated opponent. 2.) One thing Levy always says is to look at clock spacing. He was extremely consistent with his timings, and an overwhelming majority of his moves were in the 15 seconds or less range. Only 7 of his 50 moves were above 20 seconds, and 5 more were above 15. That means 38 of his 50 moves were in the
For me the most suspicious thing is not that he found the Nb5, but that he did that as well as playing almost perfect both in opening, midgame as well as endgame.
@@astlinj if you are 1500 and play like 2300, yes. Playing perfect against someone who blunders isn't that difficult, but against someone who is 2500 and to do it the entire game... 🧐
@@astlinj If you have followed his rating climb series you would notice that every player he played against before did a few mistakes each game. People around 1200-1500 are usually strong at some or most moments of the game, but to play almost perfect in every part of the game is very unlikely. 93% accuracy against someone who is 1000 higher rating than you is very suspicious
If he did cheat during your game you could check some of his other games. But to me that Nb5 idea does seem a bit suspicious. He did spend about 15 seconds on that move and then spent 12 seconds does seem very suspicious. When you sacrifice a piece like that you need to be 100% certain that the sacrifice works the first time around.
Yes exactly. As a 1400 I think that move was probably beyond my ability to find, and if I somehow managed to spot it I certainly would have spent longer thinking about it
15 seconds on brilliant move isnt that bad in this case since theres not much to calculate because all you need to do is look out for is checks and captures which black didnt have much of, so all you need to do is quickly scan for them and if nothing bad happens then play your brilliant move. So i dont see how you cant be 100% certain after 15 seconds
@@BoomSki-pn9lb well it’s because your opponent isn’t required to take the knight. As a 1400 myself I would feel compelled to calculate all moves other other than cxb5 before I felt comfortable playing that move. The queen has a check for example, and while it isn’t good I would need to calculate that to verify
@@BoomSki-pn9lbit's the fact that the bishop move after the knight move also took 12 seconds is suspicious. You don't make that knight sacrifice without already planning to check with the bishop
It is sad that people need to be told to not be jerks. If a player cheats, they will be caught, but assuming someone is cheating does not give others the right to act like fools.
Maybe 99.9%, but not 100%. We cannot be sure for anything. The best we can do is wait for a good explanation, so we are able to believe that no cheating was included, or maybe a confession of the played that they did cheat.
My #1 takeaway from this is, if it is true, it's really sweet that his teacher took the time out to write this email. Reminds me of the way my basketball coach in high school was looking out for us, he was a real stand up guy and one of my biggest rolemodels to this day.
@@googlewhackthis There is too much evidence that shows the guy was cheating. He took the same amount of time to do the critical move as he did the two obvious follow ups. He also had a massive raise in his accuracy rate in his last six games as of this video posting than what he previously had. Do you think that all of the sudden he went from a 1500 level player to a 2000 level player? This is why I doubt it was an actual teacher, unless he just told the teacher what happened without showing the video. Anyone looking at all the evidence would draw the conclusion that the player was cheating.
@@googlewhackthis Teacher and Cheater are anagrams of one another. Anagrams have nothing to do with the meaning of the words, they just have the same letters in a different order.
I'd really recommend blurring the email address of the friend that sent you the email. Just extra precautions for people to not go harass further. Despite your good intentions, people are silly. Good to hear the thoughts and explanations behind everything. Keep up the cozy vibes!
If you watch to the end they permit Nelson to freely show the email. My first reaction was the same but this person seems ready for whatever might come their way
As a slow thinker, my strength goes up way more than you would expect on longer time controls, so I can relate to having disproportionately low blitz strength. The suspicious maneuver looks like something a 1500 could do, nothing too strange about that. 1500 is really uneven terrain. Like, you get games with high accuracy, but sometimes, you just make a bad move. If you get lucky, then maybe you just don't make a bad move in some particular game. It seems like a reasonable report in good conscience, and I don't think a single report should get someone shut down for cheating unless it's 100% certain, so it all seems above board to report something suspicious.
Yep. I still win most of my rapid games at almost 1400, but struggle at 700 in bullet and at 1100 in blitz. It's a totally different skill to find great tactics than to see easy blunders fast. And I also play mostly blitz btw.
Yup... I dance between 1450 and 1550 and my accuracy is usually in the high 80, low 90s, but sometimes I blunder something stupid for no reason and then the game is in the 70s through 80s... I think my highest accuracy ever was something like 95 or 96, but it was an easy game where my opponent blundered a piece early in an opening I knew. This game looks pretty normal to me, to be honest. The only thing suspicious is the 12 second delay on the recapture, but I've also just paused for a bit after making what I think is a good move to make absolutely sure I'm not missing something stupidly obvious as I'll get excited and lose focus.
@@pommedemer1922well it's not impossible for a 1500 to win a 2000+ player in one game. It's just very improbable and the possibility of that happening is about 1%. Since Nelson is playing so many games and his opponents get stronger game by game, the logic says that he is not going to win every game.
I kind of figured something like this would happen whenever you lost your first match of the climb. i.e. you'd either run into an actual cheater or someone would get lucky enough not to make those "one or two mistakes" 1400s typically make. Unfortunately in a game like this those two are indistinguishable.
The fact that Nelson made blunders in his two previous games and the players picked up on them means he's playing a better caliber of player, and eventually he will lose. It was kind of to be expected.
He did specifcially point out it was the combination of both the regular cadence, someone using similar analysis times for very unequal positions, and the caliber of a number of the moves being used which made it seem suspicious, not just that the person didn't make any blunders. Having just found this speed run and watched most of it very recently, this game definitely was developing very oddly even prior to the Nb5 move.
@@christopherheckman7957 to be fair to Nelson he's 2200 rated when he's actually playing chess when he's livestreaming and explaining every move to his viewers I'm sure his level drops hence the blunders.
Don't worry about that Nelson you are a very special chess teacher and thats most counts.. After all a 154 winning streak is not bad at all.. Just keep up your excellent job!!!
It's funny that we got no screenshot attached about "subscriber harassment messages" in the email yet we still got a clear description about rice cooking stuff
Don't worry about it. This too will pass... you can only control what you do, not others. Don't waste your present by worrying about the past. The truth is we'll never know, so, move on and keep smiling. You're a wonderful teacher. You are extremely clear in what you teach. Chin up, head up... and carry on regardless. Truth is in a year or two you'll be going " Galadriel who? " Forget about it!!!
@williammcguire3426 I really like the wise message to Nelson. Actually, your message is quite universal which I will also try to remember. I guess another way of saying it is don't waste your mental and emotional energy about the past or future at the expense of the present. The cost of regret is expensive. I like Nelson's teaching style, the way he communicates as well as his personality. In fact, sometimes I'll watch his videos to destress. That's pretty powerful if all you're trying to do is teach chess, but someone can get a chess lesson plus something actually more valuable than a chess lesson, which is positively affecting one's mood. Nelson has been a blessing to me. Thanks Nelson, you're awesome!
He was more upset in this video than he was in the livestream He was chill really, a couple of chuckles and it was off to the next game Maybe Magnus and Hikaru should take the same advice (LOL)
@@DanielSong39 yeah I agree. I watched the game live and after knight b5 Nelson did get a bit suspicious and actually checked his opponents stats... but remained chilled. But " rice cookers " and two long delays before executing the brilliancy....hmm...I personally think Nelson has every reason to be suspicious... He remained cooler than I would... lol! No matter what, I think Nelson is one of the better teachers of chess out there. An all around " good guy "...hope he moves on from this soon.
@@justusschoenmakers8987 His mind appears to think in terms of patterns, which I'm told is how the greats think. Putting together that pattern with some opening preparation means this guy is GOOOOD. (Of course, assuming he's not cheating.)
I have never heard a professor call a student "a friend of mine". That seems a bit of an odd way to introduce them. "Galadriel is a student of mine" would be standard
FYI in the university I attended, students can go through some processes to apply to become an instructor of 1 credit pass/fail class (that does not satisfy any graduation requirement).
