Everyone is talking about chess recently.
Everyone. Even the people who base their whole understanding of chess on that scene from the first Harry Potter movie are talking about chess right now. And it’s all because of one man.
Thanks to Hans Niemann, chess culture has re-entered the general consciousness for the first time since the spike in popularity that followed the release of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.
Remember? That show that came out in lockdown and we all descended into a strange chess frenzy for a few months? Well, we’re back in it, but this time the chess drama is in real life.
To catch you up, 20-year-old California-born Hans Moke Niemann has become the centre of an explosive chess scandal after he was accused of cheating by a fellow Grandmaster (the highest ranking in chess). It was then levelled that Niemann could have cheated on as many as 100 games during his time as a pro-chess player.
Now, Niemann is suing former world champion Magnus Carlsen and the online chess organisation Chess.com. He alleges that his career has been ruined by countless cheating allegations. And, not only that, Niemann has also accused Carlsen and Chess.com of violating antitrust laws by merging online playing platforms and refusing to let him play on them. So, the drama doesn’t look like it’s coming to an end any time soon.
US district judge Audrey Fleissig found that Niemann’s antitrust claims had no merit. She also dismissed libel and slander claims because she said she didn’t have jurisdiction to oversee them, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The lawsuit was brought after Niemann defeated Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup last year in St Louis, ending Carlsen’s world-record unbeaten streak. Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating and withdrew from the tournament.
So here’s everything you need to know about the bad boy (and potential cheater) of the chess world, and why everyone suddenly hates him so much.
He’s just a teenager
Pro-chess players tend to be pretty young, which might seem counterintuitive or at odds with society’s perception of chess (old men sat in a park, yada yada), but it’s true. This is because of many reasons — younger chess players are easier to market as “prodigies” and so get more sponsorship opportunities and, as they get older, life may get in the way, and reaction times can slow with age.
As Gary Kasparov, arguably one of the best chess players of all time, said: “With the years, each world champion begins to ‘calcify’ [...] become inflexible and be transformed into a living monument.”
So 20-year-old Niemann is one of these child prodigies. He achieved the title of Grandmaster when he was just 17 and is ranked as the fourth-best junior chess player in the world. He doesn’t attend a college or university — he was rejected from Harvard — but instead lives in New York and focuses on his chess playing full-time.
He has beef with the majority of the chess world
Cheating in chess is, obviously, sacrilege. But it’s also becoming increasingly worrisome for the chess community as technology develops and it gets easier than ever for players to cheat.
Rumours that Niemann had been cheating properly started to swirl after he beat current world champion Magnus Carlsen’s 53-game unbeaten streak at the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri. Carlsen was furious — he dropped out of the tournament and released a statement publicly decrying Niemann for cheating. Niemann called his win a “ridiculous miracle” and said it was purely due to guessing Carlsen’s first move correctly, having studied the same move the day of the match.
Carlsen has refused to believe this is true, and even accused Niemann of repeated cheating. “When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event,” Carlsen said in a statement. “I ultimately chose to play. 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 only think a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective.”
Including multiple Grandmasters
Niemann isn’t just trying to weather these cheating allegations — he’s fighting back, too. As well as Carlsen, Niemann has come to blows with another fellow Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, who was once ranked No 2 in the world (for perspective, Niemann is currently 36).
Nakamura, who is a Twitch streamer, has addressed the controversy in multiple live streams and has attempted to prove that Niemann cheated. Niemann, understandably, hasn’t been a fan of this attitude, and hit back publicly in a series of tweets.
Hikaru has thoroughly enjoyed watching all of my interviews and enjoyed criticizing every single detail and making frivolous implications. I'd like to see him watch my entire interview today and see what he has to say.
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) September 6, 2022
People initially suspected he was using a sex toy
Hear me out here. One of the reasons this chess drama entered public consciousness with such stunning unavoidability (which cannot usually be said for chess drama) is because it was initially suggested that Niemann could have used anal beads, yes anal beads, to cheat in his game against Carlsen.
It started when Grandmaster Eric Hansen (another Grandmaster, I know, there are loads) suggested that a prostate massager could have been used to wirelessly transmit the correct moves to Niemann using vibrations. Then, a follower of Hansen shared the potential of anal beads via a comment on his Twitch stream, and the hypothesis blew up.
The idea was that someone external to the competition used a computer to generate the perfect response to Carlsen’s move, which was then wirelessly transmitted to Niemann using the sex toy to emit a series of vibrations, telling him what to do. Niemann has yet to address this theory.
He’s admitted to cheating, but only twice
However, he has had to address the cheating now. In a report by chess.com, initially reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, it was found that Niemann “likely received illegal assistance in more than 100 online games”. These games were as recent as 2020, and they included events where prize money was up for grabs.
Chess.com’s report was based on using cheating-detection tools to compare Niemann’s moves to those generated by super-computers, and they found a worrying degree of similarity.
Niemann responded and admitted he had cheated — but only twice in his whole life, and for inconsequential games, and never against Carlsen.
“I cheated on random games on Chess.com,” he shared. “I was confronted. I confessed. And this is the single biggest mistake of my life. And I am completely ashamed. I am telling the world because I don’t want misrepresentations and I don’t want rumours. I have never cheated in an over-the-board game. And other than when I was 12 years old, I have never cheated in a tournament with prize money.”
But he’s standing his ground
You can say a lot about this chess kid, but you have to give him this: he’s persistent. Despite some of the most public cheating accusations the chess world has seen in years, Niemann is refusing to quit the game or step down in any tournaments.
In October, Niemann had a convincing win against a 15-year-old Grandmaster named Christopher Yoo at the US Championships. In a press conference after the game, he took the opportunity to address the “elephant in the room”.
“This game is a message to everyone,” Niemann said. “This entire thing started with me saying ‘chess speaks for itself’ and I think this game spoke for itself and showed the chess player I am.
“It also showed I’m not going to back down and I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure.”
But will that be enough to clear the air and appease the chess community? This controversy is set to run and run.
