Magnus Hans Niemann & Hikaru At Rapid blitz Champs

[M ANSARI]

I think Nieman is 2450 to 2600 ELO strength and the notion that his alien like play in some games was due to the fact that he is gifted with some incredible chess intuition is total BS. Chess intuition allows chess players to make very good moves without much calculation and this usually means that chess players with good chess intuition will play faster time control games at a much higher level than similar opponents. Nieman play in fast time controls is actually very average and probably reflects his true strength if he is not using engine help. Here he is playing a few blitz games against Artimiev (I am guessing he was not cheating) where the only game lost by Artimiev is due to a piece blunder ... and even that game was quite close. Artimiev is of course a very strong GM but the "greatest chess player in the history of chess" should have put up more resistance I would think. Just like with Madoff some will always brush off red flags and allow the fraud to perpetuate.

[carldaman]

Top GMs: he mad(e) off with our rating points!!

[Collingwood]

I think Niemann is 2450 to 2600 ELO strength and the notion that his alien like play in some games was due to the fact that he is gifted with some incredible chess intuition is total BS. Chess intuition allows chess players to make very good moves without much calculation and this usually means that chess players with good chess intuition will play faster time control games at a much higher level than similar opponents. Niemann play in fast time controls is actually very average and probably reflects his true strength if he is not using engine help.

Niemann's missed mate-in-3 in the blitz looked to me particularly obvious. (It might help to know exactly how much time the players had left at that moment.)

How's he supposed to prove his innocence?

Answer: he doesn't have to. The burden of proof lies with the accuser.

Quite frankly, Niemann has already proved his guilt. Anyone who watches the interview he did with Ramirez closely and objectively can see that.

[M ANSARI]

As time goes by, it will become glaringly obvious that Hans Nieman is not really the best player that humanity has produced. It is unfortunate that so many decent people have given him the benefit of the doubt, just as they did with Madoff ... but the truth will come out eventually. Even the most ardent Nieman supporters have to unfortunately now admit that there really is something extremely fishy with Nieman's meteoric rise and with the large number of games that are "alien like" in their play and accuracy. His inability to analyze complex positions in games he had just played with uncanny accuracy was a huge red flag ... but somehow that was brushed off. But that was not the only red flag, and many red flags along with that came. Somehow many felt that if he didn't get caught with a device red handed ... then the cheating never happened ... even when statistical evidence was very damning. However when you have Magnus Carlsen, Giri, Nepo, Hikaru, Caruana, So ... plus many other top GM's ... making it clear they thought that Hans was cheating ... that for me is the biggest red flag. These top GM's will immediately notice unusual ideas or play that is not human. Especially when it is done by a player that is supposedly rated lower than they are.

[Collingwood]

However when you have Magnus Carlsen, Giri, Nepo, Hikaru, Caruana, So ... plus many other top GM's ... making it clear they thought that Hans was cheating ... that for me is the biggest red flag. These top GM's will immediately notice unusual ideas or play that is not human. Especially when it is done by a player that is supposedly rated lower than they are.

The top US players reportedly all refused to play alongside Niemann in team competitions, which is why the US team had to field very weak players (by the standards of Hikaru, Fabiano, Wesley) beneath Niemann. The team captain/coach/manager (whatever it's called) was Donaldson, who when questioned gave a silly angry answer along the lines of "in my country, innocent until proven guilty", etc. It'll be interesting to see what happens if Niemann qualifies to make the US team for the next Olympiad.