Hans Niemann walks out of interview after chess match with extra anti-cheat security

Chess star Hans Niemann is still disputing claims that he cheated against Magnus Carlsen, but refused to discuss the situation in a recent interview.

The chess world has been rocked by a series of allegations against 19-year-old prodigy Hans Niemann after he was able to defeat Magnus Carlsen with the black pieces – an incredibly difficult feat at the highest levels.

Niemann was accused of cheating in the tournament, leading to much speculation from the community about how that was possible with some suggesting that electronic anal beads were being used to transmit messages.

While there hasn’t been any proof he cheated, a massive report found that he ‘likely’ cheated in over 100 matches. Despite all this drama facing him, Niemann has remained defiant that he is cheating.

Niemann responds to cheating allegations and walks out

Niemann completed his first match of the 2022 US Chess Championship on Wednesday – an event that had loads of extra security measures.

Before he could even get in, he was scanned before entering. Plus, as Kotaku reports, the St. Louis Chess Club added radio frequency scanners to capture any sort of signaling from players.

Regardless of all this, the young chess star was able to defeat Christopher Yoo, once again with the black pieces, but didn’t have much to say when he was interviewed after.

Once he was asked about the pressure he was under and to explain more about his situation, Niemann said the game was about sending a message.

“This entire thing started with me saying chess speaks for itself and I think this game spoke for itself in showing the chess player that I am. It also showed 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,” he responded.

“Chess speaks for itself and that’s all I can say,” he added, but as the interviewer tried to change the topic to the match itself, Niemann ended the interview. “You can leave it up to interpretation, but thank you. That’s it. It’s such a beautiful game I don’t need to describe it.”

Certainly, such a response could end up raising more questions than answers, but we’ll have to see how it plays out as this drama continues in a stalemate.