That doesn't sound strange to me. First, from the diction (often awkward, imperfect grammar and usage) of the e-mail, it sounds like English is not the primary language of Viktor and the professor, so you can't expect the same level of nuance and understanding of word usage as you would from native English speakers. Second, it sounds like the professor is running a chess program that is not a formal class, so they don't have a normal teacher-student relationship, but rather more of a collegial relationship. Third, because of the language issue and simply because we don't have all the facts (e.g., is Viktor a regular student or an older, part-time student, maybe as old as the teacher?), we really don't know what terminology (translated into English, with errors) makes sense to Viktor and his teacher in their context and culture.
I'm the guy who sent the E-Mail and I'm not a professor LOL. I'm just a regular student who happens to be fairly good at chess and I'm teaching chess at the university. Just google 'Viktor Weinkauf RWTH Aachen' and you will find some proof (can't link it here because YT won't show my comment...)
'm the guy who sent the E-Mail and I'm not a professor LOL. I'm just a regular student who happens to be fairly good at chess and I'm teaching chess at the university. Just google my name and you will see that I'm legit :)
Very good point IMO! Never thought of that until reading your comment. Teacher's at any level of schooling would never use the friend when talking about a student. Very good observation!
Someone mentioned it, but it would be a good idea to blur out who sent the email. There could be people wanting to also harass that person too, besides the opponent (I know right?). Anyhow, I've forgotten about this small drama, just looking at this video I am still suspecious, and don't think the opponent is entirely in the clear, but I am going to drop it because it is a waste to keep thinking about it. It's time to move from that.
I'd like some actual proof of "harassment". Just some people messaging you asking "why did you cheat?" is not what qualifies as harassment. Not in my book.
@@kshitiz6376 I don't have proof, and am only basing off what was said in the video. The thing is, while you didn't intend to and just politely asked, the words "why did you cheat" can be interpreted differently (as in could be viewed as a threat).
@@kshitiz6376 having a bunch of random people message you over something they are not involved with at all is definitely harassment and choices made can expediate or slow it
I teach chess at a university! It's a 1 credit class, it counts as math (but since it's only 1 credit, it's not going to be enough to satisfy most requirements other than raw credit count), and we focus mostly on endings and techniques for analyzing them. I do give the kids time to play each other and we sometimes go over the games together, if there's time.
Yeah, a lot of things get "taught" on a university campus that aren't even for 1 credit. Most of them are less legal than Chess, but I wasn't clear from the email that it was a course not just a club.
@@thenextgeneration9030 makes sense; lots of logic and pattern recognition involved. Could also be used to teach several applicable aspects of graph theory.
I tend to play slower games too, and for the past several years never played blitz. You mentioned that he did play a lot of blitz. It's possible he gets into time trouble in blitz and either loses on time or makes critical blinders under pressure and cannot break out of his rating.
So the guy is multi-tasking, studying deep opening theory and middlegames that arise from openings (Jobava, French, etc) and he's just a little below 1500? That's bs!
I don't know what to conclude but I definitely want to sign up for that University course. Seems like you learn all the things you need to win games. LOL.
I can’t believe a 1400 played a near perfect game against a much higher rated opponent while also cooking dinner and making very complex moves in an average of 10 seconds. Sorry. That’s a cheater
I watched this live. Not yet discussed but suspicious to me at the time was how long Galadriel97 was taking to play his moves in the end game: Nelson could hardly move a piece, the only analysis needed for each of Galadriel97's moves was to check his queen wasn't blundered, pick off the remaining pawns on a and b files, and push his pawns on a, b and/or c. Check out the live stream from 34:00: Galadriel97 takes between 7 and 26 seconds per move in a knight & bishop versus queen endgame with no passed pawns (at 34:10 he takes 23 seconds to take the pawn on g7 - that's beyond suspicious). If he's clever enough to spot the earlier knight to b5 (and the other best moves) why did he need to take so long for each simple move in the end game?
As a slow player it's not strange to me to struggle moving up in blitz, sometimes it's not even about having less time to think but about the panic you feel from having that additional time pressure to begin with
Hi Nelson. I'm a big fan of chess vibes! Thank you! Two things about the letter really strike me as odd. 1) Why even say he's cooking rice? He could just say he was distracted by something, pondering the move, etc. I would not write a letter and give such an silly excuse. Even if I were cooking rice, I'd probably say something more vague. 2) The other thing that I'm trying to wrap my head around is the following, and it might lend him some credibility: That letter is pretty darn well-written. It addresses the fellow's discomfort at being hounded, but does not belabor the point. That's fair. And he openly allows you to put the letter on Chess Vibes. If I were cheating, I think I'd be embarrassed by putting the letter out there and inviting more criticism. That being said, I find it odd (and some others have mentioned this) that no school is named, nor does the professor name himself. If I were defending my student, I'd certainly tell you my name. Last note. Yeah, Nelson, I'm on your side. Only a very sophisticated player could play that game against you. Yet there is one more thing that bugs me. If Galadriel wrote the letter himself, it is, despite a few blunders, written very well. Whoever wrote that letter has a descent mind. A good command of the English language. Just pieces and pontifications, for whatever they're worth. -J
I also find it especially suspicious that he claims that he was multitasking while crushing an NM. I remember one time I sent a text in the middle of a game. I got mated on the next move!
Magus was cheated on by butt beads Anna was accused of cheating with a lipstick Nelson was cheated on by a rice cooker I don't think Anna would hate lipsticks.
Who knows what's true. But what's a fact is that he either spent a lot of time and mental energy to explain everything or he has a badass teacher who doesnt only teach people great chess, but also has the time to write great emails to defend his students.
To me, it seems really weird that a teacher would be messaging you on behalf of a student. It sounds like a little kid making up a story, just too elaborate. Gives me Chandler Halderson vibes
The dead giveaway that 'Viktor' is actually Galadrial97 is the random oversharing (rice cooker etc). It's what all liars/cheats/scammers do. A university professor first of all wouldnt get involved in such a petty dispute and if they did, they would do it from a faculty email address and would clarify their curriculum in a paragraph instead of ranting on about rice cookers. Granted, English is probably not their first language but that genuinely reads like it was written by a 14 year old pretending to be their parents and explaining why their homework wasn't submitted. There is no question in my mind that this player used assistance in this game, however its absolutely not OK to harass them. Grow up.
I was going to highlight this. As an educator myself, I would always email using my faculty address to add clout to what I am saying. Sending something from my gmail is super weird.
I'm the guy who sent the email. Just google my name and you will see that I'm a legit 2000 Elo player who teaches chess at university. I'm not Galadriel.
Honestly i think that this email with all these rice cooking, adv french ideas and blitz IRL crap just made matters worse but imo this guy could've just found that idea and after sacing the knight he maybe took some time double checking if he was right. As someone mentioned that email could've been written by him because dudes just scared he's gonna get instantly banned just because a youtuber reported him
I'm the guy who sent the email and nop, I'm not Galadriel. Just google my name and you will see that I'm a legit 2000 Elo player who teaches chess at university.
As a 1600, the brilliant knight move is definitely something that can happen at a high 1400/low 1500 level. Someone can do a lot of puzzles and be good at tactics but still blunder in certain games. That move itself really didnt seem that suspicious to me. Of course the time usage is another story.
Yeah, a 2 move tactic is not suspicious. That's not some complicated find and I think it's sad for that to be what makes Nelson think he's cheating. The 1400 had inaccuracies in the opening before that.
yeah im around 900 and i can find some pretty neat moves for my rating because I play puzzles most of the time. besides that, i barely know anything about positional play and i end up with lots of inaccuracies or mistakes. now a 1500 is way way better than me so they could probably find that knight move aswell. but beating someone 1000 rating higher is just suspicious lol, i would not beat a 1900 in a thousand games
I don't know what chess etiquette is but in the bridge world, it is absolutely wrong to publicly accuse someone of cheating. There is a recorder whose job it is to accept (privately!) concerns about irregularities. If the chess world doesn't have something similar, then that's a problem.
In terms of giving this matter a full fleshing out, I do believe it's highly relevant to note that potent play had already been encountered starting at around 1300. Two games in particular we're fully on track for an L before this one. Don't forget, ratings groups also include those who have fallen back from higher levels (though that doesn't appear to be the case here). I'm at this level and about 5-10% of the time I surprise myself with sussing out strong tactics and near perfect play...mid 90s accuracy and a slash line of say 2/0/0 in a 30, 40 move (or greater) game. Those games end up getting (absurd) c.c ratings estimates...even above 2200. And often that's necessary to just barely get a win given that my opponent ends up with an accuracy stat in the high 80s and a slash of something like 4/1/0. None of that means cheating didn't happen here. But I do think a fair amount of deference has to go toward the guy simply having played a few hundred Elo above norm. That possibility has to be just as likely as having cheated... especially given the fact potent play has already been encountered. That said, those other guys could've been cheating. And make no mistake c.c is beseeched by such crap. A week almost never goes by that I don't end up with a refund.
and now (11 months later) he’s lost almost 90 pts didn’t make any progress which is weird for someone who studies theory with a coach on a university level !
