Mountain View, California - The cheating scandal roiling the chess world just kicked up a notch after a grandmaster with connections to a controversial US player admitted to cheating on multiple occasions.

The chess world has been grappling with a big problem ever since Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the world's best player, dropped out of a match with 19-year-old Hans Niemann and later accused the Californian of cheating.

Now, in yet another twist, one of Niemann's coaches and mentors, grandmaster Maxim Dlugy (56), has been caught admitting to cheating in emails sent to Chess.com and obtained by Vice.

In 2017, he said that a student of his Chess Max Academy used a chess AI to help Dlugy make the correct moves. The incident resulted Dlugy being banned from the chess platform.

"I am now positive, that one of the kids, was using a program on his cell while this was going on," he wrote. "As you can imagine, I liked many of his moves, though I had no idea that he was using assistance to generate them."

Dlugy was eventually reinstated on the platform, but was caught cheating and banned yet again in 2020.

"I agree that I violated the rules as I had some help in some of the games from an outside source," the Soviet-born player wrote in a 2020 email. "I promise it will not happen again."

Last week, when Magnus Carlsen was asked about Niemann, he responded, "Unfortunately I cannot particularly speak on that. But, you know, people can draw their own conclusion, and they certainly have."

He ended by cryptically stating, "I have to say I’m very impressed by Niemann’s play, and I think his mentor Maxim Dlugy must be doing a great job."

Chess fans were sent into a frenzy, as they speculated on why Carlsen decided to name-drop Dlugy in his response, with some implying there may be a connection.

On Monday, Carlsen sent an open letter to the chess world, claiming that "cheating in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game."

He went on to say, "I believe that Niemann has cheated more – and more recently – than he has publicly admitted."

"His over the board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event," he added.

Hans Niemann has denied cheating in his most recent win over Carlsen, and remains as one of the highest ranking players in the world.