Hans' Return to Chess
By now, everyone’s heard about the whole Hans vs. Magnus saga, so I’ll skip the details. More interesting is what happened after the dust settled (Get it? Cause he got a settlement)... Hans didn’t disappear, far from it. Instead, he dove back into classical chess, grinding his way through smaller tournaments while the big invites were held out of reach. Against the odds, he’s made a serious climb, showing that, like Erigaisi you don’t need major events to keep your rating moving up or show your skill. Let’s dive into how Hans has been pulling off this quiet comeback and what it means for his future on the board.
- Niemann v. Rapport
- Tournament of Peace
- Return to Chess.com
- Sharjah Masters
- Around the World
- Speed Chess Championships
In the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss, Hans returned to the spotlight a year after the drama with Magnus. He scored 6/11, not the strongest result, but it showed he was ready to compete with the top players. He stood out with his win against Richard Rapport, a former 2800, in a game that showcased the latent skill he's often talked about and demonstrated how his chess could “speak for itself.” This made it clear Hans isn't just looking to move forward; he aims to be the “next Bobby Fischer.”
While his performance here was not stellar, beating a respected former 2800 with such style makes a statement.
Tournament of Peace: Fischer 2.0?
Since beating Carlsen, Niemann has often drawn comparisons between himself and Bobby Fischer, for better or worse. With his invitation to the long historic Tournament of Peace, a round-robin in Zagreb, Hans essayed deadly precise play and a great performance rating of 2946! This has been written as one of the best tournament performances ever.
Hans finished with an 8/9 (7 wins, 2 draws). 53 years prior, Fischer himself won that tournament. In both instances, the pool featured quite strong players. For Fischer, he notably faced Petrosian, Smyslov, and Korchnoi. That's 2 World Champions and 1 multiple challenger to the title. In Hans' case, he faced Sokolov, Ivanchuk, and Korobov, who were formerly 2700+, and Ivanchuk was a former world-class player. Hans won against all 3 with excellent play.
After an undisclosed settlement with Chess.com, Hans returned to Chess.com in late August after being off the site for almost exactly a year. He quickly got back to the grind with several streams and jumped from 2900 to 3000 by September. He didn't stop there, reaching an astounding 3200 blitz rating by the end of the year, cementing himself as one of the highest-rated Chess.com blitz players yet. With regular play in Titled Tuesday, it's inevitable that the rising star would be prone to some great performances! On September 24th of 2024, Hans would win Titled Tuesday with 10/11, ahead of Vladimir Kramnik in second.
Here's a beautiful game from Hans where he uncorks a killer combination in a March 2024 Titled Tuesday:
In May of 2024, The Sharjah Masters took place in the UAE. It featured many strong 26-2700 GMs, Hans included. Niemann won his first three games and only suffered one loss.
His most memorable game was his Killer King Hunt against strong Uzbek GM Vakhidov.
Determined to make his mark despite being shut out from high-profile tournaments, Hans Niemann took matters into his own hands. He began organizing his own series of matches to demonstrate that he could compete, and win, against some of the world’s best players. His first stop was a high-stakes over-the-board blitz match against Vidit Gujrathi, structured in three time controls:
- 4+2 Blitz: Hans won 4-3
- 3+2 Blitz: Vidit edged out a 6-3 victory
- 2+2 Blitz: Hans won 6-3, securing the overall match win
Next, he began traveling to other countries to play strong 26-2700 players:
These events were a combination of classical, rapid, and blitz games, the longer being weighted for more points.
Upsetting Giri in Utrecht
In the first, Niemann faced Anish Giri, who needs no introduction, and despite technical difficulties to the stream, crushed him in the blitz 6.5-2.5! Later that day he was to face Wesley So in the SCC, which we'll get into later. Following, Hans would win the classical 3.5-2.5, and 3 wins, 3 losses in the rapid. His final weighted score was 24-18, dominating Anish and winning the match!
Watch how Hans takes down Anish in this game:
Victory over Vitiugov in London
A few days later, Hans continued his rampage with a match against a strong English GM. He beat Vitiugov by a score of 27.5-14.5 in London. The match had rounds of 6 for classical and rapid with 12 blitz games He dominated each category; 1W-4D in classical, 8-4 (weighted) in the rapid, then finally Niemann won 9-3 in the blitz!
Here's a strong move Hans played in the Rapid!
Pummeling Bacrot in Paris
Finally, Hans arrived in Paris, France ahead of the Speed Chess Championship Finals to play the well-established Etienne Bacrot. Bacrot is a top GM who has worked under Kasparov in his glory days. The match format was the same as the previous two, and Hans' dominance was too!
In the classical portion, Niemann crushed with 3 wins (White), and 3 draws (Black)!
Here are two beautiful games from the champion:
This is it! The most recent notable development in the saga of Hans' comeback to top-level Chess.
Hans faced the two best speed Chess players in the world in the Finals, and was crushed; however, his journey to the Paris finals was nothing short of impressive and demonstrated his versatility across time controls!
MVL-oser
Hans is set to face the well-known 2800 Frenchman in the SCC's first match. Of course, a former 2800 is the favorite, not to mention MVL being a strong finalist who dominates in rapid and blitz. Hans, however, doesn't care because he came in to fight. Expectedly the 5-minute time was where he was down, but as the time controls got shorter, his excellence came out.
"w"esley "s"o (AnarchyChess ref)
After a close win in the match with MVL, Hans faces yet another former 2800! His path to greatness is riddled with obstacles. Hans won even more convincingly with a 13-10 lead, not losing a single match.
Hans and Wesley traded games that blew up with fireworks, with Wesley getting comebacks but still not enough.
An excellent win! More impressive is that this match was played following Hans' win over Anish Giri in Blitz the same morning.
Then, Hans qualified for the semifinals in Paris though his performance certainly faltered with getting adopted by Hikaru Nakamura.
What comes next in the story of Hans Niemann...?
