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First Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- First Post
Hans Niemann targets Magnus Carlsen after world No 1 loses to D Gukesh at Norway Chess
World No 1 Magnus Carlsen suffered his first defeat at the hands of reigning world champion D Gukesh in Round 6 of the ongoing Norway Chess in Stavanger, Norway. Here's how controversial American Grandmaster Hans Niemann responded to the result. read more Hans Niemann took a potshot at Magnus Carlsen after the world No 1 suffered the first defeat of his career at the hands of reigning world champion D Gukesh. Image: Reuters/Norway Chess Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen have been at loggerheads with one another ever since the former was accused of cheating by the world No 1 at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, USA. The two have verbally targeted each other since then, their feud intensifying in recent months with Niemann criticising Carlsen for his stance on FIDE, the Classical format among other topics. The latest such instance was on Sunday when Carlsen lost his match against D Gukesh in Round 6 of the ongoing Norway Chess tournament in Stavanger, Norway. Playing with black pieces, Carlsen was in a dominant position against Gukesh and was closing in on back-to-back wins against the reigning world champion, having defeated him in the opening round last week. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gukesh, in his typical never-say-die attitude, fought on despite the mounting pressure, and eventually turned the tide in his favour after inducing a blunder on the defending champion's part, completing a fine victory – his first ever against Carlsen – in 62 moves in the process and moving to the third spot on the 'Open' standings. Niemann reshares Carlsen's pompous social media post While Gukesh chose to remain humble and describe himself as 'lucky' after beating Carlsen, who had banged the table in frustration at the stroke of defeat on Sunday, Niemann couldn't help but remind the Norwegian of his pompous social media post when he had beaten the Indian in 55 moves in the opening round. Carlsen had posted on X an image of a quote from the hit HBO series The Wire which read, 'You come at the King, you best not miss' along with an image of the character Omar Little played by Michael K Williams. In a post on the same microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter shortly after Gukesh's victory, Niemann posted the same image but with emojis of a man shrugging. Niemann has also been in the news recently for of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in April as well as for undergoing a polygraph test after losing an 18-game blitz playoff against Russian GM Daniil Dubov, claiming he had passed on all fronts in the latter after reportedly being quizzed on the sensitive topic of cheating. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Indian Express
28-05-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘Gukesh ran into my prep': Arjun Erigaisi after winning game that retraced controversial Carlsen vs Niemann clash at start
Gukesh Dommaraju shielded his eyes away from the rest of the prying world. The 18-year-old, who built his reputation on being utterly impassive as he blazed his way to the world champion's throne, needed a brief moment to compose himself. Understandably so. He had, after all, lost his second successive game at the Norway Chess tournament on Tuesday, a defeat to compatriot Arjun Erigaisi coming right after the loss to world no 1 Magnus Carlsen the previous day. The end of the Gukesh vs Arjun game was observed closely by world no 1 Magnus Carlsen, who had drawn his own game against Hikaru Nakamura, then had taken up a spot near Gukesh's seat to get the closest possible view of the complex game between the two Indians. Never mind that Carlsen still had the Armageddon decider against Nakamura to play soon, he spent nearly five minutes peering over Gukesh's shoulder at the board before quickly dashing out of the playing hall to grab a sweater. Then, he was back at his vantage point, engrossed in the game. The start of the game had seen Gukesh and Arjun recreate a facsimile of Carlsen's most famous game: his defeat to Hans Niemann at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, which then led to the Norwegian GM pulling out of the event, then led to unprecedented — and ultimately unfounded — allegations of cheating against the American GM, a $100 million lawsuit and a feud for the ages. The first seven moves from both Arjun, who was playing with White pieces, and Gukesh — 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 Bb4 4.g3 O-O d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ dxc4 — had retraced the exact first seven moves of that Carlsen-Niemann game without a single deviation like it was following it on a map. 'In chess, surprisingly, identical games are not played. They deviate at some point,' five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand said on the official broadcast for Norway Chess while trying to explain why having two games with the same seven moves from both players is rare in chess. 'If you look at the high-quality, tournament games, there would be tens of millions.' On his 8th move, Arjun then played a new move, 8.a4 to force his opponent into long bouts of thoughts. 'He ran into my prep,' Arjun told The Indian Express simply after the win. 'So I could just play without thinking and he needed to really think hard.' Arjun explained that his prep for the game against Gukesh had gone as deep as 16. a5. In those 16 moves, Arjun had clawed an advantage on the clock of almost an hour and 15 minutes. 'I'm a bit surprised to see Gukesh think (so long) this early on. This is the same opening as the famous Magnus versus Hans Niemann game from 2022 but maybe he is looking to deviate somewhere early,' Arjun said on his first visit to the confessional booth on Tuesday. By the 8th move, Gukesh had burnt up 36 minutes while Arjun had consumed just two. By the 10th move, Gukesh had just 51 minutes left while Arjun, still blitzing away his movies from his prep, had one hour and 17 minutes on his clock. At the Norway Chess, players get two hours to make their first 40 moves with no increment. Then, they get just 10-second increments from move 41. For a player like Gukesh, who relies on calculation rather than intuition, the time controls at the event in Stavanger were expected to be particularly rough. 'Gukesh has been maligned perhaps recently with people talking about how he is the weakest world champion, this that, yada yada yada. It seems that he is not well-prepared for the line that Arjun played. He's already down an hour on the clock. After the loss yesterday, he's already feeling some nerves or lack of confidence. So I am very worried about his position for a second day in a row,' Nakamura said during a mid-game pit-stop into the confessional booth. 