After 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022, the World Chess Champion decided to withdraw from the event. Rumors that Magnus Carlsen suspected Niemann was cheating started spreading over social medias and the “Carlsen – Niemann” controversy is the top news in mass medias ever since.
Hikaru Nakamura shared his thoughts about the article written for The New York Times “Cheating allegations looms over elite chess” during his live stream, commenting the chances to catch cheaters in chess if considering the current FIDE rules. Experienced international arbiter David Hater said for The New York Times that the minimum standard FIDE accepts as presumptive evidence is that a person violated fair play rules with a 99.998 percent probability of cheating. “I am very concerned about this statement, because that’s essentially saying that unless you literally have a smoking gun or someone is cheating where they match computer every move, they will get off. When you say 99.998 percent, if anybody cheats, but it’s not literally every move in every game, or you don’t catch them with something in their shoe or their ear, whatever, they will not be caught“.
Nakamura also spoke about the investigatory panel FIDE has formed for investigation in the Carlsen – Niemann case: “My assumption is that whenever this panel is formed, Magnus will be able to go in front of them and literally say every single thing. But who knows from a legal standpoint if he can do that or can’t do that, which is a very very big question“.
Hikaru also mentioned Hans Niemann’s next tournament US Chess Championship which starts in two days, concluding that all eyes will be on Hans: “I feel that regardless of the result, you’re gonna hear a lot of people saying things. Like if he is doing well – something clearly is going on, your security is not good enough, or if he does really poor – with this delay (of live broadcast) and all security measures something is different. So I don’t really see a happy ending to this“. See the complete video below
