Anal beads, Jose Mourinho memes and cheating - The wild chess scandal involving Hans Niemann worthy of a Hollywood script
American chess grandmaster Hans Niemann remained defiant despite a damning report that accused him of cheating in more than 100 matches - with some... interesting methods.
It is a tale more worthy of a Hollywood script that has caused a storm in the chess world, and made headline news around the globe.
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The 19-year-old has been embroiled in accusations of cheating ever since he stunned world champion Magnus Carlsen, who has dominated the game for more than a decade.
Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup and posted a cryptic message on Twitter with the famous Jose Mourinho meme: “If I speak I am in big trouble.”
Niemann has previously admitted to cheating between the ages of 12 and 16 by using computer assistance, but claims to be a reformed character.
Carlsen later released a statement making specific accusations against the American, pointing out some irregularities in his play that just a handful of players can do.
Here’s where the story gets even wilder… theories online have suggested that he used vibrating anal beads to cheat.
Yeah... anal beads. Vibrating. Anal. Beads.
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How? It was claimed a coach would be watching the match and inputting perfect moves into a computer, which would send a coded message to the beads, and thus able to assist Niemann.
The embattled teenager even offered to play naked to prove he wasn’t cheating.
"If they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it," said Niemann. "I don't care, because I know I am clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don't care. I'm here to win and that is my goal regardless.”
Chess.com, the game’s biggest online platform, confirmed it had removed Niemann from its site for cheating.
They then released an explosive 72-page report into the American, accusing him of cheating more than 100 times and more recently than he admitted to.
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The chess prodigy is accused of breaking rules as recently as 2020, with the report noting ‘many remarkable signals and unusual patterns in Hans’ path as a player’.
Niemann beat 15-year-old Christopher Yoo in the opening round of the US Chess Championship and remained defiant.
“I think that this game is a message to everyone,” Niemann said. “This entire thing started with me saying chess speaks for itself, and I think that this game spoke for itself and showed the chess player that am.
“It also showed that I’m not going to back down and I’m going to play my best chess here regardless of the pressure that I’m under, and that’s all I have to say about this game. Chess speaks for itself, that’s all I can say.”
I think we can all agree that, for the good of the sport, they need to get to the bottom of this...