12 seconds to see that brilliant move would seem legit if he just immediately took with the bishop, it's not impossible he have been in this position before if this is his preferred opening. You are allowed to learn from the analyzer after the game, and if you repeat your openings over and over again, you'll learn the right moves. I think his arguments seems suspicious, I agree with you it's not nice to message him and turn this into the Hans Niemann case all over again. I'm just a low ranked scrub so Idon't know alot of theory, but I like to repeat my openings and try to get my opponent on the same Track so I know what i'm doing. This 1493 dude does seem too low rated for his skills, but again, he might be the new Hans and just quickly climb through the ranks, and it seems all fair again when he turns 2k+. I think you are correct Nelson and this is the right approach
That email is almost definitely fake. It's not from a university email address, written like a teen/young adult, it has no proper signature block. Also, I don't think a professor would dive into an issue like this. Also, a university "chess professor"?? What kind of university has something like that? Even the content, tone, and structure of the email is just plain bizzare. You should ask the "professor" what school and department he works in. Ther're university directories where you can search for specific teachers and verify his story. This email all but confirms he was cheating.
"Oh those moves were so obvious" is kinda bogus, this really was just suspicious. Perfectly fine to stay sus, even if it is possible. But if anyone of y'all harassed another person? Come on... This is a game of gentlemen. Harassing is just as, if not worse, than cheating in the first place.
I was there for that match and to me it was extremely suspicious... the knight sacrifice on b5 wasn't the suspicious part, it's the fact that after he 'calculated' the sacrifice and the moves afterwards, it still took him over 10 seconds for each move following the initial knight move if you calculate a sacrifice like that, you also calculate the moves that will come after it, meaning you shouldn't need to spend over 10 seconds for the move
@@deinauge7894 but there is literally nothing to consider about it. If you go balls to the wall and sacrifice a full piece there is no point in rechecking if the tactic works
i am 1300 and I am weak on end games like a lot of players around my rating. He studied openings so it's not that far fetched to play well in the opening, and then get a bit lucky to find the sacrifice and faded late on, maybe he had nerves, or something. I have played the odd really good game and the odd brilliant move, especially involving tricky knight tactics. To me it is feasible to play that game as a 1400 player, it wasn't like a succession of complex tactics, he just found logical moves, and one brilliant move.
now i understand your term rice cooker...that being said, if you dont want your community to harass this person, then dont call cheating as "cooking rice". Unless theres a follow up story about this game being cheated, that would be different
I'm pretty much convinced he's a cheater. Not just because of Nb5. The imperturbability with which he played afterwards was more impressive. Totally flawless, every move was a hammer blow. That coolness doesn't belong to a 1500 player. No way!
Hey man, wild situation here! Personally, I'm inclined to say he was cheating. 1. The email just seems... off. Though German, so his first language may not be English, his email doesn’t seem like it's written how someone whose second language is English would sound, and it definitely doesn’t sound like someone trying to make a professional impression. 2. What kind of 1400 finds that move? Either he really is the next Carlsen, or Stockfish found it. Plus, finding it in 12 seconds is crazy. 3. The rice cooker story doesn't really make sense, it's not a super long time control, and I personally hate trying to multitask while playing chess. 4. While I totally understand the "please stop harassing me" aspect of his case, the "solutions" the coach provides are also just... weird. 5. His account's game history is suspicious. His most recent game was against you (93% accuracy!!), and he hasn't played since. Plus, who turns on their rice cooker, plays a ridiculously good endgame, and then doesn’t even play another game while their rice is cooking? All in all, it seems really suspicious, but innocent until proven guilty, i guess? If that was legit, then well played Galadriel, you're gonna be an incredible player. If it was stockfish, shame on you.
This is a very obvious cheater, he has played only 30 Rapid games total and in general this type of play is unachievable for a 1500. I don't know why you're going through such controversy.
So I just noticed that, regarding the 12 second Bb5 move, Nelson took 133 seconds on the move beforehand. I feel this is notable because the email says he was turning on his rice cooker at the moment when Nelson moved... which is very coincidental, considering there was a 133 second interval beforehand in which the turning on of the rice cooker could have taken place, but instead it was exactly when Nelson moved. Just wanted to point out the seemingly rather coincidental nature of this.
Or the guy started the game knowing in advance that he was going to take some time at some point during the game to attend to his stove, and then noticed that Nelson was having a very long think and figured he could just do it then.
@@bunpeishiratori5849 Well the issue is that the turning on of the rice cooker only takes a few seconds (I would imagine), so the fact that it coincided with Nelson's move is of low probability considering the given time interval. Of course "turning on the rice cooker" may imply more than the click of a button, I'm not sure, but if it was a longer procedure then it would be coincidental that he came back at around the same time that Nelson moved. Unless he was keeping an eye on the screen while cooking rice, which I'd say is only possible if he was playing on his phone. The fact that he said specifically that he was *turning on* the rice cooker makes me think he didn't stop in the middle of the procedure, rather he had just finished the procedure, when he came back to the game. Which would seem coincidental with how much time was present. I hope what I'm saying makes sense... if he stepped away from the computer during a 133 second interval, it's kind of lucky that he left / came back at the nearly perfect moment.
@@shaneebersole8366 Regardless of how long it took, it's coincidental. If it took little time, it's a coincidence he happened to leave right around Nelson's move. If it took longer, it's a coincidence he happened to come back right around Nelson's move. The only way it's not a coincidence is if he was playing on mobile, and keeping an eye on the game, while doing his cooking.
@@exist0142 ngl I'm sure you've had the situation where you wait 15 minutes for something to happen and as soon as you stop waiting it happens say u haven't i dare u
100% cheater... He had ALL number 1 moves from move 6 onwards... 93.7% accuracy because towards the end he thought he could play it out himself but when he saw that your h pawn was getting closer to the queening square he started cheating again...
Well, I want to share my point of view. Yes, it is possible for a 1500 to get lucky by finding a crazy tactic like this. Yes, it is possible that this 1500 didn't immediately continue their tactic but spent 14 seconds to play the discovered attack on the queen because of another task. Yes, it is possible that this guy wasn't cheating. But all of this story leaves me really troubled. Why a 1500 learns advanced theory but can't pass 1100 blitz? Why a 1500 plays like 20 or 30 stockfish moves in one game? Also, why didn't the player themselves contact you and instead they made their teacher do so? Were the stockfish moves also coincidental? And the similar amount of time used for those moves is also random? And the 1500 was sure enough that it was safe to play a risky tactic like this, after using only a few seconds, and even while cooking, and even against a national master?? I don't want either for this occurrence to become a scandal that will annoy us for a long time. However, we cannot say that we believe (or do not believe) what the chess university teacher, if this is a real, unless they give a good explanation for those questions. Again, I am just sharing my point of view, with no intention of being rude or offensive to anyone.
Your opponent is a 1400 level player making dozens of perfect moves, whilst having an account only a few months old. Next his play style is 12 seconds per move… doesn’t matter if it’s an obvious take back or a brilliant, it’s 10-15 seconds… He takes down a 2400 like it’s nothing… Seems obvious to me he used assistance in some form, maybe not all the time but used computer assist as a guide
In defense of the rice cooker bit, I've turned on my oven to preheat multiple times during a game. My stove and fridge are less than 10 feet from where I'm sitting.
I would say there is a high chance he cheated but im not going to say he 100% did, i know how frustrating It is to beat someone fair and square just to be accussed of cheating
WAKE UP people, he CHEATED - you don't make a whole series of SF level moves 12 seconds apart from each other when you are a 1400, not even if you are a 2200 - maybe in a very slow classical game, you might have the game of your life and find a couple of these Stockfish level moves, but only after studying the board for 15 minutes, not 15 seconds, over and over again! 🙄
It is a little bit weird that he played that move considering he hasn’t studied the knight sacrafice before and he also could think of the advanced French poison pawn all in like maybe 12 seconds from the other move and then 12 seconds on the move before that would’ve seen the knight sac with the king and rook fork and he didn’t take that much extra time to see if it even does anything.
