A new “Niemann affair
Hans Niemann once again at a disadvantage in the spotlight! While the cheating affair finally ended in a peace of the braves, in which each of the parties agreed to turn the page – albeit with a FIDE sanction against Magnus Carlsen at the end of the day – here comes the whimsical American back in the headlines for his inappropriate behavior. The only positive aspect, in the world of Spectacular merchandise (the world of inverted values) of course, is that this could draw the media spotlight to the chess microcosm, and thus interest the public who don’t understand much about the game of chess, but who gorge themselves on strong emotions and scandals – and thus potentially generate the interest of new sponsors for this medium!…
Here’s the Saint-Louis Chess Club’s thunderous announcement on X:
After this publication, Niemann quickly shared a message on X to “clarify how completely inaccurate (the club’s announcement) is” – obviously… At the time of writing, Niemann has posted five further messages on the subject.
The 20-year-old has recorded a 21′ video in which he gives further explanations, which he summarizes as follows:
Throughout 2023, the Saint-Louis Chess Club ignored my calls and e-mails. It did not invite me to many tournaments to which I would normally have been invited on the basis of my ranking. This shows that before any incident with the hotel, they had decided to blacklist me (…).
I have responded to all the allegations made by the Saint-Louis Chess Club (…); I have explained the context of my history with the club. Let’s be absolutely clear on one point: I received no invitation to any Saint-Louis Chess Club event before I unfortunately caused damage to my hotel room. (…)
