The 29-year-old was elected as the new chess president this summer. Nilsen told state channels that he cheated during the Pro Chess League in the 2016/17 season. He later became part of the “Norwegian Gnomes” chess team.

– It’s not legal, and I’m pretty clear about that. The fact that it was years ago had nothing to do with it. This is simply not the way to do it, said Nilsen NRK.

The chess president said that he had someone else in the room who was hidden from the opponent. He said that he cheated in three games in the initial group stage of the online tournament.

Nilsen took over as chess president from Simen Agdestein, who declined to comment on the matter to NTB.

NTB has not been able to contact the Secretary General of the Norwegian Chess Federation Kristine Marie Ganz.

– Everyone chess knows about it

– I know he cheated. Everyone chess knows about it. But it’s good for him to stand. “I don’t think he should be president, but he’s done a great job,” Lars Oskar Hauge at Norwegian Gnomes told VG.

Hauge told the paper that he assumed he was playing together with Nilsen in the tournament, but he wasn’t sure if they would play together later.

An investigation by Chess.com revealed earlier this week that Niemann had been responsible for extensive fraud. According to a comprehensive report, Niemann may have received illegal favors at more than 100 online parties, as recently as 2020. Among these are several events with prize money.

It appears in reports that Niemann was also supposed to be cheating when he played for Norwegian team Norway Gnomes in the Pro Chess League in 2020.

Former member of the Carlsen club board

The chess line between Carlsen and Niemann has been the talk of the town this fall. Recently, Carlsen spoke to TV 2 recently where he spoke about his desire to focus more on “fair play” in chess.

– Yes. It is important to have cooperation between Fide (The International Chess Federation) and the largest online chess platform. Not taken seriously. I also don’t take it seriously enough.

– It’s always been a code of honor in high-level games that you trust each other, and that’s enough. You know it’s possible to cheat and it’s also possible not to get caught, but it’s devastating to get caught, so you believe that the incentive isn’t big enough for the best to cheat. Maybe it’s time to change that perspective, the Norwegian said.

Nilsen was previously a board member of the Magnus Carlsen “Offerspill” club.