Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann: Chess' Biggest Cheating Scandal Explained

Everything that's transpired over the last month to lead to chess' biggest cheating controvery

Magnus Carlsen has made allegations of cheating against Grand Master Hans Niemann.

(Photo: The Quint)

“I believe that Niemann has cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted.” 

Five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen stunned the chess community on 27 September with his first direct cheating accusation against 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann. 

Between 4 September, when Niemann beat Carlsen, and 27 September when the Norwegian GM issued a statement, the world of chess has been a tinderbox of speculations, rumours and conjecture. Carlsen’s letter has lit the spark. But one feels the explosion is yet to come. 

Over the last three weeks the saga has unfolded like a chess match. A sumptuous trading of attacks and defences, marinated in highly quotable quotes (mostly from Niemann). Support has been sharply divided with some accusing Carlsen of jeopardising a young player’s career while others felt Niemann has not been the cleanest. 

This piece peels the layers, unpacks the incredible drama and decodes the flashpoints in the format of a chess game - the opening game, the middle game and the endgame. 

The Opening: “The Chess Speaks for Itself” 

On 4 September, in the third round of the prestigious Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, US, Niemann, the lowest rated player in the tournament, faced-off against Carlsen, the highest rated player. Each round comprises four games (two each with black and white pieces). 

Niemann was invited just three days before the tournament’s start after Hungarian GM Richard Rapport dropped out.

After an intense 57- move game, Nieman (playing with black pieces) defeated Carlsen and walked out of the playing hall and into the lobby outside. When asked by the official presenter how he would summarise this ‘masterpiece’ game, a poker-faced Niemann simply replied, “the chess speaks for itself”, turned around and walked away. 

Within hours, Niemann’s one line response became a viral meme template on social media, further solidifying his image in the world of chess as a temperamental and flashy prodigy. But this was just game 1. Carlsen handed three sound defeats to the 19-year-old in the next three games of the round to win the match. 

A day later, on 5 September, Carlsen quit the tournament unexpectedly. He tweeted a famous meme video starring football manager Jose Mourinho saying “If I speak I am in big trouble”. Five-time world champion suddenly quit one of the highly rated competitions globally, that too with a tweet. What was going on? No one saw it coming. 

Within moments the chess community blew up with speculation about Carlsen hinting that Niemann may have cheated. Over the next couple of weeks, players and commentators began speaking up about their impression of Niemann and his history of cheating. 

It appeared that there had been some murmurs and suspicion among the top GMs about Niemann’s proclivity to cheat. 

In his statement on the 27 September, Carlsen sheds light on this matter, stating “When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event. I ultimately chose to play.” 

Other top GMs like Ian Nepomniachtchi later said he had asked the organisers to add extra anti-cheating measures once he learnt of Niemann’s participation in the tournament. American GM Fabiano Caruana also weighed in saying his past actions of cheating “give some cause for suspicion”.

“What is relevant is that Hans has showed a willingness to cheat. If he's willing to do it once, you can speculate that maybe he is willing to do it again. That shows a facet of personality,” Caruana said during a podcast interview on 22 September. 

Following a lengthy analysis of his games from the tournament, where he responded to comments made by some top players, Niemann tweeted on 8 September, “The silence of my critics clearly speaks for itself. If there was any real evidence, why not show it?” 

The Middle Game: One Move Resignation

A defiant Niemann, clearly emotional and passionate during his post-match interviews, had said “It must be embarrassing for the World Champion to lose to me — I feel bad for him!”. As verbal shots were fired, the saga moved into the middle game with both sides having traded allegations. 

On 19 September, Niemann and Carlsen faced off again. This time in an online tournament - The Julius Baer Generation Cup - which is part of the Champion’s Chess Tour. The run-up to the match witnessed massive hype, hundreds of memes and an anticipation of a heated match between the two.

What transpired instead sent the chess world into a tizzy. 

