Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess.
“I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.”
“I just cannot wait for Magnus, when he’s old and disheveled, and going further deep into his insanity, and I’m going to be young, and improving, and he’s gonna have to watch it,” he says.
Photo: AFP
The documentary revisits the 2022 controversy that erupted when Norwegian Carlsen withdrew from a game against Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup and said he believed his opponent had cheated.
Niemann, who has admitted to cheating in online games when younger, but denies wrongdoing in over-the-board play, was never found guilty of cheating in classical competition. He later filed a US$100 million lawsuit against Carlsen and others which was dismissed before all parties reached a settlement.
The film, Untold: Chess Mates, leans heavily on archive footage and previously reported material while focusing on the personalities at the center of the dispute.
“Every conversation I have about chess leads to anal beads,” Niemann says in the documentary, referencing an online conspiracy theory claiming he cheated by using anal beads. It went viral during the scandal despite a lack of evidence.
The documentary charts Niemann’s rise from online player to elite competitor during the COVID-19 era boom in chess, when platforms such as Chess.com saw user numbers surge and streaming helped propel new figures into prominence.
It also explores Niemann’s claim of a coordinated effort against him involving Carlsen and senior figures at Chess.com — an allegation rejected by those involved. The platform said it had found evidence of online cheating by Niemann, but no proof of over-the-board misconduct in his game against Carlsen.
Carlsen, who remains skeptical of Niemann’s victory, adopts a more restrained tone in the film.
“I’m not motivated by it, but if that’s going to inspire him to be the best version of himself, he should go for it — as long as he plays fair,” he says.
Although he has barely been playing over-the-board classical chess in the past few months, Carlsen remains the undisputed world No. 1 while Niemann has risen into the top 20.
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
Cambridge on Saturday made it four wins in a row as they comprehensively defeated Oxford in the 171st University Boat Race on London’s River Thames. It was Cambridge’s seventh win in the past eight years of a rowing race between England’s two oldest universities first staged in 1829. A world-class Cambridge crew were heavy favorites for victory. However, four minutes into the race, the crews came close to a clash of oars which could have caused severe disruption, with Oxford repeatedly warned as both team chased faster conditions in the middle of the river. For the first time in the
RSS