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Early on in this debacle, I remember someone pointing out that Niemann's performance could be explained relatively easily by him having forward knowledge that Carlsen intended to use the unusual opening he went for. This would amount to cheating "in spirit", by way of having an unfair advantage over his opponent, while still being tournament legal.

Whatever happened to this version of events? It struck me as being a lot more credible than engine assistance.

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I also thought it sounded like a plausible explanation, but it's been dismissed as exceedingly less likely than engine assistance by those who know far more than I.

At the Sinquefield (the tournament in question), Magnus had just one team member with him and it's someone who has worked with for many years. The breakdown in the logic of the 'leaked prep' is that no one can come up with a plausible motivation for it to have been leaked - and no serious chess GMs seem to think it is a plausible theory.

Sounds about right. Thank you.

It's still widely talked about. It's just that the total amount of drama is overpowering.

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