As Hans Niemann makes appearance at side event in Astana, Nepo and Ding say almost impossible to cheat in OTB events

Besides Niemann, there are around 180 men and women from 15 countries participating in the tournament, including GMs like Denis Makhnev (from Kazakhstan), Alexander Rakhmanov, Tamir Nabaty (Israel), Timur Gareyev and Vitaly Sivuk (Ukraine). The prize fund is just over $50,000.

Niemann’s appearance at a side event of the World Championship was sure to get noticed and the topic came up at the press conference after the rather short Game 11 of the 2023 World Chess Championship on Monday.

Both players were first asked if they were satisfied with FIDE’s anti-cheating measures and what they thought of cheating in games played over the board.

“One wouldn’t believe this is possible. All the measures are being taken quite seriously. And you also trust your opponent, who you know well. But speaking of some top players, you can never be sure when you’re playing online,” said Nepo.

While he has been keeping his answers short at the press conferences in Astana, on Monday the Russian went on to elaborate: “Over the board, I would hardly believe (that it’s possible to cheat). There’s always someone who will speculate about these things. There would be zero chance to play unfair. The risk of being denounced is too high for the top players to do this,” said Nepo.

His rival, Ding, added: “As we know there are some cheating cases happening online, but over the board — especially in tournaments like the ones I have played in — I don’t believe any cheating happened.”

The players were further asked if they were aware of Niemann being present in Astana for a side event.

Nepo said that he had seen the players list for the Kazakhstan Chess Cup and implied that he had spotted Niemann’s name in the open tournament in Astana. But when asked specifically if Niemann’s presence at a side event of the World Championship had cast a shadow on the showpiece event, he said: “Not really.”

Ding meanwhile said he was not aware of Niemann being in Astana.

Niemann’s name made global headlines in September last year after Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup a day after losing to the American teenager, who was playing with black pieces. A week after that, the duo faced off again at the online Julius Baer Generation Cup, where the world champion quit a game against Niemann after making just one move.

While Niemann has admitted to cheating in online chess games as a 12-and 16-year-old, he has denied cheating in over the board games.

While Carlsen had initially refused to spell out why he had behaved the way he did, he later posted a statement claiming that “Niemann had cheated more — and more recently — than he had publicly admitted.”

My statement regarding the last few weeks. pic.twitter.com/KY34DbcjLo

— Magnus Carlsen (@MagnusCarlsen) September 26, 2022

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Carlsen went on to add: “His over the board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective.”

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Chess.com later published a 72-page report of its findings about the American GM likely receiving illegal assistance in more than 100 online games, and as recently as 2020.