World chess champion Magnus Carlsen issued a statement on Monday specifically stating that he believes his opponent Hans Niemann cheated during tournament play. He did not provide concrete evidence for his claims. This is Carlsen’s first formal statement on the ongoing chess scandal and the first to contain an explicit charge. The excitement surrounding the scandal has dominated online conversations for weeks.
“I believe that Niemann cheated more – and more recently – than he publicly admitted,” the statement said. Carlsen further explains his reasoning: “His progression across the board was unusual and throughout our Sinquefield Cup game I got the impression he wasn’t tense in critical positions or even fully focused on the game while he was outplaying me as black as i think only a handful of players can do it. This game helped change my perspective.”
This chess drama started earlier this month and has only started to develop in the last few days. It started when Niemann, a much lower-ranked competitor, defeated Carlsen in a match during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. Then, on September 19, Carlsen lost a game after just one move in a match against Niemann, this time in Round 6 of the Julius Baer Generation Cup. Social media platforms then flared up in conversation as chess fans – and even those who weren’t part of the game’s regular audience – debated the significance of these events.
“I believe cheating in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game,” read Carlsen’s statement. “I also believe that chess organizers and all those concerned with the sanctity of the game we love should seriously consider increasing security measures and cheating detection methods for over-the-board chess.” (It is well known difficult to spot cheating in high-level chess games. AI software is powerful enough to guide even inexperienced players to advantageous moves, while experienced players may only need to resort to such tools at a few turning points in a game.)
Carlsen does not offer evidence of Niemann’s cheating, nor does he indicate if he has any. (Niemann hasn’t been caught cheating in an over-the-board match before. Still, on September 8th Chess.com Niemann banned from the platform, and shared his reasoning on Twitter.) Carlsen concludes the statement by stating that he is “limited in what I can say without express permission from Niemann to speak frankly.”
Polygon has contacted Hans Niemann for comment.