A teenage chess grandmaster has been forced to deny using a sex toy to help him claim his crown in one of the biggest scandals to hit the game in years.
Hans Niemann,19, an up and-coming star in the game, was sensationally accused online of using anal beads connected to a computer programme that would vibrate and give him the perfect AI moves to defeat world No. 1 grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.
Hitting back at internet rumours accusing him of using anal beads to cheat, Niemann said: “If they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it.
“I don’t care. Because I know I am clean.
“You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don’t care. I’m here to win and that is my goal regardless.”
It came as Elon Musk deleted a tweet of an influencer discussing the rumour that Niemann used an illicit remote sex toy during the chess competition.
Musk captioned it with an adapted version of a quote by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, writing: “Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one can see (cause it’s in ur butt).”
Niemann beat Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, in the $500,000 Sinquefield Cup on September 4, ending Carlsen’s 53-game unbeaten streak.
The next day Carlsen withdrew from the tournament - a move which shocked the chess world.
He also tweeted a cryptic video of José Mourinho, the Portuguese soccer manager, saying, “I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble.”
The meme of Mourinho is when the manager is blasting officials for questionable performance leading online commentators to infer that Carlsen was accusing Neimann of cheating.
“It must be embarrassing for the world champion to lose to an idiot like me,” Niemann said in an interview shortly afterward, according to Vice. “I feel bad for him.”
On Saturday, Chris Bird, the chief arbiter of the Sinquefield Cup, released a statement that there was no indication that any competitor was “playing unfairly”.
When asked if Niemann would be invited back to the St. Louis Chess Club, its executive director, said, “Yes, Hans has already accepted an invitation to play in the fall classic, so I already have him signed up for the next tournament at the club.”
I_AM_Achilles on September 15th, 2022 at 03:05 UTC »
If you put it in your ass instead of your shoe, it was never about the chess.
Avenge_Willem_Dafoe on September 15th, 2022 at 03:03 UTC »
I understand evidence of impossibly smart moves in certain matches, and trends where he's consistently better in matches that are remote or not on a tape delay or whatever. But how did they get to the butt sex toy idea?
SignHereCo on September 15th, 2022 at 02:53 UTC »
"Welcome to the World Chess Championship, your match will begin in 10 minutes, after you sign in and complete your cavity search."