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Even if it turns out Niemann cheated, the way Carlsen is acting coy about it puts me off. The tweet was bad enough (unlike Mourinho he's clearly not in "big tro
by Arnavion 4y ago
Even if it turns out Niemann cheated, the way Carlsen is acting coy about it puts me off. The tweet was bad enough (unlike Mourinho he's clearly not in "big trouble" from his insinuation), but this resignation is such a publicity stunt.
- dane-pgp 4y agoMaybe Carlsen doesn't know who to blame. He could suspect Niemann, or someone on Niemann's team, or someone in his own team, or a backdoor in Stockfish, or (depending on Carlsen's own mental health right now) space aliens. I can understand that out of an abundance of caution (and on the advice of his lawyers) he doesn't want to name anyone in particular, although seeing so many fingers pointed at Niemann (understandably, given his past) I do think Carlsen should at least release a statement saying "I don't want people accusing Niemann of cheating, that was not my intention".
- morelisp 4y agoIf there's any cheating, how could Niemann himself not be involved?
- dane-pgp 4y agoSomeone on Niemann's team could have been feeding him info which "coincidentally" happens to be very useful, without Niemann suspecting where the info came from. (A bug in Carlsen's hotel room?) Someone on Carlsen's team could be encouraging him to focus on lines which they've discovered (through a bug in the hotel room) that Niemann's team is preparing counters for. In both of these cases, the corrupt team member could be motivated by the possibility of winning a large bet on the outcome of the chess match, without either player being in on it. (I admit that the idea of Stockfish giving deliberately bad information only to Carlsen, to weaken his prep, is not very plausible, but we don't know how rational Carlsen is being here).
- morelisp 4y agoWhile these are both unsportsmanlike (and probably illegal) I'm not actually sure they're cheating.
- dane-pgp 4y agoYou might be right, but Carlsen hasn't accused anyone of cheating, or unsportsmanlike behaviour, or criminality. He's just chosen not to play against Hans, which he has every right to do.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y agoFirst of all I don't think Niemann has much of a team yet. But the prep leak idea makes no sense. If someone's on Carlsen's team gives Hans "leaked prep", why should he believe them? It could be a red herring. Pretty much every grandmaster who has commented on the prep leak idea has stated it just makes no sense on the face of it.
- dane-pgp 4y ago> First of all I don't think Niemann has much of a team yet. Maybe he does, or maybe Carlsen thinks he does. > the prep leak idea makes no sense. The "malicious person on Carlsen's team" hypothesis I was putting forward didn't involve them leaking the prep to Niemann. I merely supposed that someone in such a position could negatively influence Carlsen's performance, and profit from it through betting.
- bosie 4y agoHow can it be someone from his own team? If someone from his own team leaked the prep to Niemann and Niemann prepared against it, that isn't even cheating on Niemann's part?
- 6nf 4y agoChess.com put out a statement refuting Hans' claim that Hans only cheated twice, and Hans has yet to respond. Carlsen owns 20% of chess.com.
- ignaloidas 4y agoThey have given zero evidence. They haven't refuted, merely disputed.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- atemerev 4y agoI think Carlsen's reaction is absolutely correct. He is just telling everyone "I think this is a cheater, and I won't play with cheaters". What's the problem with that?
- Aeolun 4y agoThe resignation I can live with. The tweet is just attention seeking.
- dane-pgp 4y agoWhat would you have done if you were in Carlsen's position and you suspected someone (not necessarily Niemann) had acted maliciously (but you didn't want to get sued for defamation or breach of contract)? It's easy to say "Just don't tweet anything", and that's advice that we might wish millions of other people would follow too, but Carlsen is now getting criticism for his silence, so it seems like he can't win either way (ironically).
- Arnavion 4y ago>but Carlsen is now getting criticism for his silence, so it seems like he can't win either way (ironically). He's being criticized for being silent after having published a vague tweet insinuating his opponent was cheating, not to mention the resignation stunt. If he'd actually been silent about it and just withdrawn from the tournament before the match, there wouldn't have been anything to criticize.