The Carlsen – Niemann controversy interested not only the chess world

It all started as an ordinary game in round three during the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022. Nobody could have predicted that one game can turn into a big chaos.

Hans Niemann, a 19-year-old American, faced the World Champion – Magnus Carlsen, who did not lose the last 53 games in classical chess. Even though Carlsen had the advantage of playing with white pieces, he started with 4. g3 against the Nimzo-Indian, which Niemann looked at the morning before the game. Jan Gustafsson – a commentator during the Sinquefield Cup, aptly said: “Kids these days, you can’t surprise them with anything. You play a sideline, then a sideline of a sideline, then a sideline of a sideline of a sideline, and he still knows!”

The game of the day went to a difficult endgame where Niemann captured the extra pawn, slowly won the game and successfully ended the World Champion’s unbeaten streak.

However, this shocking result was only the beginning of what was to follow. The World Champion withdrew from the tournament for the first time in his career and with no explanation. While everybody tried to figure out why he had quit, Magnus Carlsen posted a tweet which included a YouTube video of a famous football coach and manager Jose Mourinho, saying: “If I speak, I am in big trouble. And I don’t want to be in big trouble.”

Jose Mourinho is known thanks to his tactical knowledge, charismatic and controversial personality and his emphasis on achieving results while playing beautiful football. He is also known for occasional accusations against referees, which sometimes got him a suspension. Carlsen’s fans are aware of his love for football.

This message, with no evidence, was seen as a suspicion of cheating. Twitter had gone crazy and chess players divided into two groups. Some of them supported Carlsen’s suspicion, and the others backed Niemann. For instance, Levon Aronian gave his point of view: “All of my colleagues are pretty much paranoid, and quite often I was the one telling them ‘come on guys, I know myself, I’m an idiot and I’m a good player.’ I always think that young players can play very well.”

Hikaru Nakamura, known for his streaming, also had something to say during his stream: “I think Magnus believes that Hans probably is cheating.” He also pointed out Niemann’s documented cheating in the past, where Niemann had been banned by chess.com.

Later on, Hans Niemann gave his thoughts about the accusations. He admitted he had been banned by chess.com when he was 12-year-old and again as a 16-year-old. Niemann said that he regrets his cheating actions and that he had learned from those mistakes: “I have never ever in my life cheated in an over-the-board game. I do not want any misrepresentation. I am proud of myself that I learned from that mistake and now have given everything to chess. I have sacrificed everything for chess and I do everything I can to improve.”

The saga took another turn when the pair met again in an online tournament. Carlsen, playing with the black pieces, resigned after the 1^st move and went offline immediately after that. The commentators went speechless. Nevertheless, the World Champion won the tournament and said he would say more about the scandal later.

Carlsen did as he promised and posted a statement explaining his decision to withdraw and his resignation in the online tournament. He wrote: “I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.” Carlsen also felt that Niemann “wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions”. He refuses to play chess with Niemann and hopes that the truth will come out soon or later.

Carlsen’s statement:

The drama continues and more and more questions are popping out. FIDE has confirmed they will launch an investigation into Carlsen and Niemann.

The latest development is that Niemann sued Carlsen. He announced it on his Twitter account.

Stay tuned for updates on Kingwatcher.com!

Author

STELLA SÁŇKOVÁ