Niemann slams American chess’ dependence on 'mercenaries': ‘This unsustainable model will leave us empty-handed’

American Grandmaster Hans Niemann has been critical of the chess culture in his home country , comparing it with the existing system in India and stating how the lack of structural support for players has led to the game’s decline in the United States. Niemann went on to say that the lack of support is what makes aspiring chess players quit the game in favour of pursuing higher education and alternate careers, forcing American chess to rely on “mercenaries” from other countries.

Niemann laments ‘minimal support for home-grown American chess players such as himself

In a recent post on social networking platform X, the controversial 21-year-old GM decided to take a “closer look at the decline of American chess” citing the examples of leading players such as Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Leinier Domínguez Perez and Wesley So.

“Players like Caruana, Aronian, Dominguez, and So originally represented other countries, and their transfers were largely driven by financial incentives. Meanwhile, homegrown talents like myself and Mishra (Abhimanyu) receive minimal support.

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“Where is the American patriotism when it comes to fostering and investing in our own players? India and Uzbekistan has proven that heavily investing in talented players pays huge dividends,” Niemann wrote on X.

Niemann went on to add that the money spent on recruiting established players in other countries should instead be allocated towards nurturing home-grown talent. He further stated in his post that his words were not meant as a personal attack on Caruana or any other player.

“Should we spend $200,000 per year to recruit a player who represented another country for 25 years, or should we allocate that same funding to nurture our most promising young talents? This unsustainable model will leave us empty-handed once these mercenaries age and retire.

“I want to emphasize that I have great respect for all chess players, and my words should not be taken as personal attacks. Rather, they reflect deep frustration with a broken system—one that undermines the future of American chess and the development of our next generation of champions,” Niemann added.

While the United States hasn’t quite been the kind of dominant force in chess as the USSR was before its dissolution in 1991, it has produced some of the greatest players of the sport such as Bobby Fischer.

Also worth noting is the fact that two players in the current top five and five in the top 20 in FIDE’s Classical Ratings are American – although a majority of them, as pointed out by Niemann, are foreign-born players who have also represented their native country.