THE GLASS BEAD GAME:

On Sunday, Yosha Iglesias, an up-and-coming chess YouTuber, posted a video using online software called ChessBase to review Niemann's game against Carlsen. ChessBase also helps determine the engine score for specific moves. For those who don't know, an engine score basically determines how good a move was based on how a chess engine, which is designed to play perfectly, would've played. For context, most world champions play at around a 70-75 percent engine score. According to Iglesias, at the pinnacle of Carlsen's career, Carlsen was playing at around 70 percent. During Bobby Fischer's famous 20-game winning streak, he was playing at 72 percent.

And according to Iglesias' research, Niemann did indeed play engine perfect in this much-talked-about match with Carlsen.

It's not super uncommon to play a single game at 100 percent, but on multiple occasions? Now, things are getting suspicious. The only time someone has consistently reached near 100 percent in recent history was Sébastien Feller, who achieved 98 percent optimal play at a tournament circa 2010. Later, the French Chess Federation determined that Feller was cheating by communicating with two other players. Basically, international master Cyril Marzolo stayed home and was being fed Feller's moves by grandmaster Arnaud Hauchard. Marzolo would then put those moves into a chess engine, and send coded messages to Hauchard letting him know what Feller's best move would be. Then, Hauchard, who was sitting in the same hall where Feller was playing, would sit at a table in Feller's line of sight. Based on what table Hauchard sat at, Feller would know what moves to make. It sounds complicated, and it was. The ruse wasn't found out immediately, but eventually, chess officials caught on and banned Feller from competing for over two years.

The point of that story is to show how unlikely a string of near 100 percent games is in over-the-board chess. Niemann, however, has more than a few such games, including one against Cristhian Camilo Rios in the second round of the Sharjah Masters on Sept.18, 2021, where Niemann played engine perfect for 45 consecutive moves.

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