Popular streamer DrLupo was removed from a PogChamps chess tournament due to cheating accusations, and today he has confessed to the allegations.
On April 30, DrLupo played his last game for the PogChamps 6 Chess.com tournament. For the uninitiated, PogChamps is a Chess tournament hosted by Chess.com, and it features a slew of content creators, internet personalities, and Twitch streamers doing battle on the chessboard. The popular event pits fan-favourite internet celebrities against each other for bragging rights and a money incentive. PogChamps 6 is the sixth annual tournament, and it’s the competition DrLupo cheated in.
PogChamps 6 is where DrLupo (a 650-rated player) faced off against another popular internet personality, YouTuber Wolfe ‘Wolfey’ Glick (a 1340-rated player), in the $100,000 prize pool tournament. During the match, the viewing audience noticed DrLupo’s play was off, in a good way. He went from making an early mistake to playing like a professional in a few minutes after not protecting his queen. During the match, fans were quick to surmise DrLupo’s glancing eyes, almost as if he was using a guide on another monitor to help him during the match.
On April 30, DrLupo doubled down on playing fair. On X (formerly Twitter) he responded to fan accusations with “Literally explained all of it on stream as I was playing. Didn’t cheat. Had a good game and got rolled the rest of the day.” Fans were not buying it though. User BCHpizza_org said “Bro if this was paintball you’d show up completely covered in paint and claim you did not cheat. It’s THAT obvious to anybody playing chess.”
Other comments on the April 30 reply echo the same sentiment: that Lupo cheated. Chess.com took to X shortly after the allegations and gave Lupo the boot from the tournament. Chess.com posted “DrLupo has been closed for a fair play violation that occurred during today’s Pogchamps event. He will be replaced in the consolation bracket before the start of tomorrow’s round.” Although Lupo contradicts the statement by writing on X, “Had a ton of fun playing, but have decided to drop out of the event to help maintain competitive integrity for those involved, as well as the tourney organizers.”
DrLupo followed the accusations with a confession on May 2. The cheating confession can be seen below, which is pinned to Lupo’s official X account.
The confession is a sweeping apology to everyone affected by his behaviour. He acknowledges previously criticizing cheaters in Escape From Tarkov during his Twitch streams and directly addresses the hypocrisy in his actions. Lupo stated: “I cheated, and betrayed the trust of countless people that believed in me. Viewers, family, friends. Everyone. Myself. I carry a lot of baggage, and you all got exposed to it in the worst way. I lied directly to @danielrensch [Chief Chess Officer of Chess.com and Master]. I lied directly to @WolfeyGlick [his opponent] and used him as a prop on stream. He didn’t deserve that. None of you did. I messaged him directly to apologize, and I’ll gladly do it on stream, too.”
As of publication, neither Daniel Rensch nor Wolfe Glick has responded publicly to the confession.
