GM Hikaru calls latest development in Niemann cheating scandal a ‘disaster’

GM Hikaru Nakamura is by far the most influential content creator in the game of chess. But unlike other Twitch streamers, he didn’t get there by being overly theatrical. 

As you might expect from a chess grandmaster, Hikaru is known for being calculated and thoughtful in his reactions. So seeing him call the recent Wall Street Journal report on Hans Niemann’s cheating scandal a “disaster” is all the more impactful.

WSJ’s report yesterday repeatedly cited a 72-page report that detailed multiple incidents of Niemann “likely” cheating in more than 100 matches. While the most damning details regarded online events, there was some mention of tabletop chess.

For Hikaru, his biggest takeaway was that he didn’t want to read about the report secondhand. He wanted to see the report himself. Following the WSJ article, Chess.com released the full report itself.

“Without seeing the report, what happens,” he said. “It does not say that there is clear proof that he has cheated over the board, but they say that statistically he is the fastest improving player in the entire history of chess.”

Based on what he could tell from the WSJ findings, Hikaru believes that the use of words such as “likely” might have more substance to them than they give off. Hikaru said that if the people making the report didn’t have a reasonable amount of proof, the report wouldn’t have come out the way it did.

“They’ve released this so I believe that they feel confident that if this were to go to court that they would be able to prove statistically that that is the case,” he said.

This year, Magnus Carlsen, who is known to be the best chess player in the world, resigned in a match against Niemann after one move. And following this report, Hikaru believes that more players could take similar actions in this month’s U.S. Championship.

“Now that this has dropped, you could have top players at the event saying they’re not playing against Hans,” he said.

The U.S. Championship started yesterday and will run until Oct. 20. The 13-round event includes a prize pool of more than $250,000.