CHENNAI: Hans Niemann has been in the middle of a storm at the ongoing Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri, after Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the tournament on Monday. With accusations of cheating being levelled against Niemann, the 19-year-old responded by denying any wrongdoing in the tournament.
Niemann pointed out that there were insinuations in Carlsen’s tweet and everyone on social media platforms piled on it.
“The fact that Carlsen did it without saying it, he knew the insinuations that would follow, if you look at social media, every single platform, there are thousands of tweets, everyone is attacking me, and some people are defending me, and I really appreciate those. But when I see people attack me with absolutely zero evidence, I’m the only person who knows what happened, and I’m telling you guys that this is the truth,” Niemann told the official broadcast on Tuesday.
Niemann revealed that following Carlsen’s withdrawal, chess.com --- a leading chess website --- had removed access to his account. To top that, Hikaru Nakamura had openly accused Niemann of resorting to foul play during the game against Carlsen which the Norwegian lost in the tournament.
“I’m not going to let Chess.com, I’m not going to let Magnus Carlsen, and I’m not going to let Hikaru Nakamura --- the three arguably biggest entities in chess --- simply slander my reputation,” pointed out Niemann.
However, Niemann conceded that he had cheated on two occasions --- as a 12-year-old in an online event and then four years later while playing unrated matches.
“I cheated on random games on Chess.com. 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 rumors. I have never cheated in an over-the-board game,” he mentioned.
