Why Magnus Carlsen Believes Hans Niemann Is Cheating

If you got caught cheating twice, it means you cheated more than twice.

Them having played casually plenty is significant. Noone is cheating in the beach games. If HN real rating is 2400ish, it takes very little for MC to realize that. 2850 loses to 2400 only when they blunder badly. They never get outplayed. They know the difference. When MC crushes him casually in non-competitive games and the guy dramatically raises his level in competition, it is very obvious for top level players. Cannot even stress enough the level of conviction MC could have even with no hard evidence. I’d put all my money on the fact that Magnus is not wrong here. He wouldn’t have taken such course if there was any doubt in his mind.

Anish can analyze Han's game better than Hans himself

So unlucky Hans is, he only cheated twice and got caught both times! Of course he never cheated between those two events and never after the last time he got exposed two years ago.

Anish remembering both games to this extent is extraordinary.

Fabiano said on his podcast that Magnus has had suspicions about Hans for a long time before this scandal broke out

Are you familiar with the Mike Postle scandal? Every good poker player knows the fool was cheating. Explaining it to oitsiders was the problem.

We keep forgetting that an expert cheating is trickier to catch than a lower-level chess player. The reason being, as Magnus clearly stated over a year ago, that there are only a few key points in the game in which the right choice is difficult to calculate. You only need the correct path to take at only one or two key juncture points. Not for the entire game! To me, it is this juncture point that Magnus views his opponent had cheated on as to pick the correct path is beyond his level of 2688!

Happy to see your videos blow up! Great stuff!

The issue isn’t whether he cheated OTB, it’s that he cheated to raise his rating so he could play better players and get invited to money events. We will see what Magnus says but that is a big deal in my mind.

About the beach game not being recorded. The camera visible in the picture at 5:46 wasn't recording it?

Cheaters don't stop cheating. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

I thought Niemann didn't cheat either, but it doesn't matter if he has. Niemann has posed a foundation shifting question to the integrity of the Chess world "Can I cheat and play again?" No GM will be able to lose against a known cheater and not wonder "Did I lose because they cheated again?". People have and will quit pursuing careers due to cheaters. There are already Modern day video games that have died out due to cheaters feeding their vanity as-well for this exact same reason, its a no win scenario for chess.

7:37 - Magnus doesn't need to have anything concrete for Hans to have irreparable damage to his career, Hans ALREADY did that to himself! He has no one but himself to blame.

Magnus did lose a game in ftx cup to Hans. Followed by consecutive wins for Magnus. I do believe hans is fishy.

Hey curious what microphone are you using?

I don't know if this story is true, but... I once heard Hans was caught by his girlfriend with another woman, even though his moves were 100 % accurate. As he was caught in the act of cheating and the girlfriend was asking what on Earth he was doing, he simply replied: "Well, I think the position speaks for itself."

I don't think a known cheater can really "remain innocent". I get it, you meant this particular time there's no proof of him cheating, but it's a misleading choice of words. He doesn't remain innocent. He's a known cheater.

In the match today, in the interview after winning, Magnus said that tomorrow (Sep 26) he would provide a statement regarding the affair with Hans.

I find it funny that Magnus, who did so much for chess as a whole and is that well known good guy persona gets accused of being a sour loser by some or even is doubted.