2022 Sinquefield Cup

[NickFaulks]

One part of the Carlsen PR machine thinks it's up to Hans to provide a statement.

Has everyone forgotten that making unfounded public accusations of cheating is a serious breach of the Fair Play regulations? The problem is that these bullies always seem to home in on victims who are unlikely to want the stress of taking matters further.

[LawrenceCooper]

One part of the Carlsen PR machine thinks it's up to Hans to provide a statement.

Has everyone forgotten that making unfounded public accusations of cheating is a serious breach of the Fair Play regulations? The problem is that these bullies always seem to home in on victims who are unlikely to want the stress of taking matters further.

Possibly not forgotten but not deterred by the punishments previously handed out.

[David Sedgwick]

This is a game (as mentioned by Nigel Short) where Carlsen played g3 against the Nimzo. Admittedly he used a Nf3, g3 move order, but it's not the case that he had never played the line in which he lost to Niemann. Kasparov used to play that system and one may recall that he and Carlsen did some training briefly.

There was a suggestion floating around of a mole in the Carlsen camp. Whilst that might not reveal an exact variation it might indicate the general areas of interest in the opening.

[Event "It \"Tata Steel India Blitz\""] [Site "Kolkata (India)"] [Date "2019.11.25"] [Round "9"] [White "Carlsen Magnus (NOR)"] [Black "So Wesley (USA)"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A32"] [WhiteElo "2870"] [BlackElo "2760"] [Annotator ""] [Source ""] [Remark ""] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 O-O 7.Bg2 d5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Qb3 Qa5 10.O-O Nxc3 11.a3 Be7 12.Qxc3 Qxc3 13.bxc3 e5 14.Nb5 Nc6 15.Nc7 Rb8 16.Be3 Bg4 17.Nd5 Bd6 18.Rfe1 Rfc8 19.h3 Be6 20.Red1 Bf8 21.Nb4 Na5 22.Bxa7 Ra8 23.Be3 Rxc3 24.Nd5 Bxd5 25.Bxd5 Nc4 26.Bc1 Ra7 27.a4 b5 28.a5 Rxa5 29.Rxa5 Nxa5 30.Bd2 Ra3 31.Bxa5 Rxa5 32.Rc1 Ra7 33.Rc8 g6 34.Re8 Re7 35.Rb8 Rc7 36.Bb3 b4 1/2-1/2

Niemann mentioned this game in his post-game interview with Ramirez (see Angus French's post above), albeit that he wrongly stated that the game was played at the London Chess Classic 2018.

[David Sedgwick]

If a player does have concerns is there a form that they should fill in and forward to FIDE via the organiser? If this were done presumably it would remain confidential and not appear in the public domain.

Yes. Please see https://handbook.fide.com/files/handboo ... ntForm.pdf.

At a GCT event, the form must be submitted at first instance to Chris Bird, the Tour Deputy Chief Arbiter, or to me.

The content would only be published if the complaint were substantiated,

[Paul Heaton]

I see a further consequence of the withdrawal is some players have 5 whites (Mamedyarov), and others have 5 blacks (Caruana and So) in an 8 round tournament. If there is not a shred of evidence, and with a serious organisation body (two ifs, with arguably the second the bigger one), surely this is bringing the game into disrepute, with some kind of suspension a penalty? And if anything the ridiculous Mourinho clip should compound the penalty, not negate it.

[LawrenceCooper]

If a player does have concerns is there a form that they should fill in and forward to FIDE via the organiser? If this were done presumably it would remain confidential and not appear in the public domain.

Yes. Please see https://handbook.fide.com/files/handboo ... ntForm.pdf.

At a GCT event, the form must be submitted at first instance to Chris Bird, the Tour Deputy Chief Arbiter, or to me.

The content would only be published if the complaint were substantiated,

Thanks!

[Kevin Thurlow]

But organizations wrongly think if they ignore a problem, it will go away

Which is the other organisation you have in mind?

There are many such organizations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDUmS_MJceU

is the GothamChess view

Some of the comments are interesting, including those that suggest that MC's preparation was leaked.

@David - I don't know what to do. JR's suggestion was sensible. It is difficult to investigate something, when we don't know what to investigate.

[JustinHorton]

MVL

[LawrenceCooper]

Hans is giving a very compelling interview. It's well worth a watch when the link becomes available. He covers the chess.com cheating, the social media backlash and his removal from the chess.com global event following his win against Magnus.

[NickFaulks]

I don't think he told us anything about chess.com's ethics that we don't already know, or indeed Nakamura's, but I hope his harsh words for Carlsen hit the target.

[JustinHorton]

Hans is giving a very compelling interview. It's well worth a watch when the link becomes available. He covers the chess.com cheating, the social media backlash and his removal from the chess.com global event following his win against Magnus.

This, I think? (I've not watched it.)

[NickFaulks]

This, I think?

That's the one, starting at 8.20 although his earlier discussion of the day's game is interesting as always.

[LawrenceCooper]

I don't think he told us anything about chess.com's ethics that we don't already know, or indeed Nakamura's, but I hope his harsh words for Carlsen hit the target.

This is the link to the interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJZuT-_kij0 (which I see that Justin has already located)

It starts with his analysis of the round 5 game which did seem far more in keeping with a player of his rating. There was a lighthearted response to comments about his accent, which seem to have originated from Hikaru's channel. He follows this with an explanation on how the opening against Magnus is a transposition from the Nimzo/Catalan. He then covers the psychology of his approach to the Firouzja game which was to attack him at every opportunity. He admits to being fed moves from a friend/engine in Titled Tuesday when he was 12 without being flagged. I couldn't quite follow what he was saying when he was 16 but I think he was saying that some of his unrated games were the reason for chess.com flagging him and his admission of guilt. His point that he only cheated when he was 12 was clear though.

Subsequent to his OTB game against Magnus he received an e-mail from chess.com uninviting him from the Global chess championship and removing all trace of him from chess.com including his ability to log in to his account. This was just three days after their CEO, Danny Rensch, had spoken to him in person and said how much they were looking forward to having him in the event.

He finishes with a story about how Magnus was his hero and how he got to play against him when he was 8 and dreamt of playing him when he was older.

I thought he spoke incredibly well and although it's a long interview it's well worth a listen.

[NickFaulks]

He finishes with a story about how Magnus was his hero and how he got to play against him when he was 8 and dreamt of playing him when he was older.

Actually the story is even better, about how he didn't get to play Carlsen, but I won't spoil it.

Anyway, I think the ball is now firmly in the court of Carlsen's spin team, who must be earning their pay. I hope the forum's twitter enthusiasts will keep us in touch with developments.

[JustinHorton]

Subsequent to his OTB game against Magnus he received an e-mail from chess.com uninviting him from the Global chess championship and removing all trace of him from chess.com including his ability to log in to his account.

Now there is something we could use a journalist asking a direct question about.

I've not time to listen to it this morning (I'll try later) but does he say anything about when he was live-streaming and chess.com kicked him out - or is that what's being referred to when he talks about being sixteen?