The American player has continued to stay in the spotlight in one way or another, throughonline spats with other players,Elon Musk, and from continuing torise through the international chess rankingsby stomping his opponents.
The newest controversy involving Niemannconcerns his participation in theTürkiye İş Bankası 100th Anniversary Super League. So far, the American has9.5/13 points at the team event, winning seven games, losing one, and drawing five.
After defeating Chinese Grandmaster Yu Yangyi on July 21, the tournament organizer, the Turkish Chess Federation, implemented anti-cheating measures for Niemann’s future matches, according to acommentator on the broadcast.
The part of the stream quoted is about 2 hours and 16 seconds into the broadcast.
“Hans Niemann’s board is not translating because the Turkish Chess Federation is implementing anti-cheating measures,” IM Kamal Aghasiyev said on July 24.
Aghasiyev later said anti-cheating measures are in place for multiple players.
Since his win against Yangyi, Niemann’s game has not been shownvia the venue’s video feedor showcased on the analysis board by the commentator. His matches were also delayed on websites like Chess.com,which showcase just the moves on the board.
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The American was still situated with his team and shown on camera, but his board was cut off from view. The event has teams of six players competing simultaneously, and only a few boards from each team are shown via the event’s live feed.
The change in the broadcast’s coverage of Niemann wasfirst spotted on Reddit.
The Turkish Chess Federation has not launched any formal accusations against Niemann at the time of writing. The organization has not posted anything about the anti-cheating measures on social media.
Niemann has also not commented on the situation at the time of writing.
Declan McLaughlin was a Gaming & Esports Writer on Dexerto’s US team, specializing in Valorant and League of Legends. He has bylines at Upcomer and Inven Global.
