“Never agreed to a draw”
Chess star Carlsen counters allegations of cheating
02/01/2025 – 11:08 amReading time: 2 min.
After a draw, Magnus Carlsen and Jan Nepomnjaschtschi are both blitz chess world champions. But was there an agreement beforehand away from the game board?
Chess star Magnus Carlsen counters allegations of cheating, according to which he is said to have agreed a draw before the final of the World Blitz Chess Championship and away from the board. “I have never agreed a draw in advance in my career,” he wrote on the platform X, referring to a video.
In it you can see and hear Carlsen talking to his opponent Jan Nepomnjaschtschi from Russia about the outcome of the game and a suggestion to the umbrella organization Fide. He said: “If they refuse, then we can just play short draws until they give up.”
He later wrote: “In the video I joke with Jan. That was obviously not an attempt to influence Fide.” The content of the conversation was a “bad joke,” Carlsen continued. “I think the game itself showed two players who play chess at a high level, who are equal and both deserve a win.”
According to the association, it was only when the score was 3.5:3.5 that Carlsen stood up and publicly suggested to his opponent that he should not continue playing. The main referee accepted this after Fide President Arkady Dvorkovich had previously agreed. In his position, according to the tournament regulations, he is authorized to make a decision in unforeseen circumstances.
Carlsen said in the press conference: “I think the audience could understand that we were both very tired and nervous. Some people will like it, others won’t. It is what it is.”
Carlsen’s quarter-final opponent Hans Niemann from the USA also plays a role in the discussion. Two years ago Carlsen made allegations of fraud, but the legal dispute that followed was only ended a year later.
Via “This gives rise to an investigation by the Fide Ethics Committee,” he wrote. “I can’t believe that two players who have maliciously accused me and tried to ruin my career are blatantly breaking the rules. The irony just can’t get any worse.” A game of Armageddon chess is usually played to make a decision. But this variant was not planned for the World Blitz Chess Championship.