Bengaluru: Two years ago in a chess club in the central west end of St Louis, Missouri, one of the game’s biggest scandals broke and Hans Niemann’s life changed irrevocably. Then 19, with a mop of unruly hair, the American grandmaster defeated world No.1 Magnus Carlsen with Black in round three of the Sinquefield Cup. It ended the five-time world champion’s 53-game unbeaten streak in classical chess.
Carlsen immediately withdrew from the tournament and accused Niemann of cheating. It was the second time he’d lost to the teen in a little over two weeks. The earlier instance was a rapid game in Miami. Niemann admitted to cheating in online chess when he was younger but denied having ever done that over the board. It’s since been accepted that there’s no evidence he cheated in St Louis.
Hostilities remain.
Another edition of the Sinquefield Cup is here. Both Niemann and Carlsen haven’t featured in the elite 10-player round robin tournament since. A lot has happened thereafter – a $100 million lawsuit, a movie on the scandal in the works, and Niemann launching his own series of one-on-one matches against fellow GMs titled Hans Niemann Against The World. According to the American, it’s his way of dealing with being treated like a pariah since the controversy.
In February, Vidit Gujrathi received a match invitation. The prize money seemed substantial and it mentioned that he’d be up against a ‘top player’. He accepted the offer. Later, the Indian GM learned that his opponent was Niemann and the match would be a ‘Hans Niemann Against The World’ event at a sports stadium in Texas.
“I would have said yes to the match either way. I think what Hans is doing is good for chess. Every sport has special characters who bring money and attention to the game and evoke strong emotions in people. You can love him or hate him. I haven’t seen the brash, arrogant side to him that others talk about. I’ve found him to be a kind, nice guy. I like that he speaks his mind. Even when he was trying to trash talk me ahead of our match, he was struggling,” Gujrathi told HT.
Their match in June went to the wire. “I was burnt out after the Candidates and went with no preparation as such. I did believe though that I was the better player. I was upset when I lost.” Gujrathi came away with $20,000.
After Gujrathi, Niemann went on to defeat top players like Anish Giri, Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and is now ranked world No.22. He is supposed to play Carlsen in the semifinals of the Speed Chess Championship in Paris on September 6 — their first over-the-board meeting since 2022.
“I deserve an apology but I’m not a victim so I don’t need an apology… my vengeance will be victory on the board,” Niemann told Chess.com in a recent interview. He claimed that Chess.com lied about the extent of his online cheating. “I hoped I could move on with my life but the only reason my childhood mistakes were brought back was not because they wanted to stop me for cheating but because there was a vendetta to ruin my career… there are so many young, talented players who have cheated online, why aren’t their names released?”
Levon Aronian, who played the controversial 2022 Sinquefield Cup, recalls waiting for the tournament to finish. “The rest of us just lost the motivation to play after the withdrawal and accusations. We just didn’t know what to believe – on the one hand the game didn’t look suspicious and on the other we’d never seen Magnus pull out of a tournament before. I think Hans is a talented player who can reach the heights in chess. But I can’t say I support him. In a way, he’s using this whole story perhaps to his advantage,” the former world No.2 told HT.
What did emerge from the controversy, Aronian and Gujrathi concur, is getting a conversation on cheating going. “Since it came from a top player perhaps, it began to be taken seriously. People understood that even if cheating over the board isn’t rampant, it’s a possibility,” said Aronian.
Gujrathi believes much remains to be done. “Anti-cheating measures have to be more stringent. When you allow spectators, there has to be a delay in broadcast. They shouldn’t be able to see the live position when they come in. Maybe have viewing galleries in a manner that spectators can see the players but the players can’t see them. I have my doubts about a few players for instance, but I wouldn’t take their names publicly if I can’t prove it.”
The label of a cheat after all can stick for life.
Gujrathi finds Hans’ mission to become a top player interesting. “He has everyone rooting against him. But that doesn’t stop him. If anything, it fuels him.”