Fabiano Caruana and Maurice Ashley joined the C-squared podcast tonight speaking live about the official statement by Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen said that he believes Niemann has cheated more than he publicly admitted, adding that cheating is an existential threat to the game. Fabiano Caruana agreed: “I think undoubtedly it’s a threat to the entire nature of the game and it’s been like that for a while, but we are only now really getting into it publicly, while it stayed behind the scenes for quite some while”.
“It seems Magnus has concerns not only about online chess, but also over-the-board chess. And we didn’t think of that as much, because we thought maybe it’s not so easy. People tried, they went into the bathroom with their phones, and usually they get caught. I think the realization now is that with the technology, it is possible to cheat while sitting on the board potentially. And that’s the worry“, added Fabiano.
Maurice Ashley had a different take on the topic saying that he wishes we had more: “I am happy that he (Magnus Carlsen) finally said something, but it feels like there are still lots of questions hanging in the air and we need to get some answers“. He added: “Hans already admitted he’s been cheating in the past, it’s possible that he’s cheated now. The thing about this is – until you give evidence, in the world that we live in, the so-called fair world, the traditional system, usually operates not based on hearsay, not based on suspicions, but on proof. And I think that it’s a bit sad that we are feeling like hey, if we suspect somebody enough, that’s enough. Even if he (Hans Niemann) is guilty, even if he’s straight up guilty, but you can’t just suspect somebody and that be enough, we can’t live in that world.“. See the complete video below
Magnus Carlsen confirmed with the statement that he was thinking about withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup 2022 as soon as he heard that Hans Niemann comes as the last-minute replacement for Richard Rapport. Fabiano Caruana spoke about that a few days ago, when he also criticized Kenneth Regan’s anti-cheating methods.
The timetable of events related to Niemann – Carlsen case:
