[imagesource: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club]

When Magnus Carlsen lost to 19-year-old grandmaster Hans Niemann in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis earlier this month, it sent reverberations through the chess world.

Carlsen is likely to go down in history as the greatest chess player who’s ever lived, the loss was his first for several years when playing with White, and it was the first withdrawal of the Norwegian’s entire career.

But then came the whispers and cheating allegations and we’re now looking at the biggest chess scandal in modern history.

Carlsen, aside from cryptic social media posts, had not publicly commented on his loss to Niemann but he broke his silence yesterday via an official statement on social media:

My statement regarding the last few weeks. pic.twitter.com/KY34DbcjLo

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) September 26, 2022

For those whose eyes aren’t what they used to be, here’s a summary of the above via CNN:

Carlsen said, “When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event. I ultimately chose to play.

“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 I think only a handful of players can do.

“This game contributed to changing my perspective.”

Calling cheating in chess “an existential threat to the game”, Carlsen said he had waited before releasing the statement as he is “limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly”. He made it clear that he is no longer willing to play against Niemann.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has been critical of how Carlsen has conducted himself since the loss.

Niemann, meanwhile, has denied any wrongdoing and accused the Norwegian of ruining what should have been the greatest day of his fledgeling chess career.

He has since been banned by Chess.com, the sport’s biggest online platform. Niemann admitted that he had cheated on the platform in the past when he was 12 and 16, but has denied ever cheating in an in-person match.

[source:cnn]