Cheating Scandal: Niemann VS. Carlsen
The Chess Times Instant Reports - Vol 1
I am late to this topic, do kindly excuse me, I've been a bit busy the past few days playing a lot of tournaments. Also please note that this article is (or at least was tried to be) written from a neutral perspective. You are welcome to take your own opinion.
In the third round of the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022, GM Magnus Carlsen (the world champion of chess) shockingly lost to GM Hans Niemann.
After the game, Carlsen withdrew the tournament. After this, in their next tournament playing against each other (this tournament was called the Julius Baer Generation Cup), Carlsen resigned. After playing one singular move.
In an interview, Niemann admitted to having 2 accounts banned from chess.com in 2016 and 2020 respectively.
Niemann, in yet another interview (after a round of the Sinquefield cup), admitted to cheating in the past, but continues to maintain that he has never cheated in a real life game and stopped cheating online in the past as well. After Carlsen withdrew (Due to his suspicion about Niemann combined with his behavior), chess.com removed Niemann from their website. GM Hikaru Nakamura later said he agreed with Magnus and said that Niemann had been banned on chess.com in the past.
A little while after, in September, Niemann took an interview in which he completely denied all allegations of him cheating in the Sinquefield cup; however he admitted to cheating in chess.com at 12 in an online tournament and at 16 in unrated games.
This blog just covers the tip of the iceberg, please note I flew over many details or else this blog would be way to large to possibly read.
3 days ago (on 20th October 2022) Niemann filed a lawsuit against GM Magnus Carlsen, Play Magnus Group, GM Hikaru Nakamura, IM Daniel Rensch as well as chess.com for $100,000,000 or $100 million in damages for defamation. He cited GM Vincent Keymer cancelling their upcoming match in Germany. His invite to the Chess.com Global Championship (which he qualified for) was revoked. The Tata Steel Chess Tournament also halted their preparations for Niemann to play in their January 2023 edition.