After Hans Niemann defeated the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022, Carlsen decided to withdraw from the tournament without detailed explanations. Rumors that Magnus Carlsen suspected Niemann was cheating started spreading over social media and the controversy over the Niemann – Carlsen case is not stopping. While Niemann spoke on the case on several occasions and confessed he cheated in online games, the World Chess Champion did not have many public announcements since then. Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann met again at the Julius Baer Generation Cup, when Carlsen kind of confirmed he is suspicious about Niemann’s fair play – he resigned the game in the second move and went offline (see the complete timetable of events below). Just yesterday, Carlsen published the official statement on the topic, publicly saying that he believes Niemann was cheating more – and more recent than he publicly admitted. Carlsen confirmed he was considering to withdraw from Sinquefield Cup as soon as he heard Niemann will replace Rapport in the tournament.
However, it looks like the Carlsen – Niemann conflict is more recent than it sounds. Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen were spotted playing chess on Miami beach on August 12, while Grand Chess Tour announced a replacement for Richard Rapport on August 25. Hans Niemann was surely invited to participate in the Sinquefield Cup even earlier, and Fabiano Caruana explained during the C-squared podcast that Carlsen’s suspicions against Niemann were developed in a matter of few days between Miami and Sinquefield Cup: “We know that Magnus already had a problem as soon as he heard that Hans was invited to the Sinquefield Cup. People think that this was because he lost a game to Hans. But it predates that by a few days. He was already upset about Hans’s inclusion in the Sinquefield Cup. (…) What happened in those few days (between the Miami and Sinquefield Cup tournaments)? This is what I don’t know.”.
Meanwhile, Anish Giri revealed the moves of the “beach games” between Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen. Giri disclosed that Magnus completely crushed Niemann in the game which can also be seen in the video below.
Read more: Anish Giri: I am not allowed to mess with the Carlsen-Niemann final
The timetable of events related to Carlsen – Niemann case:
