The chess world was taken by storm recently when Magnus Carlsen was fined and excluded from a late round game at the World Rapid Championship in New York. It was triggered by Carlsen’s refusal to change his jeans, which wasn’t allowed for the event by FIDE. The World No. 1 announced his return for the World Blitz C’ship after FIDE agreed to relax their attire rule, and ‘appropriate jeans’ have been allowed.
Carlsen’s return hasn’t been well-received by Hans Niemann, who took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to vent his feelings on the development. The American grandmaster stated that Carlsen’s actions were making a mockery of ‘the sanctity of the game’ and also took a dig at the Norwegian for their 2022 cheating scandal.
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Niemann wrote, “Allowing a single actor to make a mockery of the tournament and then bending the knee is disappointing. FIDE has a responsibility to protect the sanctity of the game. The chesscom mafia tried to ruin my career because of a similar emotional outburst, someone must take a stand!”
Niemann and Carlsen have a long history together, which goes back to September 2022, when they faced each other in their third round fixture of the Sinquefield Cup. The World No. 1 lost to Niemann, and immediately withdrew from the tournament. Carlsen’s action was seen as a way of accusing Niemann of cheating. It just didn’t end there!
{{/usCountry}}Niemann and Carlsen have a long history together, which goes back to September 2022, when they faced each other in their third round fixture of the Sinquefield Cup. The World No. 1 lost to Niemann, and immediately withdrew from the tournament. Carlsen’s action was seen as a way of accusing Niemann of cheating. It just didn’t end there!
{{/usCountry}}Then in their next tournament meet-up in an online event, Carlsen resigned after only one move, adding more speculation to the controversy. In an interview, Niemann revealed he cheated in online chess as a child, but didn’t do so in the match against Carlsen or in any over-the-board game. Carlsen had his own response, as he released a statement where he accused Niemann of cheating more often than he admitted. Niemann was also removed from Chess.com, who also released a report accusing him of cheating in online games.
FIDE launches investigation
In response, the FIDE launched an investigation and Niemann filed a lawsuit against CArlsen, his company Play Magnus Group, Hikaru Nakamura and Chess.com chief officer Daniel Rensh for unlawful collusion and defamation. The lawsuit was later dismissed and it was also revealed later that all parties involved had settled, followed by Chess.com reinstating Niemann on their platform. Also, Carlsen promised that he would play against Niemann, if they were ever paired.
When the jeans controversy first happened in New York, Niemann also accused Carlsen of lobbying tactics due to his role in the Freestyle Chess Tour. He also felt that Carlsen was trying to ‘discredit FIDE’ and make his own tour the official world championship.