It happened in the online game for Norwegian Gnomes during the 2016/2017 season. Dagbladet has been in contact with Nilsen, who refers to a quote he provided to NRK.

– 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, says Nilsen.

Jon Ludvig Hammer, who started Norwegian Gnomes, told Dagbladet he wasn’t surprised by the confession.

– That confession is old news for me, Hammer said.

– When did you find out and why did he cheat?

– I don’t remember the specifics, but I don’t know why he cheated, replied the chess profiler.

– Confirmed

The chess president told NRK he played one game out of four in the group stage of the Pro Chess League online tournament with everyone else in the room.

Hammer tells Dagbladet that he doesn’t know who was in the room when Nilsen cheated on him.

– After Joachim participated in the team, I received an email from Chess.com, which wrote that the player status had been changed to “under review”. I interpreted it as a suspicion of cheating, even though it was never written in the email.

What did you think when you got that email?

– I thought he had cheated, but couldn’t confirm it.

How can you say it’s old news?

– I have confirmed the cheating later in the chess community, replied Hammer.

Thinking Nilsen should go

In the Norwegian Gnomes, Nilsen is teammates with, among others, Johan Salomon.

His former teammate was clear that the situation was untenable for the current chess president.

– Do you think Joachim Birger Nilsen should resign as president of chess?

– Yes, unfortunately. The chess president should be a role model for other chess players, and since one cannot cheat, Salomon wrote in an SMS to Dagbladet.

Admit cheating

He was clear that Thursday’s news about his former team-mate had upset him.

– I was shocked and very disappointed. Chess in chess is absolutely devastating, and is something I don’t think is happening at the top level in Norway, said Salomon, who also claims he never suspected cheating from Nilsen.

– This is very disrespectful towards opponents, who have dedicated their lives to chess. Even worse than online cheating, is “Over the board” cheating, which I think should be punished with a life ban.