Thursday, October 13, 2022

Carlsen vs Niemann Chess Controversy

During the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022, a controversy arose involving chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, the current world champion, and Hans Niemann.  Carlsen, after surprisingly losing in their third-round matchup, dropped out of the tournament. Many interpreted his withdrawal as an insinuation tacitly accusing Niemann of having cheated. In their next tournament meetup (an online tournament), Carlsen abruptly resigned after one move, perplexing observers again. It became the most serious scandal about cheating allegations for international chess in years and garnered significant attention in the news media worldwide.

After the fifth round of the Sinquefield tournament, Niemann gave a lengthy interview addressing the controversy, in which he admitted to cheating in online chess in the past, but denied cheating in the game with Carlsen or in any over-the-board game. Three weeks later, Carlsen released a statement saying that Niemann's behaviour during their Sinquefield Cup game, taken together with earlier suspicions about Niemann, had convinced him to withdraw from the tournament. He expressed the belief that Niemann had cheated more often and more recently than he had admitted and stated he would not play chess with him in the future.

Chess.com removed Niemann from their platform immediately after Carlsen's withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup. FIDE, the international chess governing body, rebuked Carlsen for his actions but at the same time acknowledged Carlsen's concerns about cheating in chess. FIDE later announced an investigation into Carlsen's claims of alleged cheating and Niemann's responses. Chess.com later released an interim report which extensively detailed Niemann's prolific online cheating on their platform.

Many chess players and journalists commented on the issue, some of them supporting Carlsen's suspicions in one way or another, others criticizing him for his tournament withdrawal and for making allegations without producing evidence. Some expressed the belief that Niemann had not cheated in his game against Carlsen. Commentators from both sides expressed their desire for strict and consistent cheating controls in chess tournaments.

Background

Magnus Carlsen, the No. 1 rated player at the time and World Chess Champion, participated as a wildcard in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup of the Grand Chess Tour 2022.  This came two months after he officially announced he would not defend his World Chess Championship title against Ian Nepomniachtchi, while affirming his desire to participate in tournaments and continue playing professional chess.  Entering the tournament, Carlsen had a 53-game unbeaten streak in classical over-the-board tournaments.

Entering the tournament, Hans Niemann stood in the top 10 of the world's juniors in chess and top 50 overall. Over the previous three years, he had played a large number of games, and his Elo rating had risen swiftly, with a 350-point gain in four years and a jump from 2500 to 2600 in only three months. This rapid rise had attracted attention from commentators.  In an interview during the tournament, Niemann admitted to having previously had two accounts on Chess.com banned for cheating in online games, in 2016 and in 2020.

Cheating allegations against Niemann

Grandmaster and streamer Hikaru Nakamura said he believed Carlsen had likely suspected Niemann of cheating, claiming that Niemann had previously been banned from Chess.com for cheating in online chess games.  Levon Aronian, a grandmaster who was playing in the tournament, initially defended Niemann, stating that most high-level players are "pretty much paranoid" and that young players often draw accusations of cheating after strong play.  Later on, however, Aronian stated that he "really didn't know much about a lot of things" and now finds himself "somewhere in the middle". He added, "I do believe Hans has not been the cleanest person when it comes to online chess."

Niemann's denial

In an interview on September 6, 2022, Niemann denied having cheated during the Sinquefield Cup and accused Carlsen, Nakamura, and Chess.com of attempting to ruin his career. He admitted that he had previously cheated in Chess.com; once when he was 12 years old during an online tournament and then when he was 16 years old in unrated online games. He maintained that he never cheated in an over-the-board game.  His response to unsubstantiated speculation alleging the involvement of a concealed device during the Sinquefield Cup, he offered to play in a closed environment without electronic connections and said "if they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it" to disprove any allegations of cheating.

Carlsen's response 

On September 26, Carlsen posted his official statement regarding the controversy on Twitter.  Carlsen confirmed that he had considered withdrawing from the Sinquefield Cup due to Niemann's last-minute inclusion. Carlsen stated that he believed that Niemann cheated more often and recently than he had publicly admitted, and that Niemann's behaviour during their Sinquefield Cup game had convinced him to withdraw from the tournament. He stated that he was limited in what he could say openly without "explicit permission from Niemann", and that he would not play chess with Niemann in the future.

Public responses

The controversy has been described as the most serious cheating scandal for international chess since the Toiletgate incident in the World Chess Championship 2006, and became a top story in the news media worldwide.  It has garnered significant attention from outside of the chess community, including on American late-night talk shows The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsen%E2%80%93Niemann_controversy

  

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