Reigning chess world champion Magnus Carlsen continued to dominate headlines after leaving his match against Hans Niemann at the Julius Baer Generation Cup after just two moves. The earlier match between the two grandmasters at the Sinquefield Cup sparked a major controversy as Niemann was accused of cheating after beating the Norwegian in a shocking upset.
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On Monday, both players appeared for the match on video link during the live broadcast on Chess24. Nieman, who was playing with white, made the first move of the match and Carlson followed. However, right after the first move, Carlsen disconnected from the encounter.
The decision by Carlsen to take part in the match added fuel to the controversy surrounding their previous game. Following the incident, world’s best blitz player – Hikaru Nakamura – claimed that Carlsen left the game because he suspected that Niemann had “probably cheated”. He also revealed that Niemann was banned by the world’s most popular chess website – Chess.com.
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While Niemann did admit to cheating in online tournaments as a teenager, he denied all allegations when it came to this game against Carlsen. “I have never cheated in an over-the-board game,” he said and even proposed to play in “a closed box with zero electronic transmission”.
Both the players were back for their next matches, but the commentators were left shocked by the events. “Magnus [is] just refusing to play against Hans. He will play the tournament, but he is saying ‘I will not play the game against him’. That’s making a very big statement,” Chess24 commentator Tanya Sachdeva remarked.
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