It was the unbelievable story that stunned the world – a chess grand master beaten by the underdog. And, allegedly, some anal beads.
Now, a year one, two pranksters claim to have done just that using a vibrating sex toy – proving the cheating method ‘is possible’.
Like the rest of us, Archie Manners and Josh Pieters were baffled by stories that chess player Hans Niemann used vibrating anal beads to beat world number one Magnus Carlsen last year – he was later cleared in one of the weirdest cases of all time.
So obviously the 30-year-olds decided to test if communicating via vibrations could help them beat one of the UK’s top players by recording a fake TV show for their YouTube channel.
Footage shows Archie, apparently using a hidden vibrator, facing the unaware Daniel Fernandez while Josh uses an AI system to work out his pal’s best move.
Josh then makes the toy vibrate a particular number of times that tells Archie which piece to move and where to put it.
After more than 90 minutes and 20 moves signalled by ‘pleasurable and painful’ vibrations, Archie beat Daniel despite his 21 years of experience.
The chess geek ‘looks disgusted’ when Josh and Archie reveal their cheating method, but the pair say he found it hilarious and even enjoyed a drink with them afterwards.
The YouTube video, posted on Monday, left many of their 1.4 million subscribers baffled at why Archie went so far in the name of ‘research’.
‘We wanted to prove if it was possible for Hans Niemann to beat Magnus Carlsen in this way,’ said Archie.
‘It felt fine until Josh wanted [me to] to move the castle piece across the entirety of the board. That really was noticeable.
‘It was the sweet spot between pain and pleasure but by the end I was relieved to not have a dildo in me.’
Josh and Archie even made a fake production company called Smash Media to make their TV show ‘Three Month Expert’ where ‘contestants’ would learn a skill in the hope of beating a pro.
They reached out to Daniel, who is ranked eighth at chess in the UK, via email and then hired a studio room and used their genuine production company to make the shoot appear legitimate.
They say Daniel told Josh he suspected cheating at the beginning of the game but realised it wouldn’t help him win so ignored it.
‘The code was simple but some of the moves took quite long,’ said Josh.
‘It was nerve-racking, but we’d been practising quite a lot without the sex toy.
‘Daniel looked quite disgusted when we told him. He pulled a bit of a face so it definitely took him by surprise.
‘He found it very funny and was interested in it. He really enjoyed the video so it was good fun.
‘I was relieved he reacted like that because it could have ended in a number of different ways and it could have been quite messy for Archie.’
Hans Niemann was officially cleared of the outlandish allegations that followed after he ended Magnus Carlsen’s 53-match winning streak.
The player then tried to sue Magnus and another player he’d beaten for defamation and the issue was settled out of court.
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