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Journalism of Courage
Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik announced he will not play games on Chess dot com anymore due to what he called “too many obvious cheaters” on the popular platform. While he did not name any player, Kramnik recently played a few games against American GM Hans Niemann, who recently buried the hatchet with Magnus Carlsen and the portal for their allegations that he had been cheating.
“I have decided to stop playing on chesscom from tomorrow on. Just too many obvious cheaters here and nothing is done to clean the platform from those small crooks. Harsh words but true. Would continue informing those who care publishing interesting statistics though (sic),” said the Russian legend.
He went on to add: “Hope would come back one day if it will be cleaned from at least obvious cheaters. I promise will continue trying my best to save chess from this disease. As much as I can, fighting with natural squeamishness, which is the main reason of my chesscom departure happy (sic).”
This comes a day after Kramnik lost two games against Niemann on the Chess dot com platform in the AI Cup.
Kramnik had also played a couple of games against Niemann earlier in the month, which saw him lose the first game with white. The second one ended in two moves as the American resigned.
In the aftermath of the results at the start of this month, there was plenty of chatter. Kramnik poured lighter fluid on those allegations by posting a 45-minute-long analysis video on his YouTube handle and then making an appearance on Fabiano Caruana’s podcast.
“During the game there were a few moments that made me uncomfortable. It was so unusual the way Hans was playing some moves. Especially, his time management. When the decision is difficult, people take time. And if the move is obvious, people play it quickly. In my first game, everything was upside down with Hans. Some strange things are going on,” he said on his YouTube channel explaining his first game against Niemann which he lost.
He went on to add that he had accepted the invitation to play a second game against Niemann out of “habit”.
Niemann responded to this by posting a video on social media site X, where he suggested that Kramnik hold an “in person training camp”.
“There you’ll be able to evaluate my chess at a deeper level. We could do whatever you like, play games, look at positions. You can get a more nuanced understanding of my interesting style, which you have talked about extensively,” said Niemann.
Kramnik responded to this by extending an invite for Niemann to Amsterdam to play him and other top GMs during the Levitov Chess Week. The American tweeted that he would have to turn down the invitation earlier on Wednesday. “I am unable to accept Kramnik’s invitation to Amsterdam because I am currently on the plane to Mexico City for the World Juniors,” he said.
