19-year-old Hans Niemann drew to Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022. The French grandmaster had a better position from the opening, but missed his chances and the game ended in a draw (Replay the game here). With new anti-cheating measures, all the players are being thoroughly checked. An interesting situation was recorded after the game between Niemann and MVL as the players kept analyzing their game while Niemann got checked with the anti-cheating device. See the video below
Sinquefield Cup 2022 improved the anti-cheating measures after Magnus Carlsen’s withdrawal from the tournament. Carlsen decided to leave the competition after a loss to Hans Niemann in the third round of the event. Rumors that Carlsen suspected Niemann was cheating started spreading over social medias and Hikaru Nakamura confirmed that Niemann has done “unallowed things” during the online tournaments. Niemann confessed that he cheated in random chesscom games, adding that he will not let chesscom, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura slander his reputation. Nakamura reacted to Niemann’s interview, while chess.com posted the official statement to explain why they removed Hans Niemann from the website after Carlsen’s withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup. The whole case caused different reactions on social medias. Garry Kasparov called Carlsen’s withdrawal as an act with no precedent in the last 50 years, adding that “Unless the chess world is to be dragged down into endless pathetic rumors, clear statements must be made“. Even Elon Musk commented on accusations towards Hans Niemann, while Susan Polgar posted that the professional reputation of many parties is at stake.
