Chess genius counters nebulously
Niemann raises allegations against “tyrant” Carlsen
September 27, 2023, 8:09 p.m
For around a year, the chess world has been rocked by the cheating scandal surrounding the American Hans Niemann. Now the 20-year-old has defended himself against Magnus Carlsen’s allegations in a TV show. Meanwhile, the Norwegian says he will comment soon.
The controversial chess professional Hansi Niemann has clearly rejected the allegations that he cheated in the game against Magnus Carlsen in September 2022. He did this on presenter Piers Morgan’s “Talk TV” show. Last year, Niemann ended the multiple world champion’s streak of 53 games without losing.
Niemann now reiterated that he “of course not” cheated. The accusations are baseless and “ridiculous”, just like those from “chess.com”. The online platform produced a report at the beginning of October last year, according to which Niemann is said to have cheated in up to 100 online games. He was then banned from the platform. “chess.com” was unable to provide proof that Niemann also cheated in games that were played in person.
Carlsen’s business interests threatened?
powered by sport.de – Transfer rumors, news and live tickers – all information from the world of sports can be found here!
“To be clear, the chess.com report accusing me of cheating in over 100 games is completely defamatory. As I stated in my lawsuit, Danny Rensch, the person who made the report, told me created, said that they knew that I never cheated during a live stream,” replied Niemann.
The “most serious allegations in the report” related to games that Niemann played live via his account on the streaming platform Twitch. Niemann’s accusation: “The only reason they blocked me was because they were about to merge with the Play Magnus Group and they knew that their star ambassador was (Carlsen, editor’s note) made a laughing stock. They had to cover up his allegations and discredit me.”
Niemann said: “This is simply a case of tyrants taking action against someone because he threatens their business interests.” When asked if Carlsen was a tyrant, he replied: “Of course he is a tyrant. He used his entire empire and his connections to ‘chess.com’, took advantage of the fact that there was a merger and brought all these people to me “But I won’t allow myself to be bullied and will defend myself against him.” Meanwhile, his $100 million lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, “chess.com”, Daniel Rensch and Hikaru Nakamura was dismissed by a US federal judge at the end of June.
Meanwhile, Carlsen didn’t want to let Niemann’s verbal attack sit. Asked by the Norwegian broadcaster “TV2” about the American’s statements, the superstar said when asked whether he was a tyrant: “Basically I can say: no.” Carlsen did not want to elaborate on his point of view. However, the 32-year-old announced: “I’ll probably talk about it sooner or later.” What exactly Carlsen means by this remained hidden. The fact is that to date he has not backed up his serious fraud allegations against Niemann with concrete evidence – at least not officially.
“Your curiosity is a little disturbing”
In the talk show, the chess grandmaster also defended himself against rumors that are still circulating that he used anal beads to cheat in games. “Your curiosity is a little worrying, maybe you are personally interested,” Niemann told moderator Morgan: “But I can answer you: No.” The story with the anal beads was something that the “media” pounced on. Metal detectors would be used in tournament games anyway to exclude players from using unauthorized aids.
The American had long since admitted that he had used third-party tools to play online games twice, when he was 12 and 16 years old. In the first scam, he used an iPad to get tips. “It was a childish mistake, I stand by it. I didn’t even understand the significance of it at the time,” admitted Niemann. “When I cheated at 16, it wasn’t at a prize money event. The game had no meaning for me, and there was no money involved. Even at 16, I was still a child and lived alone. I felt a lot of pressure and simply wanted to get a higher ranking on the website. I want to be clear: online chess duels and personal chess games are two very different things.”
Hans Niemann emphasized again: “I have never cheated in games in person. That’s not just my word, that’s what ‘chess.com’ also said. That’s an irrefutable fact.”