What's even weirder is that even Nelson wasn't able to see this move until his opponent played it. He was explaining his thought process to his viewers and he didn't even consider this. Sure,I'm to believe that a 1400 is able to find a move that even a titled player is not able to see. Definitely not cheating since he drew against a 1750 I guess?
This happens to me all the time. I missed a move, I think I lost a pawn or a piece, then I find a move that just happens to work in that position, that I had missed previously. I definitely want to give that player the benefit of the doubt on that. It wasn't a 10 move forced checkmate in a complex position. It was a 2 move tactic from someone who thought they lost a pawn then saw something that happens to work out (even though it wasn't planned ahead of time). That's the way I see it, anyway.
Ngl, it doesn't look too suspicious to me. It just seems like he got a couple of lucky breaks and managed to play a good game. He played some theory in the opening. He made a normal-looking break in the early middlegame. Then, when he saw that he blundered d4, his brain switched into "tactics mode" and he recognized a pattern he'd recently studied. Finding one brilliant move in a game isn't too far-fetched. With the extra queen he just traded pieces and took away your pawns to convert. Sometimes people spend too long on simple moves. I still have that habit after crossing 2000, so I can totally see a 1400 who struggles w/ faster time controls doing that too.
This email is bogus. The give away was “IRL.” I’ve been teaching higher ed for 25 years. College profs would never do this. Go job exposing this cheater for what he is.
That teacher guy can be googled by name, and it turns out he is 28 yo. No surprise he used more internet slang than you, in particular when conversing in a foreign language. Now, did he really write that letter? I don’t know, but it is easy to find out by contacting him via another route and asking him.
You might just google that and find the courses he's teaching at the RWTH Aachen (Germany). It seems they are extracurricular sports activities as can be found at any university. Seems quite legit to me!
It’s funny to me that people don’t realize it’s different when one 1400 has 90% accuracy against another 1400 than when a 1400 has 90% accuracy against a 2300. Also psychologically, when I make a mistake or my opponent plays out of their mind and my queen is lost, I almost always have opportunities to get back in the game when they in turn make mistakes because they get excited and lose their cool. This guy was as constant as a computer. Alright I’ve said my piece
when you did a poll asking when your first loss would be the average vote was around 1350 so i think it is reasonable for your first loss to happen around now
People did take cheating into account when answering the poll I thought he would lose to someone under 1000 We saw a suspicious 400 and a 800 but it was well disguised My guess is that 10-20% of the games involve cheating but only a small percentage of those are totally blatant. I definitely expected to see more cheating than what I observed during the speedruns By the time Nelson reaches 1800 or so you'll see more and more draws and losses and even 5-10 game winning streaks will be hard to come by
I totally believe the story. The part he left out is he nicknamed stockfish "rice cooker"
This comment is gold
*LOL!*
Cook your opponents along with your rice
💀
what?@@jaikaransingh2303
Bro be cooking up the rice cooker gambit
Nelson: Let's play chess
Galadriel: Let's cook!
Let him cook
Let him cook now
@@danielyuan9862so many layers to this 😂
Good job
Very time-consuming to cook rice 😂
who let him cook
The one thing that seems odd to me is that if you really thought you blundered a pawn wouldn't you spend more than 12 seconds on the next move?
Cooking rice yo
@@cygnustsp "I thought I blundered a pawn but while I was cooking rice I found a beautiful brilliant follow up move in 12 seconds."
He spent 30 seconds on the move after that he spent 12 seconds on the after he sacrificed the knight
@@DavidPNeffguys it's normal to multi task, I myself have some experience as I am in a strict family and need to clean the house everyday, therefore when I want to play while cleaning I play chess
If y'all think I'm that guy pretending to be someone else I am 1000 rated named iam_12andiplaychessforfun and I live in the phillipines
I love Columbo. One of the best shows of all time, anyone who has never seen it needs to give an episode a try. They are all the same yet all different. If this was his case he would do demonstration in front of the accused. Columbo would sit down in a game of chess with the accused. He would have a rice cooker set up in the corner. He would make the brilliant move. Then he would get up and turn on his rice cooker and come back and immediately make the move after sitting down like a normal person. He would look at his watch and say “ah 25 seconds have passed, where has all the time gone?”
"I just have one more question..."
That's a funny comment!
@@l.s.584💯💯💯
🤣🤣🤣
He'd then need to check with the housekeeper to see if she was the one that turned on the rice cooker. If he's too poor to have a housekeeper he's innocent. I've seen enough episodes of Columbo to know that the guilty party is always very wealthy.
My advice is to never publicly accuse or hint at someone being a cheater while live streaming. You cannot control the actions of what your viewers will do in their vain attempt at social justice or whatever. With edited videos, you can curate the message that you want to send, sort of like you did with this one.
Good luck, thank you for addressing it head on. I bet it'll be a distant memory and under a week.
Nah it's OK to say that you suspect someone of cheating and report the person
Then laugh it off and move on to the next game
Yeah, i always like Naroditsky way of handling cheater, he just say his opponent was way "underrated" then archiving the game for evidence and report them. lol, but he always make a point that his opponent also could have the best game of their life, and tell the viewer not to accuse them of "cheating". unless it was so blatant and he just laugh.
"I bet it'll be a distant memory and under a week." For Nelson and his viewers, sure. It could also be why Galadriel97 swears off chess.
@@almondmagnum8604 To be fair, if you had such a good game you were considered cheating, it is also kind of motivational
Good thing no one asked for your advice
He was turning on the rice cooker I was dead😂😂😂
same 🤣
Taking down a NM does give you the munchies 😂
Fish and rice
He must have made two pots of rice because he took just as long to take the queen with BxD7 as he did to play Bxb5+ and Nb5.
@@kingrex1931 🤣
Worth noting a couple of things.
1.) He hit an accuracy of 93.4&, against a much higher rated opponent.
2.) One thing Levy always says is to look at clock spacing. He was extremely consistent with his timings, and an overwhelming majority of his moves were in the 15 seconds or less range. Only 7 of his 50 moves were above 20 seconds, and 5 more were above 15. That means 38 of his 50 moves were in the
For me the most suspicious thing is not that he found the Nb5, but that he did that as well as playing almost perfect both in opening, midgame as well as endgame.
perfect chess is equal to cheating?
@@astlinj if you are 1500 and play like 2300, yes. Playing perfect against someone who blunders isn't that difficult, but against someone who is 2500 and to do it the entire game... 🧐
@@astlinj It is when your opponent is almost 1000 rated higher than you
@@astlinj If you have followed his rating climb series you would notice that every player he played against before did a few mistakes each game. People around 1200-1500 are usually strong at some or most moments of the game, but to play almost perfect in every part of the game is very unlikely. 93% accuracy against someone who is 1000 higher rating than you is very suspicious
@@isakoolsson So right bro 👍
If he did cheat during your game you could check some of his other games. But to me that Nb5 idea does seem a bit suspicious. He did spend about 15 seconds on that move and then spent 12 seconds does seem very suspicious. When you sacrifice a piece like that you need to be 100% certain that the sacrifice works the first time around.
Yes exactly. As a 1400 I think that move was probably beyond my ability to find, and if I somehow managed to spot it I certainly would have spent longer thinking about it
im 1150
i dont think i would have found that move but i think anyone over 1000 has a decent chance of finding it
15 seconds on brilliant move isnt that bad in this case since theres not much to calculate because all you need to do is look out for is checks and captures which black didnt have much of, so all you need to do is quickly scan for them and if nothing bad happens then play your brilliant move. So i dont see how you cant be 100% certain after 15 seconds
@@BoomSki-pn9lb well it’s because your opponent isn’t required to take the knight. As a 1400 myself I would feel compelled to calculate all moves other other than cxb5 before I felt comfortable playing that move. The queen has a check for example, and while it isn’t good I would need to calculate that to verify
@@BoomSki-pn9lbit's the fact that the bishop move after the knight move also took 12 seconds is suspicious. You don't make that knight sacrifice without already planning to check with the bishop
I'm with you Nelson. Easy to backstory with all the moves completed.
