World Champion Magnus Carlsen Quits After First Move Against Hans Niemann; Sparks Cheating Controversy

World champion Magnus Carlsen quit his preliminary matchup against  American GM Hans Niemann after just one move against him at the Julius Baer Generation Cup on Monday.

Carlsen, playing against Niemann with the black pieces on Day 2 of the eight-day event went offline immediately after quitting the match. He stunned the  commentators as they struggled to understand with what had just happened.

The Norwegian was ranking on top at the leaderboard after Day 1. He racked up 10 out of possible 12 points,  after three victories and a draw on Sunday. However, in match 6, he had to face Niemann, the American GM who beat Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup on September 4.

Now, roots of this incident where Carlsen exited goes back to Sinquefield Cup. 15 days ago, Niemann had brought Carlsen’s 53-game unbeaten streak in classical over-the-board tournaments to a halt. The very next day Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup tournament and posted a tweet along with a cryptic YouTube video of football manager Jose Mourinho, where the Portuguese famously says, “I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble."

Though Carlsen didn’t point any fingers directly at Niemann that he had cheated but the sport’s online community interpreted the tweet and the silence followed which gave a hint that something was not right.

American Grandmaster and popular streamer Hikaru Nakamura claimed after Carlsen’s withdrawal that Niemann had likely cheated in their round, otherwise the Norwegian, who had never quit a major tournament like that before, would not have taken such a big step.

The online chess fans community accused the 19-year-old American of using anal beads to cheat in games. However, so far no one has been able to provide any proof to substantiate the allegations against him.

After all the speculations of him cheating in the tournament, Niemann had responded to the claims in an interview at the Sinquefield Cup by saying he was willing to play naked to prove he was not cheating. He also came out on social media to publicly address Nakamura claims.

Though Niemann challenged everyone to put up a proof of his cheating but it’s also true that he has cheated at least on two occasions earlier by using the help of computers in online games which he had admitted himself.

Ever since Carlsen’s withdrawal, no evidence has been laid about Niemann’s cheating but chess.com, the world’s leading platform, banned him following the controversy. Chess24, the second biggest platform in the world and the one being used on Monday, has however allowed him to continue playing.

The Julius Baer Generation Cup is the seventh leg of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, a year-round chess circuit which also has players like Levon Aronian, Anish Giri and Boris Gelfand.

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