Magnus Carlsen, the reigning world champion of chess, has pledged to provide further commentary “very soon” on the cheating scandal that is rocking the game.
Carlsen has leveled oblique allegations of cheating at Hans Niemann, the opponent who shocked the world by defeating Carlsen earlier this month, but he has not offered any evidence of Hans Niemann’s dishonesty.
On the other hand, the Norwegian announced on Sunday that he would soon issue a comment regarding the drama that has the chess world in an uproar.
Niemann, who is only 19 years old, has denied that he ever cheated in a competitive chess game and has accused Carlsen of attempting to destroy his career.
The controversy started earlier this month after Carlsen, who is regarded by many as the best player in the history of the game, was defeated by Niemann at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup. It was a shocking result that ended the champion’s 53-game undefeated run in classical chess. Niemann is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time.
In retaliation, Carlsen withdrew from the competition without providing an explanation, despite the fact that there were still six rounds remaining, and wrote a cryptic tweet that was widely interpreted as raising suspicions of cheating against the American.
On Monday, the story took even another turn when Carlsen and Niemann were re-matched in the Julius Baer Generation Cup and Carlsen resigned after making only one move, apparently in protest over Niemann’s involvement. This was the latest development in the ongoing saga.
Carlsen was able to go on and win the competition, whereas Niemann was knocked out of the competition in the quarterfinals.
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After winning the tournament, Carlsen gave an interview in which he stated that he would elaborate on the scandal “either tomorrow or one of the days after,” and that he hoped “cheating in chess would be dealt with seriously.”
“I’ll surely put out the statement very soon, and that will also not be all that you hear from me on that,” he added. “I’ll certainly put out the statement very soon.”
Niemann has admitted to cheating online in informal games when he was younger. However, he has vehemently denied ever cheating over the board, which is widely regarded as a significantly more serious offense. Niemann has stated that he is even willing to play naked in order to prove that he is innocent of cheating over the board.
In the absence of any specific claims from Carlsen, the chess community has pored over games and interviews with Niemann in an attempt to find evidence of any cheating that may have occurred over the board.
Some people have alluded to Niemann’s rapid climb over the past 20 months, during which he leapt from the relative obscurity of being ranked about 800 in the world to inside the top 50. This is something that has been pointed out by a few different people.
Nigel Short, the only British player to compete in the final of the world championships, is skeptical of the claims that Niemann cheated in his victory over Carlsen. According to Grandmaster Short, there was no evidence that Niemann did so in his victory over Carlsen. Niemann won the world championship.
In addition, Professor Kenneth Regan, the preeminent authority on chess cheating in the world, conducted an investigation of Niemann’s games and found no indication that he had cheated.
At the highest levels of the game, chess has not been rocked by a scandal involving cheating since the “Toiletgate” incident in 2006.
During that time period, the team of the challenger for the world title, Veselin Topalov, accused the champion, Vladimir Kramnik, of cheating during his “odd, if not suspicious,” excursions to the lavatory.
Professor Regan came up empty in his search for evidence that Kramnik had cheated.