It's highly likely he did cheat indeed, just from looking at his account.
He could of easily faked being a teacher
It is sad that people need to be told to not be jerks. If a player cheats, they will be caught, but assuming someone is cheating does not give others the right to act like fools.
Even if they are cheating, you shouldn't act like fools.
Agreed. Nelson should pin this comment.
Yes, agreed! I was going to post a similar comment.
Which is the point that almost every other commenter seem to be ignoring.
That’s 100% him pretending to be a teacher ahahaha
Also thought so, but you can actually google the sender's name and find a real chess player
@@lucasbertoldo4932then it will be easy to confirm, if it really was him
Maybe 99.9%, but not 100%. We cannot be sure for anything. The best we can do is wait for a good explanation, so we are able to believe that no cheating was included, or maybe a confession of the played that they did cheat.
Exactly my immediate diagnostic …
Does anyone have a way to contact Viktor and ask if this gmail is his real email address? Probably not, but that would resolve things pretty quickly.
My #1 takeaway from this is, if it is true, it's really sweet that his teacher took the time out to write this email. Reminds me of the way my basketball coach in high school was looking out for us, he was a real stand up guy and one of my biggest rolemodels to this day.
Or it could be the cheater pretending to be a teacher.
@@kingrex1931 I suppose teacher is an anagram for cheater. Keyser Soze stuff.
@@googlewhackthis There is too much evidence that shows the guy was cheating. He took the same amount of time to do the critical move as he did the two obvious follow ups. He also had a massive raise in his accuracy rate in his last six games as of this video posting than what he previously had. Do you think that all of the sudden he went from a 1500 level player to a 2000 level player?
This is why I doubt it was an actual teacher, unless he just told the teacher what happened without showing the video. Anyone looking at all the evidence would draw the conclusion that the player was cheating.
@@googlewhackthis Teacher and Cheater are anagrams of one another. Anagrams have nothing to do with the meaning of the words, they just have the same letters in a different order.
@@kingrex1931 I was literally just making a crap joke.
I'd really recommend blurring the email address of the friend that sent you the email. Just extra precautions for people to not go harass further. Despite your good intentions, people are silly. Good to hear the thoughts and explanations behind everything. Keep up the cozy vibes!
Definitely.
Absolutely. Moreover, I think you should take down this video. Showing email of the person who messaged you privately is a big No No
@@gumerovi All he'd have to do is use something like iMovie to block out the email.
But it's been posted, so more damage has been done. 8-(
If you watch to the end they permit Nelson to freely show the email. My first reaction was the same but this person seems ready for whatever might come their way
Also, at the very end of the video, the teacher (Weinkauf) says it's okay to show his email address in a video.
As a slow thinker, my strength goes up way more than you would expect on longer time controls, so I can relate to having disproportionately low blitz strength. The suspicious maneuver looks like something a 1500 could do, nothing too strange about that.
1500 is really uneven terrain. Like, you get games with high accuracy, but sometimes, you just make a bad move. If you get lucky, then maybe you just don't make a bad move in some particular game.
It seems like a reasonable report in good conscience, and I don't think a single report should get someone shut down for cheating unless it's 100% certain, so it all seems above board to report something suspicious.
Yep. I still win most of my rapid games at almost 1400, but struggle at 700 in bullet and at 1100 in blitz.
It's a totally different skill to find great tactics than to see easy blunders fast.
And I also play mostly blitz btw.
Just to be clear, any 1500 would get smashed by any random player above 2000 in any time format, thats why the suspicion is more than justified
@@pommedemer1922 suspicions may be justified, conclusions aren't.
And don't forget, he lost to one 2-move tactic
Yup... I dance between 1450 and 1550 and my accuracy is usually in the high 80, low 90s, but sometimes I blunder something stupid for no reason and then the game is in the 70s through 80s... I think my highest accuracy ever was something like 95 or 96, but it was an easy game where my opponent blundered a piece early in an opening I knew.
This game looks pretty normal to me, to be honest. The only thing suspicious is the 12 second delay on the recapture, but I've also just paused for a bit after making what I think is a good move to make absolutely sure I'm not missing something stupidly obvious as I'll get excited and lose focus.
@@pommedemer1922well it's not impossible for a 1500 to win a 2000+ player in one game. It's just very improbable and the possibility of that happening is about 1%. Since Nelson is playing so many games and his opponents get stronger game by game, the logic says that he is not going to win every game.
His rice cooker told him the moves
I kind of figured something like this would happen whenever you lost your first match of the climb. i.e. you'd either run into an actual cheater or someone would get lucky enough not to make those "one or two mistakes" 1400s typically make. Unfortunately in a game like this those two are indistinguishable.
The fact that Nelson made blunders in his two previous games and the players picked up on them means he's playing a better caliber of player, and eventually he will lose. It was kind of to be expected.
He did specifcially point out it was the combination of both the regular cadence, someone using similar analysis times for very unequal positions, and the caliber of a number of the moves being used which made it seem suspicious, not just that the person didn't make any blunders. Having just found this speed run and watched most of it very recently, this game definitely was developing very oddly even prior to the Nb5 move.
@@christopherheckman7957 to be fair to Nelson he's 2200 rated when he's actually playing chess when he's livestreaming and explaining every move to his viewers I'm sure his level drops hence the blunders.
@@MinotaurvsCyclops It's irrelevant what his rating is. He's now playing better players, which means he's more likely to lose if he blunders.
Don't worry about that Nelson you are a very special chess teacher and thats most counts.. After all a 154 winning streak is not bad at all.. Just keep up your excellent job!!!
It's funny that we got no screenshot attached about "subscriber harassment messages" in the email yet we still got a clear description about rice cooking stuff
it's a given with a creator as big as chess vibes is
Galadriel definitely wrote thise email lmfao
I don't cook when I play chess, that's preposterous. I file my taxes while I play.
😂😂😂
Don't worry about it. This too will pass... you can only control what you do, not others. Don't waste your present by worrying about the past.
The truth is we'll never know, so, move on and keep smiling. You're a wonderful teacher. You are extremely clear in what you teach. Chin up, head up... and carry on regardless.
Truth is in a year or two you'll be going " Galadriel who? "
Forget about it!!!
She was a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" right? 😂
@@khy6330 yeah, I think she was an elf or something like that. She could look into a watery mirror and see if you were cheating or not!!!
@williammcguire3426 I really like the wise message to Nelson. Actually, your message is quite universal which I will also try to remember. I guess another way of saying it is don't waste your mental and emotional energy about the past or future at the expense of the present. The cost of regret is expensive. I like Nelson's teaching style, the way he communicates as well as his personality. In fact, sometimes I'll watch his videos to destress. That's pretty powerful if all you're trying to do is teach chess, but someone can get a chess lesson plus something actually more valuable than a chess lesson, which is positively affecting one's mood. Nelson has been a blessing to me. Thanks Nelson, you're awesome!
He was more upset in this video than he was in the livestream
He was chill really, a couple of chuckles and it was off to the next game
Maybe Magnus and Hikaru should take the same advice (LOL)
@@DanielSong39 yeah I agree. I watched the game live and after knight b5 Nelson did get a bit suspicious and actually checked his opponents stats... but remained chilled.
But " rice cookers " and two long delays before executing the brilliancy....hmm...I personally think Nelson has every reason to be suspicious...
He remained cooler than I would... lol! No matter what, I think Nelson is one of the better teachers of chess out there.
An all around " good guy "...hope he moves on from this soon.
The famous Rice Cooker game, will go down in history.
Hahaha not only did he play a GM level move, he did it while cooking rice. This guy is a prodigy
The move was really not that hard to find. Is saw that the pawn is pinned sort of and look a ways to exploit that.
@@justusschoenmakers8987 His mind appears to think in terms of patterns, which I'm told is how the greats think. Putting together that pattern with some opening preparation means this guy is GOOOOD.
(Of course, assuming he's not cheating.)
also this is a red flag (but, ok, I think maybe he is that strong at chess, the only think that i'm not 100% sure) .
@@blitzy3244 chinese pretendin German 🤯
@@blitzy3244 university student eating rice; plausible. (also small living space -> easily accessible rice cooker)
1 year later, still rated 1400
The email to Nelson was the guy who cheated. Just a troll.
