Why Magnus Carlsen Quit 

Just in case anyone is wondering why Hans’ accent changes in the post-game interview, it’s not actually him talking. It’s the chess.

Really impressed with the chess community's creativity in finding so many ways to say something while not saying anything.

Hikaru says "I'm not going to say anything more about it". Proceeds to expand on it for the whole day.

"I'm at a loss for words" - Hikaru, not being at a loss for words

„chess speaks for itself“ „if i speak, i‘m in big trouble“

After listening to that analysis I think Hans was better off letting his chess speak for itself.

Alejandro with the FBI level interrogation of Hans was top class 😂😂

Hikaru: "For once, I'm at a loss for words" Also Hikaru: Continues speaking on the subject for the next 2 hours. Classic

3:18 Hikaru: I have nothing to say on this. Hikaru: Video goes on for another 29 minutes.

Hikaru: "This is the only thing I am going to say, the only thing!" Also Hikaru: "Magnus thinks Hans cheated."

Alejandro did an excellent job conducting himself in this. It's clear he shares the general suspicion but he was very professional.

It is *trivially easy* for Hans to remove any and all doubts concerning possible cheating: simply do a post-mortem analysis the way *any* 2700+ player can. This means that several high-quality 10-ply-deep move sequences can be produced at will, and that questions such as "why did you not play move X" can be answered convincingly.

I think hans made a blunder by giving interview, he should have just said "chess speaks for itself" and moved on

Props to Alejandro for conducting a clear-headed interview even though he is suspicious too

Interviews say it all. As soon as he was asked about a position he immediately looked uncomfortable and first responded with an evasive comment and then couldn't for the life of him coherently explain literally anything. How the hell does that not make all the GMs go WTF

The part where Niemann is doing the game analysis strongly reminded me of my college days, when i had an oral exam and was trying to bullshit my way into a passing grade. Grasping at every straw, and praying the lord that i would randomly say something that was correct. Ah, the good old days.

As always Hikaru is analyzing the positions almost at the speed of Stockfish. We’d expect 2700 rated Hans to do more or less the same. But he’s not even able to keep up with the commentator. I think the interview speaks for himself.

If he were sick or a personal reason, I can’t see why he wouldn’t say. The fact he won’t comment suggests there is certainly a reason enough for him to pull out. He sounds frustrated.

Hans Niemann had no comment. His chess spoke for him.

I know one thing Hikaru. This witch hunt will, in the long term, backfire. You are simply trying to bully another player for not acting as you suppose he should act. e.g. you are ridiculing Hans for saying he thinks it's a better position while it's -0.3. I want to bet that out of 100 positions at -0.3, you'll never get more than 60/100 correct. Firouzja didn't see a 0.9 advantage on move 35 against Niemann. Maybe you should ridicule him as well...

"Who cares about the quality? It's the results that people remember." That, to me, sounds VERY cheater-ish.

16:08 wow i looked up the computer analysis, it is -3.7 for black after white moves the bishop to h6. Also hikaru was right that rook e8 is the best move for black. the collapse of whites position (-2.6) for white begins right after the move f4 (14:57). looks like Hans was absolutely clueless in his analysis

Few people noticed (Naka mentioned) that the engine was turn it off on the analysis board just before Niewnman's interview. With Aronian was turned on, and basically on every interview on the tournament.

I think Magnus was very skeptical of Hans before the tournament and so he prepped a line of play that he knew there would be very very slim possibility that Hans could respond effectively in order to prove for himself that Hans wasn't playing honestly and then decided to leave the tournament based on his own proof.

That post game interview tells all 15:00 - “this is not 2700 level analysis” - Hans’ analysis does not match his play, he sounds so guilty at 21:15

Interesting how normally the post game interviews are usually more about exploring the GM's thoughts and insights and more interview oriented. This one felt much more like a test that Hans was desperately failing. It's definitely not evidence of cheating, but the whole thing looks a little off / suspicious. Hats off to the interviewer for really grilling Hans on his lines. Interviewer was well prepared and quick on his feet.

Hikaru- His analysis is not 2700 level Me, a 1300- Yes, this is embarassing. A 2700 wouldn't miss that move. That move is clearly losing for some reason because Hikaru said it does.

