The following article was posted at Chessdom (https://www.chessdom.com/) yesterday evening, but could not be seen this morning. Why, Chessdom, why?
GM Alejandro Ramirez: It seems very likely that Hans Niemann has cheated over-the-board
By nikita
Posted on October 8, 2022
After Hans Niemann defeated the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022, Carlsen decided to withdraw from the tournament without detailed explanations. Two weeks after, Magnus Carlsen refused to play against Niemann in the Julius Baer Generation Cup and resigned his game after two moves of play. By the end of the tournament, Magnus published the official statement on the case publicly accusing Hans Niemann of cheating. GM Alejandro Ramirez was one of the commentators of the Sinquefield Cup 2022 who interviewed players and did analysis with them after the games. During the Julius Baer Generation Cup, Ramirez joined the live studio and shared his insights on the happenings during the Sinquefield Cup. He then said that he doesn’t think Niemann cheated in Saint Louis.
After Hans Niemann defeated the World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup 2022, Carlsen decided to withdraw from the tournament without detailed explanations. Two weeks after, Magnus Carlsen refused to play against Niemann in the Julius Baer Generation Cup and resigned his game after two moves of play. By the end of the tournament, Magnus published the official statement on the case publicly accusing Hans Niemann of cheating. GM Alejandro Ramirez was one of the commentators of the Sinquefield Cup 2022 who interviewed players and did analysis with them after the games. During the Julius Baer Generation Cup, Ramirez joined the live studio and shared his insights on the happenings during the Sinquefield Cup. He then said that he doesn’t think Niemann cheated in Saint Louis.
In the newest C-squared podcast episode, Alejandro Ramirez spoke with Cristian Chirila and Fabiano Caruana about the developments on the cheating case which shook the chess world. “Now that a lot of things have happened and we are already a month after, the circumstantial evidence that has gathered against Hans, specifically on him cheated over-the-board, seems so strong that it’s very difficult for me to ignore it. For me to say ‘this guy cheated’ I myself would need to sit down and go through the data. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I have other things in my life and I don’t want to sit there and go through every one of Hans’s games. Now a lot of people have done that and a lot of people have made very compelling arguments on like why this statistically doesn’t correlate. And using my own expertise and my own experience with these things, it does seem very likely that he [Hans Niemann] has cheated over-the-board. Now, as I say that is very likely, I am not here condemning him and saying he definitely has cheated, I do not say that.“
Ramirez added that he has met a lot of grandmasters who are sure that Niemann has cheated over-the-board: “Am I sure of this [that Niemann has cheated OTB]? – No, I am definitely not sure of this. Have I met grandmasters that are sure of this? -Yes, I met grandmasters that have no doubt that Hans has cheated. Have I met grandmasters who think that Hans has not cheated over-the-board? -Less and less. And there is almost no one that I’ve talked to, that is a grandmaster level, that thinks his cheating is confined to a couple of events when he was 12 and 16.“. See the complete video below (https://www.chessdom.com/gm-alejandro-ramirez-it-seems-very-likely-that-hans-niemann-has-cheated-over-the-board/)
Armchair Warrior 