Niemann, playing with white, started with 1.d4. Carlsen responded with 1. Nf6. Niemann played 2.c4. There was a pause for a few seconds as those watching it live thought the stream had hung. After about half-a-minute Carlsen’s screen switched off and a tiny parentheses appeared next to Niemann’s name that said “won” and a parentheses next to Carlsen’s name with the word “lost”. 

There must’ve been some error. As the cloud of confusion was lifted, the chess world realised Carlsen had deliberately resigned. He took the loss, sacrificed three points, choosing instead to make yet another massive statement without speaking a single word. 

Despite the walkover, Carlsen would later go on to top the preliminary stage and eventually win the competition, beating Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi. Niemann fell in the semi-finals, losing to Erigaisi. Had he won, a Carlsen vs Niemann final was on the cards. 

On 22 September, after the preliminary round, during an interview with the official presenters of the tournament, Carlsen refused to elaborate on his decision to resign. On the contrary, he praised the American, stating, "I have to say I am very impressed by Niemann's play and I think his mentor Maxim Dlugy must have been doing a great job." 

Some in the chess community felt he may have been sarcastic. Hans's former trainer Maxim Dlugy had been banned from chess.com after allegedly cheating in one of the online tournaments back in 2017.

The End Game: Statement Bomb

To quote Macbeth, once the hurly-burly was done, and battles lost and won, Magnus Carlsen finally released an extensive and detailed statement that the chess world had been waiting for. He confirmed the prevailing feeling that Carlsen was hinting at cheating allegations against Niemann. 

The carefully worded statement of 347 words has made headlines across the word, with each sentence unpacked and analysed. Many players have reacted on social media, praising him for bringing to the fore the perennial problem of cheating in chess, thanking him for doing it at considerable personal risk. Some felt that by not providing evidence or elaborating on the method of cheating, Carlsen is maligning an upcoming grandmaster and jeopardising his career.

However, the overwhelming consensus in the chess fraternity appears to be that cheating has been an abiding issue, one that needs to be dealt with firmly and dealt with quickly.

Admitting that he is “frustrated” as well, Carlsen adds “I want to continue to play chess at the highest level in the best events.”. This sentence is particularly important because this is not the only controversy the World Champion has courted recently. In July, he put and end to all speculation about defending his world championship title by stating that he was “not motivated” to play and that he will “simply not play the match”. 

The fourth and operative paragraph of the statement can be broken down into three major allegations against Niemann, each with its own set of implications. 

First, Carlsen states “I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.” This is the most serious allegation and hints at Niemann being a habitual cheater and not just a one time suspicion of cheating as some may have felt during the Sinquefield Cup. This challenges Niemann’s stated position that he has never cheated since he was sixteen. 

Second, he goes on to state, “His over the board progress has been unusual…” This adds to the first allegation and casts doubt on Niemann’s rapid rise where he galloped from a rating of 2500 to 2600 in a mere three months. In fact, from a rating of 2478 in December 2020, he raced to 2606 by August 2021, a massive 128 points in just 8 months. 

Third, Carlsen adds, “...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 think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective.” This allegation pertains to the specific game in the Sinquefield Cup where Carlsen felt the manner of his play looked suspect and that he may have been using external help of some sort. 

The Final Moves

Carlsen concluded his statement by clarifying he “is not willing to play chess with Niemann”, alleging he has “cheated repeatedly in the past”, adding he doesn’t know “what they are capable of doing in the future.” 

Mindful of the legal ramification of his allegations, he adds that he cannot say anything more without the “explicit permission from Niemann.” 

On Carlsen’s part, he has been welcoming and encouraging of youngsters and has often tweeted in support of young Indian GMs like Gukesh D, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi, heaping praises on their talent. 

It is important to note that Niemann is yet to respond to these serious accusations.

While the game may be inching towards a slow end, one has to wait and watch if it is a stalemate or a decisive victory of one over another. 

(Sushovan Sircar is an independent journalist. He tweets @Maha_Shoonya. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)