19-year-old female chess player has been suspended for 8 years for AI cheating: professional rank revoked

Recently, the Chinese Go Association imposed severe penalties on a young player's serious violations. According to a notice released by the association, 19-year-old professional chess player Qin Siyue was sentenced to ban for 8 years and a heavy penalty for cheating with an artificial intelligence program running on his mobile phone during the game.

The incident happened on December 15, 2024. On that day, Qin Siyue was found carrying a mobile phone during a routine random inspection conducted by the referee in the match during the ninth round of the women's group of the National Go Championship. After investigation, the video evidence of the arena and testimony of the on-site referee, other chess players and staff confirmed that she secretly used her mobile phone to cheat during the game. Qin Siyue also concealed the facts when she was asked, and the circumstances were quite serious.

The Chinese Go Association attaches great importance to this. In accordance with the "Discipline Codes and Penalties Regulations of the Chinese Go Association" and other relevant provisions, and after research by the Discipline and Ethics Working Committee, it was decided to impose the following penalties on Qin Siyue: revoke her professional rank, cancel all her achievements in the 2024 National Go Championship, and prohibit her from participating in all Go events and activities organized or authorized by the Chinese Go Association and its member units for 8 years.

Qin Siyue was just promoted to the second-level professional career in June last year and won the Huarui Education Cup National Go Championship (Team) championship in 2022. This incident not only brought a devastating blow to her personal career development, but also set a very bad example for young players who are learning Go.

Go is an intellectual sport with a profound cultural heritage, emphasizing fair competition and moral norms. This punishment measure by the Chinese Go Association is aimed at maintaining the purity of the Go sport and reaffirms its zero tolerance attitude towards cheating. As a traditional intellectual competition program, Go will still attract many young people to participate in the future, and maintaining the fairness and integrity of the competition will be an important mission of the association.