> It is consequently a real personal tragedy for this guy that he has foolishly flushed his career and reputation at age 22. What a waste. On the other hand,

> It is consequently a real personal tragedy for this guy that he has foolishly flushed his career and reputation at age 22. What a waste. On the other hand, isn't 22 a couple years past the point were rapid improvement ends and you are on a long slow rise until peaking around your late 30s? I could see someone looking at where they are at 22, realizing that it will another 15 years so to reach a point where they can make a good living from full time playing chess and that it is quite possible their peak will not be high enough for that, and so start planning to switch to a career outside of chess. In that case maybe they decide to cheat to try to squeeze what they can out of chess before moving on.