Picture Credit: Twitter
World No.1 chess player Magnus Carl sen has decided to not take any further part in the Sinquefield Cup which is being held in St Louis Chess Club in Missouri. The Norwegian informed about his decision with a tweet on Monday. Carlsen also attached a video in his tweet, that left everyone confused and speculating about the reason behind his withdrawal.
It’s worth mentioning that Carlsen was to play against Shakhriya Mamedyarov in the fourth round but he pulled out before that. The video attached to the tweet has football manager Jose Mourinho wherein the latter says “If I speak, I am in big trouble” during one of his previous press conferences about refereeing.
The 31-year-old wrote in his tweet, “I’ve withdrawn from the tournament. I’ve always enjoyed playing in the @STLChessClub, and hope to be back in the future.”
This is the first such instance when Carlsen has withdrawn from a major tournament. It’s being said that the reason behind Carlsen’s withdrawal is his opponent's cheating. On Monday, World No.1 lost with white, against America’s Hans Niemann. This is the second time Carlsen has lost to the 19-year-old and the first time while playing classical chess.
With Carlsen pulling out of the tournament midway, many have started wondering if Hans Niemann cheated. Chief among these voices was Twitch streamer and GM Hikaru Nakamura. “Magnus would never do this in a million years… if he really didn’t strongly believe it. I think he thinks that Hans is cheating. Straight out I’ll just say that he has done some things that are not allowed in tournaments. Let’s leave it at that,” said Nakamura.
I've withdrawn from the tournament. I've always enjoyed playing in the @STLChessClub, and hope to be back in the future https://t.co/YFSpl8er3u
— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) September 5, 2022
There have been reports of Niemann cheating and this was what Nakamura was referring to. Notably, before the claims of cheating, Niemann had said that on the very morning of his match against Carlsen, he had gone back to ‘miraculously’ rewatch an instance where Carlsen used a similar opening against Wesley So at the London Chess Classic in 2018.
However, Nakamura proved that this was a false claim as the Norwegian never attempted such a move. Wesley So confirmed that it was a false claim as he wrote on Nakamura’s live chat that he never even took part in the London event in 2018.