Hearing Ali’s wonderfully mild-mannered voice say “yeah, Queen G3 is insane” I completely understand Hikaru’s reaction 😂

Here’s my plagiarized take - I’m betting Magnus and his inner circle have had suspicions since the FTX Crypto Cup (possibly before), specifically his game against Hans. The cheating would’ve involved the leak of prep, not computer assistance, which would be nearly impossible to get away with. He decided to test this theory this time by preparing an obscure line he had never played before, and his suspicions were confirmed. He subsequently withdrew from the tournament, not out of saltiness from losing to Hans, but because he now knew with near certainty that there was a leak within this camp (and who’s to say that the leaker hadn’t leaked to others as well?). Everyone is focusing on Hans in all of this, but to me, the drastic reaction by Magnus is more indicative of an ongoing betrayal by someone he trusted rather than just being enraged at having been cheated by Hans. As others have pointed out, if Magnus suspected that Hans had computer assistance then there is no upside to withdrawing as he’d never be able to prove it. The only reason to do so is because he believes there is a continuing possibility of losing to others that have received his prep. Then there is the issue of the post-game interviews. There are a lot of people that I think are dismissing them as having no evidentiary value, but I think there are just too many red flags (of course, none of them rising to the level of “proof”). The attention that has been given to him miscalculating lines when challenged by Alejandro Ramirez I think is misplaced - I think that is much more likely due to him being rattled by feeling the heat of suspicion rather than him being a ~2400 player playing at a 2800 level because of computer assistance. Ironically, the scenario that I think is most likely is that Hans has actually made huge strides in his chess game lately, but was overcome by the temptation of the opportunity to look at Magnus’s prep. The truly damning thing that I think he said (again, not proof, but as close to a smoking gun as you’ll get) was his comment that “by some miracle” he had looked at that exact line before the game by chance. This is something you often see in guilty people - they know that they’re guilty, and because they know that, they think they need to address every possible avenue of questioning as soon as possible to establish their alibi/narrative, when in reality they never needed to even broach the topic as it only looks more suspicious. All the other weird behaviors are probably due to him crumbling under the heat - the accent, the rambling, oversupplying information/providing unprompted justifications, miscalculating lines, etc. But, I think the big takeaway is that from Magnus’s perspective this is not a Hans issue but an issue with his team. Only scenario that I think fits the facts. Hans’ nervous behavior, in combination with the actions that Magnus has taken certainly amounts to a preponderance of evidence for me. The idea that Magnus is just salty about losing to Hans doesn’t have any credibility with me, sure he has an ego, but it doesn’t fit the larger established pattern of his behavior.

I don't think people understand how alarming this is. It's not about this famous tourney or even the fact that Carlsen withdrew. If it turns out people can cheat at this level, Chess itself is getting killed.

This is simply an incredible moment in chess history.

GM. Naka is my best chess player. But today I totally disagree in regards of what he said. This is pure attack against GM. Hans without providing concrete evidence. Also bringing the past of the guy is not cool either. I know Hans already confessed about his cheating, its not right to talk about it.

16:07 Checked with stockfish and Hikaru is right. After Re8 it says -2.8 in blacks favor

"Who cares about quality, results is what people remember" I wonder what kind of person has such mindset.

Svidler: “this is not great.” Understatement of the year!

Please don’t do accusations without clear proof

The thing which does not make any sense to me is how did Hans decided to sac a FULL PIECE without properly calculating how to proceed after that against 2750+ player whose name is Alireza Firouzja. If you are trying to make that sac work and you think that it intuitively makes sense, even then you calculate just to make sure that it actually works and the line he told them doesn't work. When I checked bxh6 g6 f4 qe7 bg5 qc5+ kh2 bd8 bh6 re8, Hans shared this line in the interview, the engine says black is winning -3.9 and Hans believes that white is better. Hikaru immediately said that after Re8 black has to be better. If Hans is in a very good shape in this tournament then why the hell his evaluation is completely wrong. To make a move like Qg3, you have to calculate enough to know the best moves and Hans clearly demonstrated that he didn't know the best moves and then proceeded to make Qg3 anyways. Either he is extremely lucky that whatever random intuitive moves he is playing is the top engine move or something suspicious is going on. And I really don't think so that one can arbitrarily make Qg3 which was engine's best move but without calculating properly.

Figuring out how to cheat over the board might be more impressive than beating Magnus

1. When Magnus accuses you of cheating, you're either a super genius or you're cheating. 2. If you're a super genius, you can probably explain the thought process that you used in the game you just played, considering every other less-genius GMs can do it. 3. Hans has a long history of cheating online. Now I'm not saying he's cheating, I'm just saying he's definitely cheating.

You're provoking a witch hunt when you should wait until proof of anything is released. Top chess players have to be the most self entitled arrogant children I've ever seen. I hope Hans gets to be world champion.

