It took lower than a minute to reignite the feud. Hans Niemann v Magnus Carlsen on the Julius Baer Technology Cup opened conventionally with 1 d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2 c2-c4. However then Carlsen disappeared from the display, the commentators had been aghast, whereas Niemann shrugged after which additionally disconnected. The world champion’s father, Henrik Carlsen, had already introduced that his usually media-friendly son would give no press interviews in the course of the match. The motion was captured reside on the chess24 broadcast.
Monday’s cameo was the sequel to the controversial incident earlier this month throughout the board on the $350,000 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis. Carlsen was outplayed by Niemann, struggling a uncommon defeat as White, and withdrew from the match.
He then printed a cryptic tweet alongside a video of the soccer supervisor José Mourinho saying: “If I communicate, I’m in large hassle.”
Niemann admitted to being banned twice by chess.com for dishonest on-line, however denied dishonest over the board. The St Louis organisers defined all their many anti-cheating procedures and emphasised there had been no wrongdoing at their occasion.
A 3rd spherical of Carlsen v Niemann is feasible this weekend. The format of the Julius Baer Technology Cup is an all-play-all of 16 from Monday to Thursday, adopted by a knockout among the many prime eight from Friday to Sunday. Regardless of his self-inflicted zero, Carlsen is anticipated to qualify for the quarter-finals and Niemann might also achieve this. Play begins at 5pm BST every day.
Monday’s weird incidence is sort of with out precedent in worldwide chess. Bobby Fischer and Vlad Kramnik defaulted video games in world championship matches, however their protests had been in opposition to organisational choices. The closest precedent might be the 1 c4 Resigns of Fischer v Oscar Panno on the 1970 interzonal, when the Argentinian grandmaster resigned in protest at modifications within the schedule to accommodate the non secular beliefs of Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky.
England’s main feminine participant, Jovanka Houska, accused Carlsen of “pouring extra gas on the hearth” of the controversy. On Norwegian TV, Carlsen’s former teammate and aide, Jon Ludvig Hammer, referred to as for sanctions. “It’s essentially the most unacceptable behaviour to lose on objective,” he mentioned. “It’s essentially the most unsportsmanlike factor you are able to do.”
It’s believed Carlsen selected to make a single transfer relatively than none in any respect in order to technically fulfil his contract with the organisers. If one or each gamers fails to make a transfer, the sport counts as a default and never as a accomplished sport.
In a brand new Chessbase article, Prof Ken Regan, extensively thought to be the main authority on anti-cheating, reveals he has examined all Niemann’s over the board and on-line video games for the previous two years and located no proof in opposition to the American. Specifically, Regan analysed Niemann’s video games on the 2022 Capablanca Memorial in Cuba, the place there had been a number of claims of dishonest, and located that whereas Niemann’s accuracy charge was regular, his opponents had underperformed, in the same strategy to video games of Mikhail Tal and Alexei Shirov in previous many years.
In his streaming broadcasts, Hikaru Nakamura, the world No 6, has claimed Niemann’s charge of enchancment has been sooner than different prodigies and is subsequently suspect. The truth is that Niemann, at age 19, is way from the highest prospect among the many fast-rising teenage technology. He is identical age as Alireza Firouzja, recent from his sensible success on the Sinquefield Cup, however is round 90 ranking factors behind the Iranian-born Frenchman. He has the same ranking to Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Indian pair Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Dommaraju Gukesh, however the trio are all two to 3 years youthful than the American. Gukesh is enjoying within the Spanish League, the place he gained in effective model in opposition to England’s Gawain Jones on Sunday.
Niemann desires to be world champion, however his 4 rivals have the identical ambition. That most likely means, when it comes to his spat with Carlsen, their paths are prone to cross much less incessantly in future and that shall be accentuated by organisers figuring out they can’t embrace them each.
In Monday’s fifth spherical, instantly earlier than the fateful rendezvous with Carlsen, Niemann was paired with the match chief, Arjun Erigaisi, and (see board above) made the type of primary error a 1700 participant ought to be ashamed of, not to mention a 2700.
In full distinction to the above catastrophe, Niemann scored brilliantly in 21 strikes in opposition to world No 10 Levon Aronian on Tuesday night time to maintain his quarter-final hopes alive. On the finish 21…Kd7 22 Qe7+ Kc6 23 Nd4 is checkmate.
3834 ! Qxe5! and mate subsequent transfer.