OMG! So this is where all the “cooking rice” jokes came from!
I have never heard a professor call a student "a friend of mine". That seems a bit of an odd way to introduce them. "Galadriel is a student of mine" would be standard
FYI in the university I attended, students can go through some processes to apply to become an instructor of 1 credit pass/fail class (that does not satisfy any graduation requirement).
That doesn't sound strange to me. First, from the diction (often awkward, imperfect grammar and usage) of the e-mail, it sounds like English is not the primary language of Viktor and the professor, so you can't expect the same level of nuance and understanding of word usage as you would from native English speakers. Second, it sounds like the professor is running a chess program that is not a formal class, so they don't have a normal teacher-student relationship, but rather more of a collegial relationship. Third, because of the language issue and simply because we don't have all the facts (e.g., is Viktor a regular student or an older, part-time student, maybe as old as the teacher?), we really don't know what terminology (translated into English, with errors) makes sense to Viktor and his teacher in their context and culture.
I'm the guy who sent the E-Mail and I'm not a professor LOL. I'm just a regular student who happens to be fairly good at chess and I'm teaching chess at the university.
Just google 'Viktor Weinkauf RWTH Aachen' and you will find some proof (can't link it here because YT won't show my comment...)
'm the guy who sent the E-Mail and I'm not a professor LOL. I'm just a regular student who happens to be fairly good at chess and I'm teaching chess at the university. Just google my name and you will see that I'm legit :)
Very good point IMO! Never thought of that until reading your comment. Teacher's at any level of schooling would never use the friend when talking about a student. Very good observation!
Someone mentioned it, but it would be a good idea to blur out who sent the email. There could be people wanting to also harass that person too, besides the opponent (I know right?). Anyhow, I've forgotten about this small drama, just looking at this video I am still suspecious, and don't think the opponent is entirely in the clear, but I am going to drop it because it is a waste to keep thinking about it. It's time to move from that.
I'd like some actual proof of "harassment". Just some people messaging you asking "why did you cheat?" is not what qualifies as harassment. Not in my book.
@@kshitiz6376 I don't have proof, and am only basing off what was said in the video. The thing is, while you didn't intend to and just politely asked, the words "why did you cheat" can be interpreted differently (as in could be viewed as a threat).
@@arthurrtang9670 Fair enough. There's no emotional context in text messages so even harmless messages can seem to be rude/impolite/threatening.
@@kshitiz6376 clown
@@kshitiz6376 having a bunch of random people message you over something they are not involved with at all is definitely harassment and choices made can expediate or slow it
When I'm cooking rice, my elo goes up to 3100 idk why
Then I get accused of cheating, and I'm just like "bro, I was cooking rice, chill"
lol
I teach chess at a university! It's a 1 credit class, it counts as math (but since it's only 1 credit, it's not going to be enough to satisfy most requirements other than raw credit count), and we focus mostly on endings and techniques for analyzing them. I do give the kids time to play each other and we sometimes go over the games together, if there's time.
Yeah, a lot of things get "taught" on a university campus that aren't even for 1 credit. Most of them are less legal than Chess, but I wasn't clear from the email that it was a course not just a club.
pretty interesting to know it counts as a math course, very nice 😎😎
Do they also teach a course in basketweaving?
@@thenextgeneration9030 makes sense; lots of logic and pattern recognition involved. Could also be used to teach several applicable aspects of graph theory.
@@JamesWanders Are you the person who sent the mail?
The bullying and harassment is not cool. I am disappointed in every viewer who has done this.
The letter talks about him as a player in such a way that his ratings should be way above what they are. It doesn't make any sense.
I tend to play slower games too, and for the past several years never played blitz. You mentioned that he did play a lot of blitz. It's possible he gets into time trouble in blitz and either loses on time or makes critical blinders under pressure and cannot break out of his rating.
So the guy is multi-tasking, studying deep opening theory and middlegames that arise from openings (Jobava, French, etc) and he's just a little below 1500? That's bs!
I have a feeling Viktor is the guy's alt.
I would say he was definitely cheating and now he just trying to play victim
A 1400-1500 with a chess teacher? Damn, that doesn't looks good unless it's their first week together but then the teacher wouldn't send that email.
I don't know what to conclude but I definitely want to sign up for that University course. Seems like you learn all the things you need to win games. LOL.
Seems a bit dodgy though with the teacher using a gmail address and calling his pupils "friend".
The course is a 1 day tutorial on how to insert beads up your @ss.
You need stockfish "rice cooker" edition and your games result will be great. LOL
I can’t believe a 1400 played a near perfect game against a much higher rated opponent while also cooking dinner and making very complex moves in an average of 10 seconds.
Sorry. That’s a cheater
The rice cooker is a codeword for stockfish😂
Sushi time!
I watched this live. Not yet discussed but suspicious to me at the time was how long Galadriel97 was taking to play his moves in the end game: Nelson could hardly move a piece, the only analysis needed for each of Galadriel97's moves was to check his queen wasn't blundered, pick off the remaining pawns on a and b files, and push his pawns on a, b and/or c. Check out the live stream from 34:00: Galadriel97 takes between 7 and 26 seconds per move in a knight & bishop versus queen endgame with no passed pawns (at 34:10 he takes 23 seconds to take the pawn on g7 - that's beyond suspicious). If he's clever enough to spot the earlier knight to b5 (and the other best moves) why did he need to take so long for each simple move in the end game?
he has a chance and doesn't want to blow it ?
@@BSAT10 why not kill the pawns and push your own? Why keep trying to check and getting denied?
Aye but if I played against an NM I'd take my time as well
Nelson, you should reupload the video and censor the professor's email address in post. It is visible at 5:24.
Oh so this is where the rice cooking reference originated😅
As a slow player it's not strange to me to struggle moving up in blitz, sometimes it's not even about having less time to think but about the panic you feel from having that additional time pressure to begin with
I feel that. Somehow losing is less scary via checkmate than it is by being timed out.
I struggle with blitz too and I don’t even try bullet.
Hi Nelson.
I'm a big fan of chess vibes! Thank you!
Two things about the letter really strike me as odd.
1) Why even say he's cooking rice? He could just say he was distracted by something, pondering the move, etc. I would not write a letter and give such an silly excuse. Even if I were cooking rice, I'd probably say something more vague.
2) The other thing that I'm trying to wrap my head around is the following, and it might lend him some credibility:
That letter is pretty darn well-written. It addresses the fellow's discomfort at being hounded, but does not belabor the point. That's fair. And he openly allows you to put the letter on Chess Vibes. If I were cheating, I think I'd be embarrassed by putting the letter out there and inviting more criticism.
That being said, I find it odd (and some others have mentioned this) that no school is named, nor does the professor name himself. If I were defending my student, I'd certainly tell you my name.
Last note. Yeah, Nelson, I'm on your side. Only a very sophisticated player could play that game against you.
Yet there is one more thing that bugs me. If Galadriel wrote the letter himself, it is, despite a few blunders, written very well. Whoever wrote that letter has a descent mind. A good command of the English language.
Just pieces and pontifications, for whatever they're worth.
-J
I also find it especially suspicious that he claims that he was multitasking while crushing an NM. I remember one time I sent a text in the middle of a game. I got mated on the next move!
Keep on rockin' Dude...I enjoy watching and learning.
Magus: hates butt plus
Anna: hates lipstick
Nelson: hates rice cookers
magus sus
Lmao😂
Magus was cheated on by butt beads
Anna was accused of cheating with a lipstick
Nelson was cheated on by a rice cooker
I don't think Anna would hate lipsticks.
Who knows what's true. But what's a fact is that he either spent a lot of time and mental energy to explain everything or he has a badass teacher who doesnt only teach people great chess, but also has the time to write great emails to defend his students.
To me, it seems really weird that a teacher would be messaging you on behalf of a student. It sounds like a little kid making up a story, just too elaborate. Gives me Chandler Halderson vibes
1000 percent he's cheating. Anytime you suspect something, means there's definitely something fishy.
The dead giveaway that 'Viktor' is actually Galadrial97 is the random oversharing (rice cooker etc). It's what all liars/cheats/scammers do. A university professor first of all wouldnt get involved in such a petty dispute and if they did, they would do it from a faculty email address and would clarify their curriculum in a paragraph instead of ranting on about rice cookers. Granted, English is probably not their first language but that genuinely reads like it was written by a 14 year old pretending to be their parents and explaining why their homework wasn't submitted.
