I’ve infrequently lost to people 300 points lower (I’m only 2200 - the separation increases as you get better i.e. 1400 to 1500 is basically equal while 2700 to 2800 is a massive difference) and have only once suspected cheating. He’s a sore loser and a whiny bltch.
Carlsen resigned from his latest game against Niemann after 1 move. If he knows something then it’s time speak up cause this looks really bad for him.
Dunno what it looks like.
But Magnus needs to say what's up
Yeah. There isn't a player/analyst that isn't saying the same thing. What Magnus is doing has an impact on every tournament he is in and every tournament Hans is in. Other top players are having trouble dealing with the drama and they shouldn't have to deal with any outside noise. Tournament directors and sponsors are going to begin picking sides if this isn't resolved soon. This resign and no comment crap isnt sustainable.
Yeah. There isn't a player/analyst that isn't saying the same thing. What Magnus is doing has an impact on every tournament he is in and every tournament Hans is in. Other top players are having trouble dealing with the drama and they shouldn't have to deal with any outside noise. Tournament directors and sponsors are going to begin picking sides if this isn't resolved soon. This resign and no comment crap isnt sustainable.
Part of the problem is that Magnus can do whatever he wants with little consequence. He basically owns this tournament, and is in the works to buy chess.com. No other player could get away with this, but Magnus is chess.
Carlsen could see by Niemann's first two moves that he was going to get crushed again. His position was terrible, so he resigned to avoid the continued embarrassment.
You chess people seem really up-in-arms. The guy doesn't want to play against a known, repeat-offender cheater who continued to lie about his cheating after he was caught. Seems reasonable to me.
Truth is, chess is a "solved" game. Humans can keep playing it for fun, but it's in the same boat as checkers or tic-tac-toe. Any time there are actual stakes involved, the temptation to cheat will eventually prove to be overwhelming. Carlsen will be the last great chess champion in history.
Chess is not solved. Engines play much better than humans, but the game is only solved when there are 7 or fewer pieces left, which cuts down the space tremendously compared to the 32 they start with.
Hans crushed Levon Aronian in 21 moves (11 minutes). Levon: “Hans played very, very strange moves at some point and I think I lost my concentration and blundered.”
There’s a good chance Magnus gets paired with Hans in the next stage.
You chess people seem really up-in-arms. The guy doesn't want to play against a known, repeat-offender cheater who continued to lie about his cheating after he was caught. Seems reasonable to me.
Except he didn’t refuse to play him. He played and lost and then threw a fit and left and said that he cheated without providing any evidence, and now he doesn’t want to play against him.
Carlsen now has given some additional color behind his actions in St Louis and in that recent online tournament that he dominated.
one theory/question for those with more knowledge here: is it possible that MC tanked that round at the Sinquefield Cup? My thinking is it is much more credible to accuse HN of cheating if he beats you, and supposedly Magnus did not want to play against him in the first place. So, the analysis that MC played a mediocre game makes more sense if he wasn’t trying his best. Or maybe Carlsen was focusing too much on Neumann than on the board l during that game.
I don’t know, what is the likelihood that Carlsen is the following:
1) cleverly exposing a known cheater
2) using his position to carry out a personal vendetta against a teen rival
3) just sore loser / prima donna throwing a fit
4) basically becoming the he next Bobby Fischer, complete with the psychological issues.
reading up some, it seems that cheating in over the board chess would be fairly easy to do with today’s technology, at least on an occasional basis. Seems that doing it consistently for a number of years would be a much bigger challenge, so makes sense that this would catch up with a cheater in this time frame.
It really looks like some good anti-cheating procedures may eventually come out of this, of course long term, the goal posts any technologies are always moving and evolving, as with many disciplines.
I am not someone who plays chess competitively at all or closely follows the chess world but who is someone who knows 1 or 2 top chess guys (I've known who Magnus Carlsen is for years, for example). I thought I would chime in with my thoughts on all of this from the little bit I know.
Hans is a verified multi-time cheater. No one seems to recognize that that alone should have major consequences for him. Think if this was track and field where some athlete was found out to have cheated multiple, even numerous times at (unimportant) meets (say through doping). You really think they would just get a slap on the wrist and be allowed to compete in the Diamond League? No way. Allowing a known cheater to play and enter tournaments with the best of the best sets a very bad precedent.
Also, Magnus is a veteran at this point who knows chess and chess players very well. He comes across as a very reasonable and fair-minded person in interviews and podcasts. Hans on the other hand comes across as weird, slimy, and disingenuous, and the fact that he could not explain ANY of his strategy, what he was thinking, ANYTHING seems utterly bizarre to me.
None of this is proof of cheating, but all in combination it is extremely odd and absolutely should raise everyone's eyebrows. I can't recall who it was who said it, but another top chess player even said that Hans generally played very badly against him. Something strange is going on. Given Hans is a known cheater, I do not blame Magnus or anyone else for essentially refusing to play with him. If the authorities of these tournaments aren't going to uphold integrity, then maybe the players should. There should be a message sent that cheaters will not be tolerated or allowed to join the club. That's how it should be.
Finally, the anal bead butt plug morse code idea is pretty fricken hilarious to me. Honestly, looking at Hans and considering his past, it wouldn't actually surprise me at this point.
The most glaring circumstantial evidence that I have heard against Niemann is that he could only answer “intuition” when asked by the reporter about his unique moves. To me that’s damning: any GrandMaster could easily recall the exact moves on the board that were pivotal in the match. I’ll bet many could recall most if not all the moves/positions in the match.
Niemann is most definitely cheating - we just haven’t yet determined how it was done.
GMHikaru Nakamura reacts to a video providing evidence that Hans Niemann cheated against Magnus Carlsen since he has already done that before, as many of his...