Magnus Carlsen

Hans Niemann

The two players involved in the controversy

In September 2022, a controversy between chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, and Hans Niemann arose, beginning in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Carlsen, after surprisingly losing in their matchup, dropped out of the tournament. Many interpreted his withdrawal as an insinuation of an accusation that Niemann cheated. In their next tournament meetup, Carlsen abruptly resigned on the second move, perplexing observers again.

Amid public scrutiny, Niemann admitted to cheating in online chess in the past, but denied cheating in the game with Carlsen or in any over-the-board game. Carlsen later released a statement confirming that he suspected Niemann had cheated in their Sinquefield Cup game. He accused Niemann of having cheated more often and recently than he had admitted and stated he would no longer play chess with him in the future.

Sinquefield Cup

In the third round of the 2022 edition of the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri, Carlsen, the No. 1 rated player at the time and World Chess Champion, lost to Niemann, a 19-year-old Grandmaster, in an over-the-board game on 4 September.^[1] Niemann defeated Carlsen with the black pieces, playing the Nimzo-Indian Defence. Niemann's live rating surpassed 2700 for the first time with this win.^[2][3] Slate described the result as a "shocking upset" for Carlsen, ending his 53-game unbeaten streak to a player far lower rated and in a game where he had the white pieces (and therefore the first-move advantage).^[1][4]

Carlsen's withdrawal

Carlsen withdrew from the tournament the following day, tweeting a simple announcement of his withdrawal alongside a video of José Mourinho saying "I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble."^[1][5] Carlsen's withdrawal did not formally allege that Niemann had cheated, but the broader community saw his tweet as heavily insinuating an accusation.^[6]

The executive director of the St. Louis Chess Club, Tony Rich, said in a statement, "A player's decision to withdraw from a tournament is a personal decision, and we respect Magnus' choice."^[7][8] Rich later elaborated that no formal complaint was made in writing.^[7] Chief Arbiter Chris Bird published a statement affirming that there was "no indication that any player has been playing unfairly" during the tournament. Bird's statement did not address the reason to add additional security measures after Magnus' withdrawal.^[9][1] Even so, the organizers had increased metal detection on the players and introduced a 15-minute broadcast delay for the following rounds of the tournament.^[10] Emil Sutovsky, the director-general of FIDE (International Chess Federation), noted that Carlsen had not previously quit a tournament due to a poor result and thus opined that Carlsen must have believed he had "a compelling reason" to do so.^[6][10]

This was the first time in Carlsen's career to withdraw from a major event in progress, and was considered "virtually unprecedented" in top level chess.^[11] Former world champion Garry Kasparov noted that Carlsen's withdrawal from the tournament had "no precedent in the past 50 years", and called on Carlsen, who had refrained from comment, to explain his decision.^[12]

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.^{[10][13][14][15]} Levon Aronian, a Grandmaster who was playing in the tournament, defended Niemann, stating that most high-level players are "pretty much paranoid" and that young players often draw accusations of cheating after strong play.^[1] 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."^[16]

In an interview on 6 September 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.^{[17][18][19][20]} 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.^[13] Niemann asserted that Chess.com had suspended him again from the site and their events in light of the controversy.^[18][19] Chess.com's chief chess officer, Daniel Rensch, in a statement on Twitter disputed Niemann's denials in his interview and affirmed that Niemann would remain suspended pending an explanation of his past cheating.^[21][14] In Reddit posts, Chess.com CEO, Erik Allebest, hinted that more information might be released.^[22]

A statistical analysis of Niemann's games since 2020, including the Sinquefield Cup game between Carlsen and Niemann, by anti-cheating expert Ken Regan^[23][24] saw no evidence of cheating.^[25][26]

After the event, grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi commented that he had asked the St Louis organisers for additional anti-cheating measures once he heard Niemann would be playing in the event.^[26] Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana mentioned that Carlsen was already "upset" about Niemann's inclusion and had considered leaving before the tournament began.^[26]

Julius Baer Generation Cup

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

The position at the conclusion of the 19 September game

On 19 September, Carlsen resigned an online game against Niemann after having only played one move. The game took place on the chess24 platform, with the candidates appearing on camera over Microsoft Teams,^[27] during round 6 of the Julius Baer Generation Cup, a section of the Champions Chess Tour 2022.^[27][28] The game began with the Indian Defence (1.d4 Nf6) and after Niemann played 2.c4, Carlsen resigned the game and switched off his webcam.^[29] The resignation of the game prompted confusion and surprise from commentators Tania Sachdev and Péter Lékó.^[29][30] Grandmaster Maurice Ashley tweeted: "This is shocking and disturbing. No one can be happy that this is happening in the chess world. Unbelievable!"^[29]

On 21 September, after the end of the preliminary rounds of the tournament, Carlsen responded to a question from Chess24's broadcast of why he forfeited: "Unfortunately, I cannot particularly speak on that, but people can draw their own conclusions, and they certainly have. I have to say I'm very impressed by Niemann's play and I think his mentor Maxim Dlugy must be doing a great job."^[31] Dlugy has also faced accusations of cheating on Chess.com.^[32][22]

On 23 September, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich released a statement on behalf of FIDE.^[33][34][35] Dvorkovich criticized Carlsen for his actions and mentioned the "moral responsibility attached to his status", claiming that "there were better ways to handle this situation." Dvorkovich stated that FIDE has "invested in forming a group of specialists to devise sophisticated preventive measures [against cheating] that already apply at top FIDE events," and that FIDE calls for "reinforcing the cooperation between major online platforms, private events and top players." Dvorkovich announced that FIDE would task its Fair Play commission to investigate the incident "when the adequate initial proof is provided".^[36][37]

On 25 September, Carlsen won the tournament after defeating Arjun Erigaisi in the second final match. Upon questioning by Chess24, Carlsen said he would provide a statement on the controversy within days. Carlsen added that he "generally [wants] cheating in chess to be dealt with seriously" and he would address the topic in the future.^[38]

In an interview with TV 2's chess broadcast, Carlsen was asked whether it was right that Niemann was allowed to participate in the next tournament on the tour. He replied: "I am not going to change my point of view on whether I want to play against him or not, but I am not the one who invites players to tournaments. Those decisions are made by others." Carlsen said he would "probably" post his statement through social media and that there were limits on what he could say. He did not state if those limits were for legal reasons. Carlsen stated that he wanted more focus on "fair play" in chess: "It has always been a code of honor in the game at the top level that you trust each other. You know it is possible to cheat and probably not get caught, but it is so totally devastating to be caught, so then you trust that the incentives are not big enough for the best to cheat. It may feel like the time is ripe to change that point of view."^[39]

Carlsen's statement

On 26 September, Carlsen posted his official statement regarding the controversy on Twitter.^{[40][41][42][43]} 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 recently in chess than he had publicly admitted, and that Niemann's behaviour during their Sinquefield Cup game had convinced him to withdraw. He mentioned that he was limited in what he could say openly without "explicit permission from Niemann". He declared that he would no longer play chess with Niemann again.^[44][45]

Public reactions

The controversy has been described as the most serious cheating scandal for international chess since the Toiletgate incident in the World Chess Championship 2006.^[14][46][47] It has garnered significant attention from outside of the chess community, including on American late-night talk shows The Daily Show with Trevor Noah^[48] and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,^[49] and business magnate Elon Musk.^[50]

See also

• Cheating in chess
• Toiletgate

References