After 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022, the World Chess Champion decided to withdraw from the event. Rumors that Magnus Carlsen suspected Niemann was cheating started spreading over social medias and the “Carlsen – Niemann” controversy is the top news in mass medias ever since. Hans Niemann confessed cheating online in random games on chess.com, but he claimed that he never cheated over-the-board. Chess.com removed Niemann from the platform, explaining their decision with the official statement, and announced to publish their findings on the Carlsen – Niemann case. The Wall Street Journal exclusively published the results of chess.com’s investigation on the Carlsen – Niemann case in which is claimed that Hans Niemann cheated in more than 100 online games on the platform, including multiple money-prize tournaments. A few hours later, chess.com published the complete 72-page report which includes screenshots of a confident email conversation between Daniel Rensch and Hans Niemann in which Niemann admitted cheating.
Hikaru Nakamura commented on chess.com’s report during his live stream, saying that we now have a big drama, while the social medias got overwhelmed with reactions to shocking news. See some of the reactions below:
