- Christy Coney
- BBC News
World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has openly accused his rival, American player Hans Niemann, of cheating for the first time.
The Norwegian said in a statement that he believed Neiman “cheated more – and more recently – and more times than he has publicly admitted”, without providing evidence for this.
Carlsen had previously made veiled accusations against Neiman, who won him this month in a big surprise.
Niemann, 19, has denied any cheating in competitive chess, and has accused Carlsen of trying to spoil his career.
The teenager had admitted cheating in two online matches, when he was 12 and 16, but he strongly denied any cheating when playing on the chessboard, and said he was ready to play naked to prove his goodwill.
The controversy began earlier this month after Carlsen, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time, was defeated by Neiman in the Sinkfield Cup, ending his streak of 53 unbeaten games in classic chess.
Carlsen left the tournament, even though there were six rounds left, and then posted a video on Twitter showing football coach Jose Mourinho saying: “If I spoke, I’d be in big trouble.”
Over the past week, the pair met again in an online tournament, but Carlsen withdrew after taking only one move, in apparent protest of Neiman’s participation.
Carlsen went on to win the championship, after which he said he would say more about the crisis, adding that he wanted “chess cheating to be taken seriously”.
In a statement posted on Twitter late Monday night, Carlsen said: “I am disappointed. I want to continue to play chess at the highest level at the best of events.”
He continued, “I believe that cheating in chess is a big problem and constitutes an existential threat to the game. I also think that chess organizers and everyone who cares about the sanctity of the game we love, should seriously consider increasing security measures and methods that detect cheating on the chessboard.”
“I think Neiman cheated more – and more recently – and more times than he has publicly admitted,” he added.
Carlsen said he became suspicious of Neiman because he had made “extraordinary” progress in recent years.
He noted that during their match in the Sinkfield Cup, he felt Neiman “wasn’t nervous or even fully focused” and was outselling him by using the blacks “in a way that I think only a handful of players can do”.
He said: “We have to do something about cheating, and for my part from now on, I don’t want to play against people who have cheated repeatedly in the past, because I don’t know what they can do in the future.”
He added that he wanted to say more, but could not do so “without Nieman’s express permission to speak publicly”.
“So far I have only been able to speak with my actions, and those actions have made it very clear that I am not ready to play chess with Neiman,” he said.
The BBC has contacted Neiman’s representatives for comments on their part.
When the controversy began earlier this month, Neiman issued a statement vehemently denying the accusations, accusing Carlsen and others of trying to destroy his career.
“If they want me to strip completely, I’ll do it,” Neiman said.
He added, “I don’t care, because I know I’m clean. You want me to play in a closed box… I don’t care. I’m here to win and that’s my goal.”
Grandmaster Nigel Short, the only British player to play in the World Chess Championship final, told the BBC last week he was skeptical of the cheating allegations, saying there was no evidence Neiman cheated in his victory over Carlsen.
“I think in the absence of any evidence or statement or anything like that, this is a very unfortunate way of dealing with things,” Short said. “It’s death sentence by insinuation.”