Chess explodes with cheating accusations after world champion loses and tweets meme
The chess world is currently embroiled in the biggest cheating scandal it's seen in years, even though there's no hard evidence of cheating. The story focuses on a tournament called the Sinquefield Cup, part of the Grand Chess Tour(opens in new tab) of major tournaments, which the young American player Hans Niemann had a wild card entry for. Niemann is a highly rated player but far from a household name even within the chess world, and this was a chance to face off against the world's greatest players over the board.
Also at the tournament was world champion Magnus Carlsen, who in the first round dispatched one of his closest rivals, Ian Nepomniachtchi. Niemann faced Levon Aronian and secured an impressive draw against one of the chess world's brightest prospects. Niemann would go on to win his next game before, in round three, facing Carlsen.
The usually unflappable Carlsen, playing white, had a bit of a nightmare. It seemed clear fairly early on that he'd either messed up or underestimated Niemann badly. Carlsen was still in a position that should have led to a draw, and you'd expect the world champion to convert that, but instead he made a very bad move and lost. The 19 year-old Niemann had, unbelievably, beaten the best in the world.
The win raised eyebrows, but chess is after all a game where history can be made by fantastical upsets. What happened next, however, has thrown the chess world into a spasm of accusation and counter-accusation.
Carlsen withdrew from the tournament. As is his wont, he posted about it on twitter, along with a short clip of football coach Jose Mourinho, regularly used as a meme, in which the oft-petulant Portuguese coach says «I prefer really not to speak. If I speak I am in big trouble… in
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