Watch a Counter-Strike pro get caught cheating during a major esports tournament

A professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player was caught cheating — in a moment captured on Twitter video — which disqualified his team from a tournament in Shanghai and resulted in its dissolution later.

Dotesports first reported the cheating and the aftermath; what’s most interesting is watching the player, Nikhil “forsaken” Kumawat of OpTic India, caught in the act. The incident happened at the Extremesland Zowie Asia CS:GO 2018 tournament, a major-tier event with a $100,000 prize pool. The tournament’s official Twitter channel supplied this clip on Friday showing an administrator examining Kumawat’s terminal and even restraining him, apparently as he was trying to delete the hack.

OpTic India was booted from the event. Not only did the team dismiss Kumawat, OpTic India dissolved altogether. This appears to be a gesture allowing other players to distance themselves from the scandal. Kumawat’s teammates said they had no knowledge of his cheating and would not tolerate it if they did.

The cheat Kumwat used is believed to be an aimbot program to lock onto opponents. This tweet shows a directory apparently concealing the files.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact Kumawat has been sanctioned before; dotesports mentioned than in 2017 he got a six-month ban from the Esports League for getting a Valve Anti-Cheat ban in Counter-Strike.