 "Hans Niemann has been accused of over-the-board cheating in chess games by Magnus Carlsen. Image: FIDE")
American Grandmaster Hans Niemann competed alongside world No 1 Magnus Carlsen in the latest Titled Tuesday hosted by Chess.com on 13 May, with the latter finishing tied first in both events. However, while Carlsen won the ‘Early’ tournament on tie-breaks to collect his seventh Titled Tuesday win of the year, Niemann triumphed in the ‘Late’ event.
Both events had the top three players finishing on 9.5 points each out of a possible 11. Carlsen was tied with GMs Dmitry Andreikin and Parham Maghsoodloo in the ‘Early’ event and alongside Niemann and GM Zhamsaran Tsydypovn in the ‘Late’ event. However, while the Norwegian took the first event with a tie-break score of 73, Niemann was adjudged the winner in the ‘Late’ event with a tie-break score of 77.
Carlsen won a combined prize money of $1,350 – $1,000 for winning the ‘Early’ event and $350 for his third-place finish in the other won – while Niemann collected $1,000.
Carlsen and Niemann have been making headlines for their mutual animosity – the two having shared fractured relations ever since the world No 1 accused the American GM of cheating during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup.
Niemann not only denied those allegations, he went on to file a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen as well as fellow American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and Chess.com. The two parties, however, had arrived at a settlement after Niemann’s lawsuit was dismissed by a US federal judge.
Nakamura breaks his own record
Though Nakamura did not finish at the top spot in either event on Tuesday, the American GM made headlines regardless by breaking his own record on Chess.com’s Blitz ratings.
Nakamura had registered a peak blitz rating of 3405 on Chess.com in February last year, becoming the first player to breach the 3400-barrier. And on Tuesday, he attained a new high of 3408 after winning each of his first seven games in the ‘Early’ event.
The 37-year-old’s winning streak, however, was halted by Carlsen in the eighth round of the ‘Early’ event. He eventually finished ninth in the ‘Early’ event with 8.5 points and a tie-break score of 76, and 13th in the late event with 8 points and a tie-break score of 73.