16:30 Why is Hans thinking of the moves DURING the post-game interview? All this should have been thought out during the game. He should be reciting the moves in rapid fire fashion already like other Grandmasters.

Magnus suspected that there was a mole - a leaker - in his inner circle, someone very close to him. So he prepped an obscure line he had never played before, and his suspicions were confirmed when Hans fell for the trap - Hans admitted in the post game interview that it was "a miracle" that he prepped for that opening in the morning prior to the game - yeah sure. Magnus did not bolt the tournament because he lost a game - he stormed out due to his feelings of a supreme betrayal. In time - we will find out who his Judas was - Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 silver coins.

I guess . Hans sudden wins in the tournament made magnus suspicious that’s why magnus played a random line to bait hans. Now with hans playing a perfect preperation game against a line that is random that shows something. Well this is just my guess.

It was so entertaining and heartening to hear Alireza's interview. I really feel he has come a long way with his attitude about chess and his own mental approach to it.

As a side-note to the drama, I really liked Alireza's interview. He's down-to-earth, honest, and humble. Pretty much the opposite of Hans.

His analysis of his OWN games is shocking!

Unlike other RU-vidrs who just paint the whole picture grey with a broad brush I like Hikaru has the guts to point out the issue upfront backing it with serious concerns like Hans past and his dubious interviews! Nobody is accusing Hans of cheating baselessly but as a chess fan this issue definitely needs serious discussion

So that's why he was saying "the chess speaks for itself", because he has no balls to try to explain engine moves.

the difference between alireza and hans in interviews. talent and humility vs unwarranted arrogance

What a gift to have someone at Hikaru's level able to shed clarity on this

I'm starting to think that once you're caught cheating, as an adult, whether online or over the board, you should be persona non grata in chess.

I think Hikaru is going to take a big L on this one. Now he looks like a bully. Jumping to conclusions with no proof.

We laugh, but this is deadly serious. We need to be 100% sure that nobody can get away with cheating at top level OTB chess. Or else chess is ruined 😑

Hans analysis on his own games tells everything we need to know.

The fact that Hans can’t seem to analyze concretely seems rather suspicious. Top GMs have an extremely clear way of talking about variations when playing. I don’t see that at all in this scenario.

How did Hans cheat over the board, is he professor x now? A lot of unfair, baseless speculation here. A mature apology might be in order, in the name of integrity, and not to seem like a Magnus follower.

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" Hans is a sussy fellow, his attitude, his inflated ego, his crave for recognition, his meteoric rise, his history of cheating. There's clearly something very odd and fake about him. From a chess perspective, Magnus thinks he's cheating, Hikaru thinks he's cheating, and Ian thinks he's cheating. These guys have been at the top of the chess world for god knows how many years. Although they're only educated guesses (at the moment), they're VERY educated guesses coming from chess authorities. The fun part is, since cheaters are like drug addicts, greedy and stupid, we might see many other incredible and inexplicable performances from Hans.

Just saying.. if it turns out Hans was nót cheating, EVERYONE that even hinted at that should publicly apologise to him.

It’s so strange because even if Hans is playing clean, his interviews are pretty bizarre and don’t speak of a player at his level. He can’t even accurately identify completely winning positions. That’s unheard of for grandmasters. So I’m really curious to see what more comes of this situation either way

Hey at least Hikaru may have chances of becoming the world champion of shamelessly exploiting drama online. Since that playing chess thing didn't seem to work that well for him.

The difference here is that Magnus himself withdrew from the tournament altogether, something he has never ever done in his whole career although he, of course, has already lost to players rated vastly below his own elo. He wouldn't do anything of the sort unless he's quite confident there's some kind of weird stuff happening, and he's the damn best-qualified person in the world to be aware of such a thing, as far as I'm concerned. Especially since he all but said so, be it for legal, fairplay concerns, I don't know and don't really care, but it's so clearly implied that it leaves very little to doubt or imagination. In the absence of definite and damning evidence, "innocent until proven guilty". oh well, is it really just people freaking out because Magnus lost to a 2700...

I hope this has legal consequences. Can't really sink lower than destroying someone without any evidence.

It seems pretty suspicious, especially when you see how confidant Hikaru is about what a 2700 analysis is like. Hans can't even keep up with Hikaru. I bet this guy gets caught.

There is a guy getting his life destroyed without any evidence and people are like "this is so funny" "popcorn time" etc. WTF?

Okay, i have to admit. The instant I saw Magnus bailed out, my first thought was "what do Hikaru think of this?"

Alejandro is usually so happy and smiling. Now so serious. Tough spot to be in, but probably Hans caused it himself.

