Chess rivals Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann to go head-to-head for the first time since cheating scandal

Rival chess grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann will compete against each other across the chess board for the first time since September 2022 — when Carlsen accused Niemann of cheating after losing to him at an event. At that time, Carlsen basically said he doesn’t want to play Niemann again: “We must do something about cheating, and for my part going forward, I don’t want to play against people that have cheated repeatedly in the past, because I don’t know what they are capable of doing in the future,” he wrote on X. Niemann was eventually banned from Chess.com.

But thanks to the Speed Chess Championships’ round-of-16 bracket, Carlsen will now have to face Niemann in the event’s semifinals on Sept. 6. Carlsen beat chess grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals, while Niemann defeated grandmaster Wesley So to reach that spot. The winner of the Carlsen and Niemann match will head into the title match to compete for the top spot and their share of the $175,000 prize pool in Paris, France.

Given the history, the Carlsen and Niemann face-off will be one of the more anticipated matches in the Speed Chess Championship; the feud goes beyond just accusations on social media. A month after that accusation on X, Niemann took things a step further and filed a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen, arguing that the cheating accusations were defamatory; he also claimed chess platform Chess.com colluded with Carlsen to ban him from the website and its events.

And then there’s the part about anal beads: After Carlsen’s accusations were made public, with no clear proof of the cheating, the internet started to theorize on how Niemann could have cheated. When Niemann offered to play chess naked in order to prove his innocence — that he wasn’t using any sort of cheating device — people joked that he was using vibrating anal beads to help him with moves. The joke took on a life of its own: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia even had a goof about it. Eventually, Carlsen, Niemann, and Chess.com squashed their beef — at least, in court. Niemann dropped his lawsuit in August 2023, with all parties reaching an agreement. Shortly after, Niemann was reinstated by Chess.com. That’s when Niemann vowed to become “the best chess player in the world.”

Will he get there? That’s hard to say. But what is guaranteed is that Carlsen and Niemann both will be looking to make a statement on the chess board at the Speed Chess Championship in September. Polygon has reached out to both Carlsen and Niemann for comment.