Hans Niemann scored his third consecutive victory at the US Chess Championship after defeating Samuel Sevian in today’s 12th round. Niemann managed to score in a thrilling endgame as Sevian missed his chances to hold a draw. An interesting and unusual situation was spotted on the venue’s camera which showed the players communicating during the game. Sevian picked up Nimeann’s King from the board, and it seemed he was trying to fix the King’s crown. Niemann protested and asked for his King back.
In the post-game interview, Niemann explained it was a misunderstanding between the players. “The pin of the King was fallen off, so he’s just picked it up, but I was just a bit annoyed because it was on my time“. He revealed that Samuel wanted to glue the piece, but the game continued as soon as he put the King back on the board.
Read more: Fabiano Caruana: The disrespect just reached its peak. Sam decapitated Hans’ king #TweetOftheDay
Speaking about his tournament, Hans added that it is extremely difficult to play under the pressure that he felt from the beginning of the event: “As I said during the Sinquefield Cup, playing chess under unique conditions or unstable conditions is extremely difficult. But I think that after I lost three games like an idiot I sort of realized I’m not going to win the tournament so I relaxed a bit. And I also sort of realized I really hate losing so much. It keeps me up at night, and I wanted to sleep. So I decided to play better chess. And I also don’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of watching me lose“. See the complete interview below