Hard to disagree with Hikaru’s understanding of the situation. All 2700+ players are generally pretty humble whether they win or lose to other 2700+ players. But Hans’ self-aggrandising during the interviews while simultaneously claiming losing lines as winning is fairly revolting. He speaks as if he’s next only to Stockfish (“Magnus knew I’m going to win this” with 5 rounds still to go lol)....or who knows maybe he is Stockfish. Guess the engines will speak for themselves one day!

It would have been much better if Hans said “something I knew little, but it felt like a great idea, so I went for it and I was right” or “my intuition told me it was good” similar to what his rival was feeling but being sure for a fact and be proved in his analysis he was wrong… not good enough

I didn’t really believe that anybody could get away with cheating in a real tournament, and that Carlsen reacted far too strongly considering the complete lack of evidence. But even as a low rated 2200 player, I find the interview with Niemann extremely puzzling - either his character is really strange or there is something else going on.

Even if he’s being given the moves to make… he has clock time to evaluate during the game. This analysis is odd

nothing quite like a good bit of chess drama. Best part is having Hikaru in the bottom corner laughing hysterically from time to time. This video is GOLD

14:38 "I don't need to show variations" 🤨

I've been seeing clips repeatedly on this stream and I'm so happy this was uploaded so quickly!

Guilty by speculation and popular opinion is horrible, I would be nervous too. ********************** NEED PROOF!!! *************************

Even if you don't know anything about chess, his nonverbal cues are just priceless. Maxed all the red flags possible.

So, basically Hikaru is saying Niemann cheated in the game and is playing way above his rating by saying this is not analysis from the level of a super GM.

Maybe time for an update, everyone was so fast to have an opinion and now it's a bit silent.

"You guys might think its impressive but Im always striving for more" I LOST IT

Hans definitely shows signs of narcissistic personality disorder during the interviews. That I am sure of...

Yo wtf is this ? Hans win against Magnus in a classical game so he's cheating ? i'd like to remind everyone that Hikaru has beaten Magnus only by premoving, how could it not be cheating

At first, I was thinking that people get butthurt because a young and seemingly worse player did play a great game against super GMs. Kind of a gatekeeping attitude or something. Unless there was any proof whatsoever I'd just dismiss the accusations as too hasty. But then, I saw the interview. The guy doesn't understand the moves he played. There is no better indirect clue that he cheated. And when you see the difference of analysis with Alireza on the same game, it's even more telling.

Check out Han's interview after the game with Magnus. He said he just happened to look at the line Magnus played the night before. The chances of that happening are very very low.

Take this bs accusation down and get some real evidence

The interview with the board was more than suspicious. Even if he was stressed out, he looked guilty as hell

@GMHikaru you're being the most petty, toxic, high school teenager. ruining not only your rep but the tournament's reputation as well. stick to streaming and corralling 1200's

Ok, so 30 minutes of evidence-free accusations against the guy, but no idea how it could be done. This was in poor taste, I get it, you have Magnus on your contacts, but maybe we should all wait and see

You should be ashamed of yourself hikaru.

Niemann looks like Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins during their first press conference after "coming back" from the Moon

No matter how much I turn the volume down, Hikaru is still shouting

The new transmission delay could be just StLCC protecting itself 🤷🏻‍♂️

absolutely shameful inflammation of a difficult situation. video should be removed by hikaru and his team to minimize further damage to their and Hans' reputation.

APOLOGISE BRO.... WE LOVE YOU BUT YOU ARE 100% WRONG TO POST THIS

I don't even play chess much but my kids take lessons etc and it is really helpful for us to see your take on this situation. It is really cool to see real top level players react in real time to a potential cheating scandal. We live in some type of perfect age for being able to see the top chess players operate in and out of games. This type of commentary was just not available in the past decades.

They need to do a deeper body cavity search on Hans, I'm talking like all the way up to the small intestine just to be safe.

That analysis reminds me of a police investigation. They get the suspect to keep talking on their own volition to divulge inconsistencies 🕵️‍♂️

acoustic treatment in your room would go a long way in enhancing your audio quality.

look man the things said upset Hans, you got to remember he is only 19. His interview you could tell he was totally upset to the point of nearly breaking down. An apology would be the right thing to do unless you have clear evidence that he cheated, which I don't think you do.

Alejandro is speechless by Hans' impeccable chess theory 👌

Hikarus reaction is exactly the same reaction everybody else had by Ian's interview 😂😂😂

It's obvious that this guy isn't the really deal. He can't even calculate properly. How the hell did he beat Magnus so comprehensively with black???