 "Hans Niemann has attacked fellow American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura over his views on the anti-cheating measures in place for the ongoing Fide Candidates in Cyprus. Image credit: Tata Steel Chess/Fide")
Hans Niemann has launched another attack at fellow American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura after taking an indirect dig at the 38-year-old for his poor run in the ongoing Candidates as well as his controversial method of qualification.
World No 2 Nakamura had recently criticised the strict anti-cheating measures put in place by Fide for the Candidates, which currently is underway at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus.
Nakamura had questioned the Lausanne-based governing body for the sport whether they viewed players the same way as “Mossad agents in Iran” in a video posted on his YouTube channel recently.
Nakamura accused of hurling unproven cheating allegations at other players
Niemann, however, questioned why Nakamura would have an issue with anti-cheating measures, accusing the chess star and popular streamer of making numerous cheating allegations in the past without providing strong evidence for the same.
“Historically, Hikaru Nakamura has made numerous public accusations against other players without consistently providing strong evidence or facing meaningful accountability. Now that stricter anti-cheating measures are being implemented, he appears to object to them,” Niemann, ranked 20th in Fide’s Classical ratings, wrote in a post on Thursday.
Niemann had previously included Nakamura besides world No 1 Magnus Carlsen and other entities such as Chess.com in his sensational US$ 100 million lawsuit following the 2022 cheating scandal. Though the two parties arrived at an out-of-court settlement, Niemann has shared rocky relations with Carlsen and Niemann ever since.
And in the post, the 20-year-old rekindled memories of the infamous incident in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup while continuing to attack the former Fischer Random world champion and five-time US chess champion.
“If he genuinely believes that over-the-board cheating is so difficult, it raises questions about why he made such serious allegations during events like the Sinquefield Cup,” Niemann added in the post.
Nakamura finds himself struggling in the Candidates at the moment, collecting just 1.5 points after five rounds and sharing the bottom spot in the ‘Open’ section with Russia’s Andrey Esipenko after getting outplayed by Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov on Friday.