Norwegian world chess champion Magnus Carlsen pulled out of the Sinquefield Cup match against American Hans Niemann in St. Louis, Missouri, accusing him of cheating.

This is the second time in a week that Carlsen has withdrawn from playing against the same opponent for the same reason, and that was during the Jules Bayer Generations Cup last Tuesday, and it was not talked about.

But this time, the five-time world champion decided to release a statement on his Twitter account in which he said: “When Neiman invited me to compete in the Sinquefield Cup at the last minute, I thought a lot about withdrawing before taking part. and then eventually decided to play the match.”

He added: “I think Neiman cheated a lot, more than he admitted that his progress in the game was extraordinary and during our meeting at the Sinquefield Cup I didn’t feel he was that focused or nervous playing in the deciders.” moments, although he was ahead of me in a way that I don’t think few players can do, this match made me change my mind.”

He continued: “Cheating in chess is a big problem and an existential threat to the game. Chess officials and anyone who cares about the integrity of the game we love should seriously consider strengthening security measures and ways to detect cheating on the chessboard.”

Despite Carlsen’s accusations of cheating on Neumann, he has not provided any evidence to support this, especially since the game is played face-to-face and not over the Internet.

But the 19-year-old American had previously admitted to cheating at two online games when he was 12 and 16, but vehemently denied cheating at the chessboard and said he was willing to play naked to prove his benevolence.

For its part, the International Chess Federation condemned Carlsen’s exit from the match with Neumann after one move, but at the same time shared concerns about the spread of cheating in the game.

Behavior / Donia Haddad