Did GM Hikaru cheat? Chess.com reveals verdict on Hikaru cheating allegations

Accusations that Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura cheated to obtain the highest-ever Blitz rating have officially been shut down.

The chess community was thrown into chaos last week when Vladimir Kramnik accused Hikaru of cheating, sparking plenty of debate.

While Hikaru called the allegations “garbage” and even went on a monster win streak to prove his innocence, the sparks continued to fly with Kramnik deleting comments that defended Nakamura.

Now, Chess.com has officially weighed in with a verdict that there were “no incidents” of cheating after generating 2,000 individual reports on Hikaru’s games.

Chess.com shuts down GM Hikaru cheating allegations

On its website, Chess.com addressed Kramnik’s claims that the Kick streamer cheated while reiterating its commitment to taking cheating very seriously.

“In the case of the recent accusations against Hikaru Nakamura by Vladimir Kramnik, we can say that we have generated nearly 2,000 individual reports on Hikaru’s games in our Fair Play system and have found no incidents of cheating,” they said.

“Our team has done the math and various simulations of streaks for a player like Hikaru who has played more than 50,000 games. We have found that not only is a 45 game winning streak possible, it is in fact likely given the number of games played.”

They further added that the claims “lack statistical merit” after speaking with statisticians and a statistics professor at a top university.

As far as actual cheating goes, Chess.com revealed some wild numbers. In October of 2023, over 50,000 accounts were banned for cheating, including six titled players.

Chess cheating scandals have been a hot topic ever since Hans Niemann bested Mangus Carlsen in an over-the-board tournament, making headlines worldwide and even sparking debate about whether he used an adult toy to cheat in the match.