Norwegian Magnus Carlsen defeated American Hans Niemann in the semi-finals of the World Speed Chess Championship. In a three-leg match with different time controls, the former world champion won by five points. Before this, Carlsen refused to play with Niemann, whom he accused of cheating.
We have been waiting for this match for two years! Perhaps even longer than the next fight for the world crown. The scandal between the former champion, the best chess player of all time, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, and the “brightest talent in America” (as he calls himself), young Hans Niemann, occurred in 2022 at the Sinquefield Cup, one of the most prestigious super-tournaments of our time, which is held in St. Louis, USA.
What happened in the Carlsen-Niemann game in 2022?
“It was a shame that the world champion lost like that.” Magnus Carlsen went crazy and caused a scandal
Carlsen and Niemann then met in one of the first rounds: Magnus had the white colour, authority and enormous experience on his side, but suffered an inglorious defeat. However, another interesting twist immediately followed: after the defeat, the Scandinavian withdrew from the tournament in protest and actually accused Hans of cheating. In subsequent visits, Niemann was checked daily with metal detectors. After the battle with the champion, he played without the brilliance that accompanied his play in the first rounds. As a result, Hans took last place in the standings.
Carlsen then received support from the major gaming portal chess.com (blocked in Russia), which spread confidential information that Hans had been using computer tips on the Internet as a child. Many major tournament organisers joined in the boycott of Niemann.
Niemann did not give up and took the Norwegian champion and chess.com to court. Nobody knows how the pre-trial agreement was reached, but in the end the opponents reached an amicable agreement: Carlsen renounced the accusations against Hans and agreed to play tournaments with him. Niemann did not insist on the million-dollar compensation he had initially demanded.
Unexpected outcome of the Carlsen-Niemann cheating scandal:
An unexpected outcome to the chess cheating scandal: Magnus Carlsen will be punished!
However, in the summer of 2024, at the World Team Championship in Kazakhstan, Magnus, as soon as his team had a chance to play with Niemann’s team, left the first board and replaced the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi (Ian eventually prevailed – 2:1). In response, in one of his last interviews, Niemann called Carlsen a sick and lost person.
But the Carlsen-Niemann duel still took place! At the World Speed Chess Championship, Hans knocked his compatriot Wesley So out of the fight and made his way to the semi-final with Magnus, which Carlsen could no longer avoid: the confrontation was eagerly awaited. After all, the qualifying competitions were played (and it is not entirely clear who is there and what they are doing) from home, and the battle of the best four is taking place live (albeit behind monitors) – all players are monitored and fouls are excluded from the game.
In the first semi-final, the young speed-playing genius of Iranian origin Alireza Firouzja confidently defeated the most popular streamer and world number two Hikaru Nakamura (USA). But this rivalry was quickly forgotten before the second semi-final.
How did your opponents assess your chances before the start?
Magnus was restrained: “Niemann has certainly grown in chess over the last few years. I don’t know how good he is, but he seems to have become much stronger. Although this is a match he certainly didn’t want, it will be interesting, purely from a chess point of view. Let’s see what he can do. Beating both Seau and Vachier-Lagrave is an impressive feat.”
But Niemann was not one to mince his words: “I think he is already broken, I broke him in the Sinquefield Cup, and I recently saw his interview after the match with Erigaysi, he seemed completely broken, psychologically destroyed. We will meet face to face, I will see his eyes, he will not be able to enter my mental space, and then the victory will be mine. “I proved to the board that my level is the best in the world.”
The leading grandmasters were unanimous in their predictions: Magnus would win, and do so with great confidence. American Fabiano Caruana said the Norwegian’s chances in the match were between 90% and 95%, and prominent Russian chess player Ian Nepomniachtchi predicted that Carlsen would win by six points or more.
The start of the most anticipated chess battle of the early autumn seemed disappointing: there was no intrigue. Niemann led the first game with great momentum (the opponents started with a 5+1 control), but made a mistake, lost and collapsed: after four games, Carlsen led with a score of 3.5:0.5.
Magnus Carlsen (Norway) – Hans Niemann (USA)
And then the most interesting thing began: a scandal broke out! It is no secret that the chess.com platform is far from ideal: its delays and errors were the source of a grandiose report at the first online Olympiad during the pandemic, when, not understanding what to do with the results of the Russia-India match, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich eventually awarded two sets of gold medals. The first match between former Russian world champion Vladimir Kramnik and Mexican internet star Jose Martinez was also very tense due to the operation of the platform. Even now, some breakdowns have occurred.
Having thrown out all his negativity and shouting at the organizers, Hans returned to the game: he managed to beat Magnus for the first time. However, Carlsen was still leading with a score of 7-2 after the first disciplinary game. But at the 3+1 control, the wheel suddenly turned in the other direction: Niemann won twice and came close to winning the third game, almost reducing the difference to a minimum.
But Carlsen is Carlsen, he is famous for always keeping his nerves and the situation under control at critical moments of the battle. A couple of retaliatory blows and the former world champion restored the status quo of five points. The final round has begun – a 1+1 game. It was already obvious that Magnus should win – he is excellent at the bullet and no one here could make up such a difference in the score with him in games 8-9. Moreover, the Scandinavian immediately increased his advantage to a completely threatening one. After that, the Norwegian began to openly mock his partner – he played bad openings, lost pieces during the battle in the seconds, but still maintained his undoubted advantage – at the end of the match the numbers on the scoreboard were 17.5:12.5. In general, the impression was that Carlsen’s goal was not to beat, but to humiliate his counterpart.
Hans Niemann (USA) — Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
At the same time, in the match against Indian Arjun Erigaysi in the quarterfinals, Carlsen conditionally won 12:9, that is, a complete defeat of Niemann did not follow, but Hans did not show the promised sky-high game.
Now in the final Magnus will fight Firouzja, and Niemann will have a crucial fight with the current American leader Nakamura. In a recent interview, the young American said: “The thing is that I don’t need to beat Hikaru today. He is 36 years old. There will come a time when he will just sit down in his shirt with pineapples on it and not play chess anymore. He will have to watch me win tournament after tournament!”
How these words affected the world’s most popular chess streamer – the match will show.
