Under fire from the chess fraternity for allegedly cheating against Hans Niemann of the USA, World Champion Magnus Carlsen has come up with his version and accused the former of cheating, which forced him to take such unprecedented steps.
The Norwegian took to twitter to issue a statement on why he withdrew from his games against the American.
“At the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I made the unprecedented professional decision to withdraw from the tournament after my round-three game against Hans Niemann. A week later during the Champions Chess Tour, I resigned against Hans Niemann after playing only one move,” the statement from Carlsen read.
“I know that my actions have frustrated many in the chess community. I am frustrated. I want to play chess. I want to continue to play chess at the highest level in the best events,” he added.
During the third round of the game against Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup, Carlsen succumbed to a shock defeat to the American.
Following that, he withdrew from the event, and last week, he once again resigned after just one move against Niemann at Julius Baer Generation Cup. Niemann is behind Carlsen by almost 200 Elo points, a measure used to calculate the relative skill level of chess players.
Carlsen said that cheating is a big deal and poses an “existential threat” to the game.
“I also believe that chess organisers and all those who care about the sanctity of the game we love should seriously consider increasing security measures and methods of cheat detection for over-the-board chess.”
“When Niemann was invited at the 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 was not 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,” Carlsen alleged.
The 19-year-old grandmaster has admitted to cheating twice, as per Chess.com, when he was 12 and 16 years of age. However, he regrets that.
“We must do something about cheating, and for my part going forward, I do not want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past, because I do not know what they are capable of doing in the future,” added Carlsen in his statement.
“There is more that I would like to say. Unfortunately, at this time I am limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly. So far, I have only been able to speak with my actions, and those actions have stated clearly that I am not willing to play chess with Niemann. I hope that the truth on this matter comes out, whatever it may be,” the world champion concluded.