There is no question in my mind that this player used assistance in this game, however its absolutely not OK to harass them. Grow up.
I was going to highlight this.
As an educator myself, I would always email using my faculty address to add clout to what I am saying.
Sending something from my gmail is super weird.
I'm the guy who sent the email. Just google my name and you will see that I'm a legit 2000 Elo player who teaches chess at university. I'm not Galadriel.
@@DIYdoofus I'm not a professor, just a regular student.
They’re not a professor. They’re a chess tutor. There is no such thing as a professor of chess.
@@AP0PT0SIS I honestly thought they are called a chess coach. But I think it is the same thing.
dang turning on the rice cooker? for something u have 2 hands
Honestly i think that this email with all these rice cooking, adv french ideas and blitz IRL crap just made matters worse but imo this guy could've just found that idea and after sacing the knight he maybe took some time double checking if he was right. As someone mentioned that email could've been written by him because dudes just scared he's gonna get instantly banned just because a youtuber reported him
I'm the guy who sent the email and nop, I'm not Galadriel. Just google my name and you will see that I'm a legit 2000 Elo player who teaches chess at university.
It really disappoints me that viewers of your channel which only encourages positive actions were harassing a person who wasn't proven guilty
As a 1600, the brilliant knight move is definitely something that can happen at a high 1400/low 1500 level. Someone can do a lot of puzzles and be good at tactics but still blunder in certain games. That move itself really didnt seem that suspicious to me.
Of course the time usage is another story.
Yeah, a 2 move tactic is not suspicious. That's not some complicated find and I think it's sad for that to be what makes Nelson think he's cheating.
The 1400 had inaccuracies in the opening before that.
yeah im around 900 and i can find some pretty neat moves for my rating because I play puzzles most of the time. besides that, i barely know anything about positional play and i end up with lots of inaccuracies or mistakes.
now a 1500 is way way better than me so they could probably find that knight move aswell. but beating someone 1000 rating higher is just suspicious lol, i would not beat a 1900 in a thousand games
Nope, this wouldn't happen in a 1400/low 1500 level.
I don't know what chess etiquette is but in the bridge world, it is absolutely wrong to publicly accuse someone of cheating. There is a recorder whose job it is to accept (privately!) concerns about irregularities. If the chess world doesn't have something similar, then that's a problem.
In terms of giving this matter a full fleshing out, I do believe it's highly relevant to note that potent play had already been encountered starting at around 1300. Two games in particular we're fully on track for an L before this one. Don't forget, ratings groups also include those who have fallen back from higher levels (though that doesn't appear to be the case here). I'm at this level and about 5-10% of the time I surprise myself with sussing out strong tactics and near perfect play...mid 90s accuracy and a slash line of say 2/0/0 in a 30, 40 move (or greater) game. Those games end up getting (absurd) c.c ratings estimates...even above 2200. And often that's necessary to just barely get a win given that my opponent ends up with an accuracy stat in the high 80s and a slash of something like 4/1/0. None of that means cheating didn't happen here. But I do think a fair amount of deference has to go toward the guy simply having played a few hundred Elo above norm. That possibility has to be just as likely as having cheated... especially given the fact potent play has already been encountered. That said, those other guys could've been cheating. And make no mistake c.c is beseeched by such crap. A week almost never goes by that I don't end up with a refund.
Only a cheater would email you as "his teacher" to argue his case.
and now (11 months later) he’s lost almost 90 pts didn’t make any progress which is weird for someone who studies theory with a coach on a university level !
12 seconds to see that brilliant move would seem legit if he just immediately took with the bishop, it's not impossible he have been in this position before if this is his preferred opening. You are allowed to learn from the analyzer after the game, and if you repeat your openings over and over again, you'll learn the right moves.
I think his arguments seems suspicious, I agree with you it's not nice to message him and turn this into the Hans Niemann case all over again. I'm just a low ranked scrub so Idon't know alot of theory, but I like to repeat my openings and try to get my opponent on the same Track so I know what i'm doing.
This 1493 dude does seem too low rated for his skills, but again, he might be the new Hans and just quickly climb through the ranks, and it seems all fair again when he turns 2k+.
I think you are correct Nelson and this is the right approach
Oh absolutely cheating one hell of a friend defending a lying cheating chess player
He wrote the email by himself 😅
That email is almost definitely fake. It's not from a university email address, written like a teen/young adult, it has no proper signature block. Also, I don't think a professor would dive into an issue like this. Also, a university "chess professor"?? What kind of university has something like that?
Even the content, tone, and structure of the email is just plain bizzare.
You should ask the "professor" what school and department he works in. Ther're university directories where you can search for specific teachers and verify his story.
This email all but confirms he was cheating.
I didn't think he was cheating yesterday. After this effed up email I am convinced he did.
Words cannot express how mad I am that this even happened, Nelson isnt somebody that deserves that
"Oh those moves were so obvious" is kinda bogus, this really was just suspicious. Perfectly fine to stay sus, even if it is possible. But if anyone of y'all harassed another person? Come on... This is a game of gentlemen. Harassing is just as, if not worse, than cheating in the first place.
Never in the history of chess has it taken 12 seconds to turn on a rice cooker.
E-mail from 'a friend'. LMAO
students with some seniority in the matter can apply to TA for courses and also, in some universities, apply to teach the courses
I was there for that match and to me it was extremely suspicious... the knight sacrifice on b5 wasn't the suspicious part, it's the fact that after he 'calculated' the sacrifice and the moves afterwards, it still took him over 10 seconds for each move following the initial knight move
if you calculate a sacrifice like that, you also calculate the moves that will come after it, meaning you shouldn't need to spend over 10 seconds for the move
not true.
-he did not use the same time for each move
-I always check after each move if the tactic still works. 10s is a good amount for that
@@deinauge7894 but there is literally nothing to consider about it. If you go balls to the wall and sacrifice a full piece there is no point in rechecking if the tactic works
When i was 330 and i spend i played 2 brilliant moves and each ine took me 7 secs
@@jacobsun1564 This is a dumb take.
@@deinauge7894Me too. It's something I learned from doing puzzles.
The most suspicious part was that the quality of his moves faded and his pace slowed near the end of the game. I'm skeptical.
i am 1300 and I am weak on end games like a lot of players around my rating. He studied openings so it's not that far fetched to play well in the opening, and then get a bit lucky to find the sacrifice and faded late on, maybe he had nerves, or something. I have played the odd really good game and the odd brilliant move, especially involving tricky knight tactics. To me it is feasible to play that game as a 1400 player, it wasn't like a succession of complex tactics, he just found logical moves, and one brilliant move.
Male Galadriel sounds like he’s the one who sent you the email.
Agreed!
now i understand your term rice cooker...that being said, if you dont want your community to harass this person, then dont call cheating as "cooking rice". Unless theres a follow up story about this game being cheated, that would be different
I'm pretty much convinced he's a cheater. Not just because of Nb5. The imperturbability with which he played afterwards was more impressive. Totally flawless, every move was a hammer blow. That coolness doesn't belong to a 1500 player. No way!
Chess master lose queen in opening trap and immediately accuse opponent for cheating .Ego.
Hey man, wild situation here! Personally, I'm inclined to say he was cheating.
1. The email just seems... off. Though German, so his first language may not be English, his email doesn’t seem like it's written how someone whose second language is English would sound, and it definitely doesn’t sound like someone trying to make a professional impression.
2. What kind of 1400 finds that move? Either he really is the next Carlsen, or Stockfish found it. Plus, finding it in 12 seconds is crazy.
3. The rice cooker story doesn't really make sense, it's not a super long time control, and I personally hate trying to multitask while playing chess.
4. While I totally understand the "please stop harassing me" aspect of his case, the "solutions" the coach provides are also just... weird.
5. His account's game history is suspicious. His most recent game was against you (93% accuracy!!), and he hasn't played since. Plus, who turns on their rice cooker, plays a ridiculously good endgame, and then doesn’t even play another game while their rice is cooking?
All in all, it seems really suspicious, but innocent until proven guilty, i guess? If that was legit, then well played Galadriel, you're gonna be an incredible player. If it was stockfish, shame on you.
