 "Magnus Carlsen competes during the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in Paris. Image: Reuters")
The Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025 rolled out stringent security protocols ahead of the ongoing Paris leg to ensure there is no cheating in the competition. The event’s chief arbiter Gerhard Bertagnolli recently opened up on the system that has been implemented in the French capital.
In an exclusive interaction with The Indian Express, Bertagnolli talked about the security measures now in place at the Paris leg of the tour. His comments come amid debate around fair play in chess, particularly after Hans Niemann’s sudden withdrawal from the tournament less than 48 hours before the start.
CIA-level security at Freestyle Chess in Paris
“We have a strict control system. Players pass through airport-style metal scanners at the entrance — no electronic devices are allowed inside. Once cleared, they’re manually tracked by fair play officers. Inside the hall, we use signal detectors to monitor any suspicious activity. With a prize pool exceeding $680,000, we can’t afford lapses in security,” Bertagnolli was quoted as saying.
“We can never guarantee 100% detection, but we’re doing everything possible. We may not be at CIA-level surveillance, but we’re certainly close!” he added.
Unlike FIDE, which uses the anti-cheating algorithm developed by Professor Kenneth W. Regan, the Freestyle Chess Tour has opted for its own approach. The reason behind the move was that Freestyle chess features non-traditional openings that don’t go well with Regan’s model.
Is chess really that vulnerable to cheating?
Meanwhile, some experts have argued that chess might be fairer than most sports when it comes to cheating. Peter Doggers, a former Dutch chess player and Chess.com executive, has said that the perception of widespread cheating in chess may be overblown.
“Over-the-board cheating is less prevalent than people think. We might even overestimate the problem. In chess, we never had that the absolute best players in the world, none of them really ever got caught and likely never really did anything or maybe they tried a little bit, but it must have been very rare. We only have the allegations, to be honest. The strongest player caught cheating was I don’t think even in the top 50 in the world when that happened. So, in that sense, we are maybe doing even better than some other sports,” Doggers said.
Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura are currently playing the finals of the Freestyle Chess in Paris . They reached the summit clash after defeating Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer in their respective semi-final matches on Saturday.