Hans Niemann, an American chess grandmaster, has “categorically” denied the claim that he used vibrating anal beads to cheat in a tournament.
“It is very disheartening to be accused of cheating after that victory,” he said in an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored earlier this week (via BBC World News).
“These things happen and I managed to learn a lot during that time and it really has taught me a lot of very important lessons about life and chess.”
On September 5, 2022, Niemann triumphed over former World Champion Magnus Carlsen for the second time in the third round of chess’s Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri. However, shortly after this, Carlsen resigned from the tournament without offering an explanation.
Three days later, Chess.COM suspended Niemann for cheating. He admitted to cheating with a computer in two instances when he was 12 and 16 years old but denied cheating over the board (meaning a chess game played in real life rather than virtually).
Niemann sued both Carlsen and Chess.com as well as grandmaster and Twitch streamer Hikaru Nakamura who had also accused him of cheating on the website.
As of August 28, the $100million (£79million) defamation lawsuit had been settled with Chess.COM reinstating Niemann’s account and allowing him access to future events.
In the interview on Morgan’s show, the host asked him: “To be clear, on the specific allegation – have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?”
Niemann replied: “Well, your curiosity is a bit concerning, you know – maybe you’re personally interested, but I can tell you, no. Categorically, no, of course not.”
To underscore how serious he was about squashing these allegations, he said “if they want me to strip fully naked, I will do it” last year.
“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,” he continued.
In other gaming news, CD Projekt Red added a Doom-inspired arcade game to Cyberpunk 2077 that recreates Johnny Silverhand’s escape from Arasaka Tower.