Chess Cheating Controversy: World Champion and Chess legend Magnus Carlsen has accused his counterpart Hans Niemann of cheating. Making his stand extremely clear, Magnus has said that he isn't interested in playing again anyone who maligns the game and brings bad light to it. The world champion on Monday took to his social media account and shared a post that clarifies his decision of withdrawing from at the Julius Baer Generation Cup.
If past events are to be considered, the 31-year-old Norwegian had quit the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis following his surprise defeat against Niemann. The American has previously confessed that he had cheated twice online on chess.com when he was 12 and 16. However, Niemann also has made it very clear that he never cheated over the board.
Carlsen further said:
I believe that Niemann has cheated more and more recently- than he has publicly admitted. His over-the-board progress has been unusual and throughout our game, in the Sinquefield Cup, I had the impression that he wasn't tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions while outplaying me as black in a way think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective. I believe that cheating in chess is a big deal and an existential threat to the game and chess organizers and all those who care about the sanctity of the game we love should seriously consider increasing security measures and methods of cheat detection for over-the-board chess.
The world champion however did not have any evidence to support his claims and hence has said that he will never play against someone who tries to do things that are as frivolous as these.
(Inputs from PTI)
