Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen outright accuses Hans Niemann of cheating
Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen explicitly accused fellow grandmaster Hans Niemann of cheating in a highly anticipated statement released Monday.
After the Norwegian world champion lost to the American teenager earlier this month, he withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, Missouri. A fortnight later, at their next meeting during the online Julius Baer Generation Cup, Carlsen suddenly resigned from the match after making just one move.
Finally on Monday, he attempted to explain his actions.
Carlsen, 31, said he believes cheating to be “an existential threat to” chess and that tournament organizers need to “seriously consider increasing security measures and methods of cheat detection.”
Carlsen then turned his focus to Niemann, 19, specifically.
“I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted. His over the board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective.”
He added that he does not want to play against players who’ve “cheated repeatedly in the past.”
Niemann has publicly admitted to cheating twice — once as a preteen and once when he was 16 years old — in online games but has denied cheating in an over-the-board game.
