This week’s New In Chess Podcast episode features an interview with American grandmaster Max Dlugy. At the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Dlugy sat down with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam for a frank conversation about the news story that continues to fascinate and divide the chess world: the story that developed around Hans Niemann after he was accused of cheating by Magnus Carlsen and chess.com.

A story that Max Dlugy was unwillingly drawn into when Magnus Carlsen posted a cryptic tweet that insinuated that Niemann might have learned a cheating lesson or two from his ‘mentor’ Max Dlugy.

In the interview, Max tells his side of the story.

Max Dlugy was born in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, in 1966.

When he was 11, his family emigrated to the United States, where young Max attracted attention with his chess skills. His international breakthrough came in 1985, when he won the Junior World Championship in Sharjah. One year earlier, he had already made his debut in the (overall) US Championship, where he finished third.

Dlugy liked to do things at a young age and had ambitions to do more than play chess. At the age of 24, he was elected President of the US Chess Federation. He was also one of the pioneers of speed chess and one of the key grandmasters supporting Walter Browne’s World Blitz Chess Association, which promoted speed chess years before it was embraced by the entire chess world. One of Dlugy’s claims to fame is occupying the number one spot in the World Blitz Association’s world rankings.

Dlugy always played competitive chess, but in the 1990s, he also started a successful business career. He worked on Wall Street and became a principal of the Russian Growth Fund, a hedge fund.

He even moved back to Russia, where he was to experience the pros and cons of Russian business life. He was doing well business-wise, but following false charges of embezzlement, he ended up in prison. Having spent eight months in prison, he successfully fought all charges and was acquitted and released. Nevertheless, he realized that this was a good moment to return to the US, and that’s what he did.

There he started his Chess Max Academy in New York, which became a great success.

In the interview with Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, Max Dlugy discusses his ambitious plans to further develop his Academy. But, as said, he tells his side of the Niemann story for most of the hour.

Max Dlugy is a great storyteller. His stories are not only enjoyable but also revealing.

The New In Chess podcast is published every Friday and can be listened to on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the New In Chess website.

Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
03:38 – Dlugy’s background and the founding of the Chess Max Academy|
19:31 – Dlugy’s first meeting with Hans Niemann
25:21 – His coaching of Niemann
29:18 – AD BREAK
34:51 – The infamous Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann game
36:36 – The “set-up” to implicate Dlugy in the drama involving lawyer Richard Conn
42:55 – Dlugy’s conflict with chess.com, online cheating allegations
46:27 – The Borislav Ivanov story
48:24 – Chess.com leaking Dlugy’s communications “for the sake of public interest”
49:04 – AD BREAK
50:13 – How does the “cheating situation” affect Dlugy these days?
51:30 – Why he believes chess.com is doing a bad job at detecting cheaters
53:39 – Hikaru Nakamura calls out cheaters without good evidence
55:07 – The problem with online accuracy scores and chess.com’s ‘immoral’ way of obtaining cheating “confessions”
58:15 – Dlugy is considering legal action against chess.com
59:51 – His suggested solution to the cheating problem
1:03:04 – How does he assess the damage done to Hans Niemann due to this scandal?
1:06:39 – Vladimir Kramnik’s “partnership” with Hans Niemann
1:09:00 – Does Dlugy think Magnus Carlsen regrets making the cheating allegations?
1:10:16 – Dlugy’s plans for the Chess Max Academy
1:12:30 – Outro