Magnus Carlsen explains why he slammed his king after beating Hans Niemann: 'A sigh of relief shown in a different way'

After explaining why he shared the blitz title with Ian Nepomniachtchi during the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York City in December, Norwegian chess superstar Magnus Carlsen has revealed why he slammed his king down after beating fierce rival Hans Niemann at the same event.

Carlsen hasn’t been on good terms with Niemann ever since he accused the American Grandmaster of cheating during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, USA, which led to the latter filing a $100 million defamation lawsuit against the reigning world No 1 and five-time world champion.

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The two had locked horns for the first time since the cheating scandal in the semi-finals of the Speed Chess Championship in Paris in September, with Carlsen emerging triumphant 17.5-12.5. Three months later, Carlsen and Niemann would cross paths again at the ‘Big Apple’, where Carlsen would reign supreme for the second time in as many months with a 2.5-1.5 victory in the quarter-final stage of the blitz knockouts.

The 34-year-old, however, caught the eyes of many present at Cipriani Wall Street, the venue of the event, as well as those tuning into the live stream, by slamming his king on the board after his victory.

In a video posted by the Take Take Take on their official X account, Carlsen explains why he celebrated the way he did after his victory over Niemann.

“This was like more relief of just getting through a difficult situation. Obviously I was dreading that particular match up with everything (that) was going on. It was just a lot of frustration that I had to let out right there, and then (a) lot of stress during the game with everything as well.

“So I wouldn’t say it was a celebration so much as a sigh of relief shown in a different way,” he said.

Carlsen, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, also felt that the quarter-final meeting with Niemann went “quite badly” as far as his performance was concerned. Niemann had moved into the lead after the two players began with a draw in the opening game of the quarter-finals.

The Norwegian, however, bounced back by winning the next two games to advance to the semi-finals, where he would blank Polish GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3-0.

“The whole match I played quite badly.

“I think I just handled it a little bit better than he did, which is often all that’s required. But I didn’t feel like I did particularly well in that match.

“The only match that I played really well in was against Duda because I was so unbelievably relieved just to get out of that previous match that I felt I was sort of playing with house money already,” Carlsen added.

Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi would later share the blitz title after they finished level on two points each in the final before playing out three consecutive draws in the tie-breakers.

Carlsen would later be accused of attempting to fix the result of the prestigious event, especially after a video of him having a backstage discussion with Nepomniachtchi during the final went viral.

Before the controversial blitz final, Carlsen had been embroiled in another controversy after he violated the dress code during the Rapid championship by showing up in a pair of jeans. While he was initially disqualified, FIDE later relaxed their dress code in order to allow him to continue competing at the event.