VGC player claims his identity was used at Worlds

Pokemon VGC player Johnny Chiou is arguing that his friend Chen-Wei Liu was unfairly penalized. Chiou announced his claims in a lengthy post on X.

According to Chiou, Liu noticed that his RK9 account had been moved to another email address without his permission. Another player who took part in the 2026 World Championships allegedly used Player ID 5283777, which belongs to Liu. Liu says he used this number at the 2024 World Championships. After Liu reported the issue to the Pokemon support team, he was given an indefinite ban on grounds of deception related to his Worlds registration and qualification.

According to information in the source, a match slip from a game played on August 28 lists the same Player ID next to the name of Taiwanese player I-Shang Chang. In Chiou's post the name appears as I-Hsiang Chang, while the match slip and the official standings table show I-Shang Chang.

RK9 confirmed that Liu's account was moved on September 17 following an email change request made before Worlds with correct information. Liu, however, says he never requested or approved this change. On September 20, Liu applied to The Pokemon Company International and asked for an investigation. He says that despite following up again in October, he has not received a meaningful response.