Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann play chess online for the first time since a cheating scandal two years ago.
Chess victor Magnus Carlsen, ranked the world’s best player, competes against rival Hans Niemann at the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship semi-finals in Paris that begin on Friday.
It is their first game since the Norweigan hinted that the American Niemann, then a teenager, had cheated in an over-the-board game two years ago.
All cheating allegations were cleared, including the bizarre allegation that vibrating anal beads were used at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis.
But their face-off in Paris will this time be played on computers instead of over the board, meaning on a physical board.
The games are organised by Chess.com, the biggest online chess community. On its best days, the site can accumulate more than 10 million active players in a single day.
Online chess gives any person with an Internet connection the opportunity to play against anyone in the world. But cheating in online chess is much easier than over the board.
“I think there are different ways of cheating in chess, specifically computer cheating, which I feel is an existential threat to the game,” said Carlsen at a media roundtable that Euronews Next attended.
“That kind of cheating at any level should not be taken lightly”.
Carlsen, 33, and Niemann, 21, will be in the same room with noise-cancelling headphones and a live audience of 150 people with many more tuning in online for the game.
“I think events like this need to happen a lot more, events that are in a hybrid format where you’re playing on a computer, in an arena, sort of an e-sports thing where there’s practically no opportunity to cheat, where the security is really good,” Carlsen said.
“When it comes to online chess, you can never be completely sure. So still, a lot is based on trust and that can sometimes be very fragile,” Carlsen, who declined to defend his world title in 2023 citing a lack of motivation, added.
He said last month he generally considers himself “a pretty big favourite against anybody” in the Paris semi-finals, which will also see Hikaru Nakamura and Alireza Firouzja play.
‘False accusations’
Accusations of cheating in chess have serious repercussions for players.
Niemann sued Chess.com after it filed a 70-page report in 2022 that alleged the American “likely cheated” in more than 100 online chess games, which included several prize money events before 2020.
Niemann was briefly banned by the website, which he said deprived him of any opportunity to play invitational events where there is real prize money
“When you deprive an athlete of their ability to win prize money, you certainly destroy their career,” he said at a press conference ahead of the game.
“My career has been irreversibly damaged by the false accusations,” he added.
“Carlsen brought himself into disgrace by ruining a 19-year-old’s kid’s life with false accusations.
“I would say he has tainted his legacy and his character by doing that. Day-by-day by achieving more and more the reality of what happened will become clearer and clearer,” Niemann said.
In 2022, Niemann filed a lawsuit against Carlsen, his company Play Magnus Group, Chess.com, Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer Daniel “Danny” Rensch, and chess player Hikaru Nakamura for defamation and unlawful collusion.
Niemann’s $100 million (€90 million) lawsuit was dismissed by a Missouri federal court the following year.
In August 2023, Chess.com announced that all parties involved in the lawsuit had settled and Chess.com reinstated Niemann on their platform.
‘Not a wizard in real life’
The organisers of the semi-finals in Paris say that security has been heightened to prevent any cheating.
“We have a private security firm that is here on-site that specialises in this type of stuff, and I can say that this event is probably going to be the most secure chess event in the history of chess events,” said Rensch, the chief chess officer.
Rensch said the only technology that is needed is superfast internet and a good monitor. Playing online does not change the nature of the game, he added.
“One of the things that makes chess special is that it is the same game online as it is over the board, and I think that that’s super cool,” he said.
“What separates the potential of this game from other e-sports or video games is you’re not a real wizard in real life. No matter how good you are. These guys [chess players] are real-life chess athletes.
“If we think it’s a sport, they are superstars and they’re also playing online and the thing about chess that is super special is that it kind of bridges the IRL [in real life] and the online community, where so many games kind of fracture it,” he added.
