Indonesian Chess Player Beats Online Grand Master, Causes Backlash

“As it turned out, [Dadang] was hooked [on Chess.com], particularly on Ranked Matches where he got to play against professionals, including Levy,” said Ali.

Chess.com and GothamChess’ responses

However, Chess.com denied that the blocking of the Dadang’s account Dewa_Kipas was caused by reports from other players.

“We would never ever ever ever close an account based on any number of reports from @GothamChess or any other creator or their community. All closures are made by the fair play team after careful review in accordance with our fair play policy,” Chess.com said on its Twitter account.

Ali asserted that he contacted Chess.com and Levy to follow up the blocking of his father’s account. He added that both parties agreed to delete all posts related to the controversy as a first step.

Backlash from Indonesia

Ali also apologized to Levy, after Indonesian netizens bombarded him with fiery insults following the controversy. Though Levy locked his Twitter and YouTube accounts since the brouhaha, it does not stop the backlash from Indonesia.

Ist Screenshot of Indonesian netizens bombarding Chess.com Grand Master Levy Rozman's Twitter account @GothamChess

Nonetheless, Ali felt no regrets from Chess.com’s decision to block his father’s account. “My father can live a calmer life, now that he took a break from online chess. He was so obsessed with raising his ELO that he forgot to eat and sleep,” he said.

“The blocking seemed like a reminder [to Dadang] to stop playing.” Ali added that his father has no plans to reactivate the account.

(Writers: Bill Clinten, Wahyunanda Kusuma Pertiwi | Editors: Yudha Pratomo, Reska K. Nistanto)

Sources: 

https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2021/03/04/07590947/orang-indonesia-diblokir-gara-gara-kalahkan-gamer-catur-dunia-di-chesscom?page=all#page2. 

https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2021/03/04/13050097/kronologi-pak-dadang-dewa-kipas-diblokir-chesscom-setelah-menang-catur-lawan?page=all#page2. 

https://tekno.kompas.com/read/2021/03/05/20130017/gothamchess-dan-microsoft-bukti-galak-nya-netizen-indonesia?page=all#page2.