MOSCOW, Sep 7 American chess player Hans Niemann after the discovery of possible fraud on his part, during the game against the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen at the final stage of the Grand Chess Tour in St. Louis (USA), he admitted that he cheated when playing online as a child. On Monday, Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup after losing to Niemann. Later, information appeared in the media that the Norwegian did this, as he suspects Niemann of fraud. In particular, the American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura hinted at this. «When I was 12 years old, I played Titled Tuesday (an online chess tournament). My friend came up with an iPad, which had a program that helped me walk. I was a child, I had no idea didn't have what happened when i was 16 years old by a completely ridiculous mistake in an unranked game (i did the same thing) i made a mistake which i really regret, i know my actions have consequences and i suffer from these consequences. Mind you, I was 16 years old, I never wanted to hurt anyone, these were random games. I could never do this in a real game,» Chess24 quotes the 19-year-old Niemann. «I never cheated against Carlsen and Nakamura in online games. The funny thing is that those who hint that I cheated, those who allow such insinuations, are not so innocent in themselves,» the chess player added. In July, Carlsen announced his refusal to match for the world chess crown with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who won Candidates Tournament. The Norwegian defended the title four times, the last time he beat Nepomniachtchi in 2021. At the end of August, Carlsen cited the fear of losing as one of the main reasons for not participating in the World Championship match.
