New Delhi: Chess world champion Magnus Carlsen has accused fellow grandmaster Hans Neumann of committing more fraud than he has admitted, saying he will not play against an opponent who is involved in such wrongdoing. Carlson released a statement late on Monday, a week after Julius Baer pulled out of a match against the American at the Generation Cup after just one move.
Earlier, Norway’s 31-year-old Karlsson also pulled out of the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis after a surprise loss to Neiman. Carlson wrote that I believe Neiman has committed far more fraud than it has publicly admitted in recent times. Neiman previously admitted that he had cheated Chess.com twice. Once when he was 12 years old and another time when he was 16 years old. However, he denied cheating during the match.
He said that his progress has been unusual and during our game in the Sinquefield Cup I realized that he was not stressed at all and was not fully concentrating on the game at crucial moments. He beat me playing with black pawns which few people can do. “This game changed my perspective,” Carlson said.