In an unpredictable twist, 2022 was quite the year for niche sports. But that's not necessarily a good thing. Specifically, it was quite a year for lesser known sports because of controversies.
From chess to fishing, there was no shortage of unusual storylines with plenty of interesting plot twists. Here are four bizarre sports scandals from 2022:
The chess scandal that rocked the Internet
Magnus Carlsen -- world No. 1 and the World Chess Champion since 2013 -- resigned unexpectedly while playing online against Hans Niemann in the sixth round of the Julius Baer Generation Cup in September. Magnus didn't explain why right away, but the chess world, including Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, speculated that it was because Magnus thought Niemann had cheated.
The scandal went viral not for the chess itself, but because of bizarre theories people came up with -- including one about how Niemann could've used a vibrating sex toy to cheat because the vibrations could communicate potential moves.
Eventually, Niemann -- who got banned by Chess.com -- confessed he had cheated in the past but said it only happened on two occasions. A week after resigning during the live broadcast, Magnus said he believed "Niemann has cheated more -- and more recently -- than he has publicly admitted."
Chess.com went on to release a 72-page report that claimed Niemann likely received illegal assistance in more than 100 online games. On. Oct. 20, Niemann announced a $100,000,000 lawsuit that included Magnus, Nakamura, Chess.com and Chief Chess Officer Danny Rensch as defendants for "egregiously defaming him and unlawfully colluding to blacklist him."
Fishy situation
Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky were in deep water after getting caught cheating during the Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament by adding lead weights and prepared fillets to their fish. The pair needed their five fish to have a cumulative weight of over 16.89 pounds to win a $28,760 prize, but their fish ended up doubling that target.
There was not a lot of celebration for them as everyone quietly questioned what had just happened. It seemed too good to be true, which led to tournament director Jason Fischer taking a closer look. A video of him discovering the weights went viral on social media.
Runyan and Cominsky -- who had already won tens of thousands of dollars this year -- were indicted on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools and misdemeanor charges of unlawfully owning wild animals. In late October, they pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Cornhole's 'Baggate'
During the doubles competition at the Cornhole League World Championshiops in South Carolina, Devon Harbaugh filed a formal complaint against opponents Mark Richards and Philip Lopez -- the No. 1 ranked doubles team -- because he believed they were using beanbags that were too small and didn't fit the requirements of the league.
Harbaugh was correct, but then an interesting plot twist happened: Richards and Lopez decided to ask for Harbough's team bags to also be inspected. Turns out that his team's bags also didn't meet the proper requirements, which led to a pause in the event as officials decided on how to proceed after such an unusual situation.
It was ultimately decided that, most likely, neither team had intentionally violated the rules and therefore the competition was allowed to resume. The incident brought awareness to the fact that the American Cornhole League is still working on improving their compliance procedures. ACL president Eric Marvin said the league has been "exploring infrastructure for automated bag testing."
Unbelievable hero call leads to poker drama
Robbi Jade Lew, who was relatively new in higher stakes poker games, won a pot of $269,000 after what was either an insane hero call or cheating during a Hustler Casino Live game late September.
Garrett Adelstein, a more experienced high-stakes player who regularly appears on live-streamed cash games, had an open-ended straight flush draw and went all-in on the turn. Lew had a weak jack-high hand but made a very unusual move by also deciding to go all-in. When Lew won, Adelstein was in disbelief and accused her of cheating. They both left the table to have an off-screen conversation. Another player named Jacob "RIP" Chavez -- who had backed Lew -- left his seat and was heard yelling at Adelstein.
Lew returned the money to Adelstein, but insisted that she had not cheated and tried to clear her name by telling her side of the story though social media, interviews and by arranging a polygraph test. News came out later that an HCL employee named Bryan Sagbigsal took $15,000 in chips from Lew's stack that day. Lew initially declined to press charges but then reversed that decision. Sagbigsal was charged with two counts of felony theft.
On Dec. 14, HCL released a report of their investigation saying they did not find evidence of cheating, but that it doesn't necessarily mean no wrongdoing took place.
