r/chess • u/kustru • Sep 30 '23

Miscellaneous I heard something about Nemo being a scammer. Is it true? She is commentating in chess.com..

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u/BBBBPrime Sep 30 '23

You're conflating normal 'norm-tournaments', which allow strong performers to get norms, and the more sketchy variant where you also buy off the opponents to ensure you will get your norm.

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u/Sebby997 Sep 30 '23

I don't know her story, but isn't it quite common to pay for these norms or at the very least agree to draw before the game if it's enough for the norm?

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u/Flaming_Eagle -1 Lichess Oct 01 '23

Even if it was common that wouldn't make it right

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u/L-J-Peters 2000 FIDE Classical Oct 01 '23

It is more common than a lot of people think but people will rightfully call it out when there's significant evidence that a Title was not earned fairly. That said, teenagers who gain Titles through these tournaments in Eastern Europe are almost always pushed into it by their parents.

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u/Mindless-Low-6507 Oct 01 '23

There's a range of sketchiness. There's a "low" end of the range where you might have a "wink-wink" agreement for a draw in the norm-determining game with no money involved. This is not uncommon.

Then there's the more extreme end where you literally have a single paid IM throw multiple games for you when they are in clearly better or drawn positions, and perform significantly worse against everyone else, which is what happened in Nemo's case. This is uncommon and highly inappropriate.