Players, who excel or climb up the ranks faster than expected, are always looked upon with suspicion. Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen’s accusations on Hans Niemann after the latter’s win at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup – an over the board tournament – opened up a can of worms in subsequent tournaments.

Niemann was uninvited from tournaments and harassed online. But the alleged wrongdoings were ever proven.

Similarly, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is notorious for his accusations on players in online chess. He pointed fingers at India’s Nihal Sarin and Daniel Naroditsky, whose untimely death last month sent shockwaves across the global chess community.

Arjun Erigaisi, the only Indian to reach quarter-finals at the ongoing 2025 FIDE World Cup here at the Rio Resort in Arpora, too had faced similar situation accusations from Hikaru Nakamura before he established himself as a top-player.

Even in the world championship matches – the pinnacle of the sport – cheating accusations are flung without hesitation as evidenced by the Toilet Gate scandal between Veselin Topalov and Kramink in 2006.

In such a low-trust environment, it becomes imperative that all adequate measures are undertaken to ensure fair play.

So, how does FIDE ensure chess’ integrity at the FIDE World Cup 2025?

Thorough scrutiny

The procedure to ensure fair play at the FIDE World Cup starts nearly two hours before the play even begins. A group of fair play officials scan the tournament hall thoroughly to ensure that no gadgets or equipment, which could otherwise aid the players, are present in the area.

Even the players are scrutinised since before they enter the hall, right from the entry point to the building where the tournament hall is located.

“We are constantly monitoring the players, starting from the entry point at the smoking area,” said MS Gopakumar, the Chief Fair play Officer for the event, to Read.

Gopakumar, a former Indian Air Force officer, leads a team of nine fair play officers at the event. He is a veteran at the job, having officiated at multiple large scale events like the Olympiad and the 2023 World Championship match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren.

“We check the players before they enter the playing hall. We keep monitoring them during games and at the end of the day, we have a random fairplay check on the players,” explained Gopakumar.

“We check how many times they go into the toilet, how many times (they) have water,” he added.

Known for busting two cheating scandals within India’s domestic tournaments, Gopakumar asserts the key to success is keen observation.

“Observation is the key when it comes to catching them,” said Gopakumar. “Most of the time, we check the body language. The cases I have caught in the past in India, it’s due to the body postures the players had over the board.

“As you keep watching players round by round, you realise this isn’t a genuine posture for a player to sit on the board and that leads to further investigation,” he added.

Use of technology

However, naked-eye observation is not the only aspect employed to catch potential cheaters at an event as prestigious as the World Cup. The officials use several pieces of equipment to screen the players before they are let into the playing hall and this includes walking through a frame.

“We have several pieces of thermal, linear, and non-linear equipment and techniques, which I can’t disclose, that we use,” stated Gopakumar.

While a thermal screening uses infrared technology to detect heat energy without physical contact, the linear equipment is used to detect if any devices like Bluetooth or WIFI are actively transmitting signals.

The non-linear device, on the other hand, helps in detecting the presence of any silicon or semiconductor found in modern electronic devices regardless of whether they are turned on or off.

Then there is a software developed by anti-cheating expert Professor Ken Reegan, who works with Buffalo University in New York.

“We have statistical analysis of all the games that are played using Professor Ken Reegan’s software, using which we scan all the games and have measures in place,” explained Gopakumar.

The software, at its core, gives the players an Intrinsic Performance Rating (IPR) based on the moves they make over the board in any given game. The IPR is then compared with the player’s actual ELO rating. If there is a massive difference in the ELO rating and IPR given by the software, the fair play team swings into action and begins monitoring the player in question with greater precision.

The equipment and software are over and above the standard 15-minute delay, which exists between the real time play and all the official broadcasts and streams across the world.

Fans or media persons entering the playing hall are also strictly monitored. They are let inside the venue in five different slots – 2:40pm to 3:10pm, 4:15pm to 5:00pm IST, 5:15pm to 6:00pm IST, 6:15pm to end of play.

It is only in the first slot that media and fans are allowed to enter the venue with electronics like watches or mobile phones. Even then, mobile phones are to be in silent and on airplane mode to ensure silence is maintained all throughout.

From the second slot onwards, anyone who wishes to enter the playing hall is required to surrender any and all electronics at the cloak room right outside the hall. Any one who leaves the hall in a particular slot is also prohibited from entering again during the same time slot.

“In any society, or any game there will be a few who won’t play ethically. For that, we need to follow the rules,” added Gopakumar with a smile.

So that next time you want a game of chess at the highest level, you can be rest assured that the integrity of the competition is maintain by select fair play proponents just so the sanctity of the game remain unblemished.