We'll see if Galadriel becomes a GM LOL
This is a very obvious cheater, he has played only 30 Rapid games total and in general this type of play is unachievable for a 1500. I don't know why you're going through such controversy.
So I just noticed that, regarding the 12 second Bb5 move, Nelson took 133 seconds on the move beforehand. I feel this is notable because the email says he was turning on his rice cooker at the moment when Nelson moved... which is very coincidental, considering there was a 133 second interval beforehand in which the turning on of the rice cooker could have taken place, but instead it was exactly when Nelson moved. Just wanted to point out the seemingly rather coincidental nature of this.
Or the guy started the game knowing in advance that he was going to take some time at some point during the game to attend to his stove, and then noticed that Nelson was having a very long think and figured he could just do it then.
@@bunpeishiratori5849 Well the issue is that the turning on of the rice cooker only takes a few seconds (I would imagine), so the fact that it coincided with Nelson's move is of low probability considering the given time interval. Of course "turning on the rice cooker" may imply more than the click of a button, I'm not sure, but if it was a longer procedure then it would be coincidental that he came back at around the same time that Nelson moved. Unless he was keeping an eye on the screen while cooking rice, which I'd say is only possible if he was playing on his phone. The fact that he said specifically that he was *turning on* the rice cooker makes me think he didn't stop in the middle of the procedure, rather he had just finished the procedure, when he came back to the game. Which would seem coincidental with how much time was present. I hope what I'm saying makes sense... if he stepped away from the computer during a 133 second interval, it's kind of lucky that he left / came back at the nearly perfect moment.
@@exist0142it's more than a few seconds. Fill with water and rice and then turn on.
@@shaneebersole8366 Regardless of how long it took, it's coincidental. If it took little time, it's a coincidence he happened to leave right around Nelson's move. If it took longer, it's a coincidence he happened to come back right around Nelson's move. The only way it's not a coincidence is if he was playing on mobile, and keeping an eye on the game, while doing his cooking.
@@exist0142 ngl I'm sure you've had the situation where you wait 15 minutes for something to happen and as soon as you stop waiting it happens
say u haven't i dare u
turning on his rice cooker 🤣 well at least that's an original excuse 😂
100% cheater... He had ALL number 1 moves from move 6 onwards... 93.7% accuracy because towards the end he thought he could play it out himself but when he saw that your h pawn was getting closer to the queening square he started cheating again...
Well, I want to share my point of view. Yes, it is possible for a 1500 to get lucky by finding a crazy tactic like this. Yes, it is possible that this 1500 didn't immediately continue their tactic but spent 14 seconds to play the discovered attack on the queen because of another task. Yes, it is possible that this guy wasn't cheating. But all of this story leaves me really troubled. Why a 1500 learns advanced theory but can't pass 1100 blitz? Why a 1500 plays like 20 or 30 stockfish moves in one game? Also, why didn't the player themselves contact you and instead they made their teacher do so? Were the stockfish moves also coincidental? And the similar amount of time used for those moves is also random? And the 1500 was sure enough that it was safe to play a risky tactic like this, after using only a few seconds, and even while cooking, and even against a national master?? I don't want either for this occurrence to become a scandal that will annoy us for a long time. However, we cannot say that we believe (or do not believe) what the chess university teacher, if this is a real, unless they give a good explanation for those questions. Again, I am just sharing my point of view, with no intention of being rude or offensive to anyone.
After bro was cooking his magical rice he became Magnusus Charlosus
Your opponent is a 1400 level player making dozens of perfect moves, whilst having an account only a few months old. Next his play style is 12 seconds per move… doesn’t matter if it’s an obvious take back or a brilliant, it’s 10-15 seconds… He takes down a 2400 like it’s nothing…
Seems obvious to me he used assistance in some form, maybe not all the time but used computer assist as a guide
In defense of the rice cooker bit, I've turned on my oven to preheat multiple times during a game. My stove and fridge are less than 10 feet from where I'm sitting.
I would say there is a high chance he cheated but im not going to say he 100% did, i know how frustrating It is to beat someone fair and square just to be accussed of cheating
WAKE UP people, he CHEATED - you don't make a whole series of SF level moves 12 seconds apart from each other when you are a 1400, not even if you are a 2200 - maybe in a very slow classical game, you might have the game of your life and find a couple of these Stockfish level moves, but only after studying the board for 15 minutes, not 15 seconds, over and over again! 🙄
It is a little bit weird that he played that move considering he hasn’t studied the knight sacrafice before and he also could think of the advanced French poison pawn all in like maybe 12 seconds from the other move and then 12 seconds on the move before that would’ve seen the knight sac with the king and rook fork and he didn’t take that much extra time to see if it even does anything.
What's even weirder is that even Nelson wasn't able to see this move until his opponent played it. He was explaining his thought process to his viewers and he didn't even consider this. Sure,I'm to believe that a 1400 is able to find a move that even a titled player is not able to see. Definitely not cheating since he drew against a 1750 I guess?
so this is the beginning for rice lmao
This happens to me all the time. I missed a move, I think I lost a pawn or a piece, then I find a move that just happens to work in that position, that I had missed previously. I definitely want to give that player the benefit of the doubt on that. It wasn't a 10 move forced checkmate in a complex position. It was a 2 move tactic from someone who thought they lost a pawn then saw something that happens to work out (even though it wasn't planned ahead of time). That's the way I see it, anyway.
Ngl, it doesn't look too suspicious to me. It just seems like he got a couple of lucky breaks and managed to play a good game. He played some theory in the opening. He made a normal-looking break in the early middlegame. Then, when he saw that he blundered d4, his brain switched into "tactics mode" and he recognized a pattern he'd recently studied. Finding one brilliant move in a game isn't too far-fetched. With the extra queen he just traded pieces and took away your pawns to convert. Sometimes people spend too long on simple moves. I still have that habit after crossing 2000, so I can totally see a 1400 who struggles w/ faster time controls doing that too.
He feels down because the way that he cheated...
That seems unbelievable.
This email is bogus. The give away was “IRL.” I’ve been teaching higher ed for 25 years. College profs would never do this.
Go job exposing this cheater for what he is.
That teacher guy can be googled by name, and it turns out he is 28 yo. No surprise he used more internet slang than you, in particular when conversing in a foreign language.
Now, did he really write that letter? I don’t know, but it is easy to find out by contacting him via another route and asking him.
Another item of concern: I've never heard of taking chess as a class in college. Maybe this "prof" is tutoring the kid?@@polytropos1.1
Also 17 seconds to push a pawn to a4 ? Mad sus…
Why didn't Galadriel email you himself? Can the teacher prove he's a teacher? What "University" teaches chess courses?
If he sent the email himself he will not have anyone to back him up so he asked his teach
You might just google that and find the courses he's teaching at the RWTH Aachen (Germany). It seems they are extracurricular sports activities as can be found at any university. Seems quite legit to me!
The fact that people harrass him makes me angry.. Like wtf are you guys thinking?
Nelson will move on in no time. But I will smile about The Rice Cooker Conspiracy for a good while 😂
It’s funny to me that people don’t realize it’s different when one 1400 has 90% accuracy against another 1400 than when a 1400 has 90% accuracy against a 2300.
Also psychologically, when I make a mistake or my opponent plays out of their mind and my queen is lost, I almost always have opportunities to get back in the game when they in turn make mistakes because they get excited and lose their cool. This guy was as constant as a computer. Alright I’ve said my piece
@@GlazedYeti in this case though none of his moves looked inhuman because they all had fast visible results just 1-2 moves down the line
He was cheating. It's obvious but no one should harass him. But he was definitely cheating
when you did a poll asking when your first loss would be
the average vote was around 1350
so i think it is reasonable for your first loss to happen around now
People did take cheating into account when answering the poll
I thought he would lose to someone under 1000
We saw a suspicious 400 and a 800 but it was well disguised
My guess is that 10-20% of the games involve cheating but only a small percentage of those are totally blatant. I definitely expected to see more cheating than what I observed during the speedruns
By the time Nelson reaches 1800 or so you'll see more and more draws and losses and even 5-10 game winning streaks will be hard to come by
This is so sad. I hope this guy's not getting harrassed anymore.
Definitely cheating, no-one cooks rice while playing, we eat peanut m&m's c'mon
brilliant comment !!
also true