'If Gukesh gets low on time here, with there being no increment until move 40, he's just going to get blown away.' By move 22, Gukesh was down to 18 minutes while Arjun had just over an hour. But there was still plenty of drama in store. The engine's evaluation bar indicated that Gukesh had erred by playing 26… Rb6. By move 29, Arjun was up a knight while Gukesh had an additional pawn. The engine then said that Arjun playing 40. Gxf5 was a blunder that surrendered any initiative he might have had until that point. Despite that, there were more errors from Gukesh which helped Arjun claim a victory. Asked to sum up his feeling in one word after the win by the Take Take Take app, Arjun said: 'Relief.' He later explained: 'I thought I was winning in the middle game itself and if I screwed that up it would have really affected my thoughts.' While the defeat to Carlsen had come after a blunder in the 46th move, against Arjun, Gukesh lost after 62 moves. The defeat to Arjun means that Gukesh is now the only player in the six-player open section to have no points against his name after two games. 'It's one of the strongest tournaments in history because you don't often see the top 5 players in an event together,' Arjun added. Despite the strength of the field, Arjun finds himself at the top of the standings. (The writer is in Stavanger at the invitation of Norway Chess) Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
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First Post
23-05-2025
- Sport
- First Post
Hans Niemann schedules Moscow rematch with Daniil Dubov after defeat and polygraph test
The American controversial grandmaster Hans Niemann, who recently suffered a defeat to Daniil Dubov, is set to face him again in a high-stakes encounter. read more Hans Niemann and Daniil Dubov are set for another rematch in Moscow. Image: Reuters Get ready for a rematch between chess Grandmasters Hans Niemann and Daniil Dubov at the end of May in Russia. The controversial American Grandmaster Niemann and Russia's Dubov played an 18-game blitz match earlier this year in March in Moscow, with the latter winning the showdown 9.5-8.5 . As a result of losing to Dubov, Niemann was forced to undergo a 'lie-detector test' which was one of the prerequisites for the March match. In a social media post earlier this month, Niemann claimed that he had passed the polygraph test in which he was questioned about cheating during an over-the-board game. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Polygraph finished, passed on all fronts. Have you ever cheated over the board? No Verdict: True. I think it's time for a rematch with Dubov. I'll be in Moscow again in 2 weeks! — Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) May 7, 2025 The 21-year-old American chess player also challenged Dubov for a rematch, stating that he will soon be in Moscow. Niemann vs Dubov in Moscow, once again On Thursday, Niemann revealed that a rematch against Dubov has been scheduled for 27 and 28 May in Moscow. The match will be played at the Raketa Creative Studio. He shared a poster of the rematch on his X account with a few other details. Niemann did not share more details about the format of the match, but it could be the same as the last one. The 18-game blitz match was played with a 3+2 time control. The rematch you have all been waiting for… — Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) May 22, 2025 Coming back to Niemann's polygraph test. The American has not shared any video of the test or details of where it was held. He was asked to undergo a polygraph test after being accused of cheating by world No.1 Magnus Carlsen in 2022 at the Sinquefield Cup. The accusation led to a legal battle, an out-of-court settlement and Niemann admitting that he had cheated in online games in the past but never during an over-the-board game. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
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First Post
14-05-2025
- Sport
- First Post
Hans Niemann beats arch-nemesis Magnus Carlsen to win 'Late Titled Tuesday' online event
Magnus Carlsen finished tied for the top spot with a score of 9.5 points in the 'Early' as well as 'Late' events in the latest edition of the Titled Tuesday on 13 May. However, while the Norwegian won the first event with a tie-break score of 73, Niemann beat him to the top spot later in the day. read more Hans Niemann has been accused of over-the-board cheating in chess games by Magnus Carlsen. Image: FIDE American Grandmaster Hans Niemann competed alongside world No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the latest Titled Tuesday hosted by on 13 May, with the latter finishing tied first in both events. However, while Carlsen won the 'Early' tournament on tie-breaks to collect his seventh Titled Tuesday win of the year, Niemann triumphed in the 'Late' event. Both events had the top three players finishing on 9.5 points each out of a possible 11. Carlsen was tied with GMs Dmitry Andreikin and Parham Maghsoodloo in the 'Early' event and alongside Niemann and GM Zhamsaran Tsydypovn in the 'Late' event. However, while the Norwegian took the first event with a tie-break score of 73, Niemann was adjudged the winner in the 'Late' event with a tie-break score of 77. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Carlsen won a combined prize money of $1,350 – $1,000 for winning the 'Early' event and $350 for his third-place finish in the other won – while Niemann collected $1,000. Carlsen and Niemann have been making headlines for their mutual animosity – the two having shared fractured relations ever since the world No 1 accused the American GM of cheating during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Niemann not only denied those allegations, he went on to file a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen as well as fellow American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and The two parties, however, had arrived at a settlement after Niemann's lawsuit was dismissed by a US federal judge. Nakamura breaks his own record Though Nakamura did not finish at the top spot in either event on Tuesday, the American GM made headlines regardless by breaking his own record on Blitz ratings. Nakamura had registered a peak blitz rating of 3405 on in February last year, becoming the first player to breach the 3400-barrier. And on Tuesday, he attained a new high of 3408 after winning each of his first seven games in the 'Early' event. The 37-year-old's winning streak, however, was halted by Carlsen in the eighth round of the 'Early' event. He eventually finished ninth in the 'Early' event with 8.5 points and a tie-break score of 76, and 13th in the late event with 8 points and a tie-break score of 73. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
