CHESS

It took less than a minute to reignite the feud. Hans Niemann v Magnus Carlsen at the Julius Baer Generation Cup opened conventionally, but then Carlsen disappeared from the screen; the commentators were aghast, while Niemann shrugged and then also disconnected. The world champion’s father, Henrik Carlsen, had already announced that his son would give no interviews during the tournament.

The cameo was the sequel to an incident at the Sinquefield Cup in

St Louis. Carlsen was outplayed by Niemann, suffering a rare defeat as White, and withdrew from the tournament.

Niemann admitted to being banned twice by chess.com for cheating online, but denied

3834 White mates in two moves, against any defence (composer unknown). This weird position has proved tricky to solve.

cheating over the board. The St Louis organisers explained their anticheating procedures and emphasised there had been no wrongdoing at their event. It is believed Carlsen made a single move rather than none to technically fulfil his contract.

In a new Chessbase article, Prof Ken Regan, widely regarded as the leading authority on anti-cheating, reveals he has examined all Niemann’s over the board and online games for the past two years and found no evidence against the American.

move. next mate and Qxe5! 1 3834