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I wouldn't be so sure of it. This might be one of those cases a control group doesn't exist at all. Good luck finding a child who never cheated. Does trying to peek through your hands covering your eyes when playing hide and seek count?
Saying all this because not a fan of moral highgrounds built on spurious priors.
Yeah, kids cheat and this is why we teach them not to do it.
If the one and only time he ever cheated was when he was 12, then this would be unfair.
But he cheated (and got caught) again when he was 17. That not alone makes it seem more likely he would also cheat again when he was 19, but that he may have been cheating (without being caught) in the meantime as well.
Is that unfair? Possibly. But it's what happens when you create a reputation for yourself as being unpleasant and caught out at cheating. People aren't willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, because you have pissed them off, and you've already shown you are willing to cheat if you think you can get away with it.
The worst thing would be if he did win this game fair and square, because he is that talented and he did have a flash of inspiration, but there will always be those who don't believe it was fair and that he successfully cheated his way to victory. That will always hang over his reputation and future games.
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Whether those priors are "spurious" is the issue under dispute.
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