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Journalism of Courage
Hans Niemann has a dream. He wants to make American chess great again. More importantly, the 21-year-old wants to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Bobby Fischer, and become only the second man from the USA to ascend to the world champion’s throne some day. To those who follow the sport, there are plenty of similarities between both Americans. Just like Fischer, Niemann has mastered the art of always being in the spotlight. In fact, Niemann has finessed a way of staying in the news cycle regardless of whether he is actually playing in top events or not — which is ironic, considering how frequently he states that he would like his ‘chess to do the talking’.
At the ongoing Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour event in Paris, Niemann’s chess is certainly not going to do any talking after the enigmatic American withdrew from the event barely 48 hours before it started, leaving the organisers scrambling for a replacement.
While there is no official word from Niemann about why he chose to suddenly withdraw from the event, the way he went about it has certainly infuriated the organisers. Jan Henric Buettner, who is the force behind the Freestyle Chess Tour, lamented in an interview with Take Take Take app how Niemann had refused to respond to his texts or emails and instead opted to write an email to another member of the organising committee to announce his withdrawal due to “personal reasons” without explaining anything. Niemann’s over-active X handle too has gone eerily silent since the withdrawal.
Buettner has a right to be angry. He extended an invite to Niemann to compete at the Paris event at a time when elite tournaments have largely avoided the American.
While it would be improper to speculate on why Niemann pulled out of the event — especially since the player himself has not spoken about his reasons — the incident does remind one of Fischer fleeing from New York airport while on his way to the 1972 World Championship battle against Boris Spassky because he was spooked by paparazzi.
Like Fischer, Niemann never backs down from a confrontation, particularly off the board. Niemann might say that he was left with little choice but to fight for his reputation ever since the infamous incident at the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022 which will forever cast a shadow on his career. After defeating Magnus Carlsen in an over-the-board chess game at the Sinquefield Cup event three years ago, the then-teenager suddenly found himself in the eye of a raging storm with allegations that he had cheated. The allegations were never proven. There was not even a whiff of any wrongdoing on his part in that game. But in a sport like chess where the thick stench of paranoia is always in the air, even little doubt over a player’s credentials is enough. More so, when it comes against someone like Niemann who has previously admitted to cheating in online games when he was younger.
Expectedly, since that fateful day of his victory over Carlsen, Niemann has been shadow-boxing against what he calls the ‘chess mafia’ that he claims is out to get him.
His X handle is an incendiary mix of gripes against the chess world and constant laments. Just over the past six months, the man who perpetually sounds angry in social media posts, has raged about how American chess has been “buying players from other countries like mercenaries” and the impending “decline of American chess”.
He has also complained endlessly about how he gets no invitations to play in elite events in the USA.
“The St Louis Chess Club organizes 100 per cent of the top level tournaments in America. 3 years of no invitations has done irreparable damage to my chess career. I have requested to participate in the American Cup Blitz which is open to 100 players. If they won’t let me compete there, what am I supposed to do? Is this how America’s premier chess organization treats their players?” he posted recently.
It must be said that the Sinquefield Cup incident is not the only reason why organisers might be hesitant to invite him. At the US Championship last year, for example, Niemann responded to losing two games by damaging his hotel room.
To counter cold shoulder from organisers, he frequently throws challenges like a WWE star via social media for what he calls the Hans Niemann Against The World Tour. He recently offered “bounties to any 2700+ players who would like to play him”.
“$25k for anyone rated 2700-2720. $50k for anyone 2720-2750. $100k for everyone else above 2750. I’d prefer to play classical, rapid, and blitz but am flexible on format. I will handle logistics, the players risk nothing,” he posted on social media.
Scrolling through some of Niemann’s X posts is like listening to a youngster saying affirmations in front of a mirror.
“All I want to do, ever, is play chess,” he wrote on X on March 25.
“I offer peace to the chess world, I just want to let the chess speak for itself. Who accepts?” he’d said three days prior to that.
There is a fundamental difference between Fischer and Niemann: Fischer willed himself to become the world champion despite the many sideshows he constantly got embroiled in.
In Niemann, chess has an outlier who might make Donald Trump proud with how unique he is. But only time will tell if Niemann is a disruptor like Fischer. Or just a disruptive force.
