FIDE Investigatory Panel finds no evidence that Hans Niemann cheated in over-the-board games; Carlsen fined for withdrawing | Chess News

An Investigatory Panel of FIDE’S Fair Play Commission has found no evidence that American GM Hans Niemann cheated in over-the-board games, including at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. Niemann had defeated then world champion Magnus Carlsen in a game at the Sinquefield Cup, held in St Louis in September 2022, which led to the world no 1 withdrawing from the tournament and later insinuating that Niemann had cheated.
Niemann had responded filing a lawsuit against Carlsen, his company Play Magnus Group and others demanding US $100 million in damages.
The FIDE Investigatory Panel arrived at the conclusion after carrying out statical analysis of 13 over-the-board tournaments within the past three years, including the Sinquefield Cup, where Niemann had competed.
“The investigation of the selected games did not yield any statical evidence to support GM Niemann cheating in over-the-board games. Additionally, it was determined that GM Niemann’s overall results
in the Sinquefield Cup showed no statical basis for cheating. GM Niemann’s performance through the years is characterised peaks and troughs, consent with his expected level of play,” the report stated.
The report also mentioned: “The arbiters (at the Sinquefield Cup 2022) did not observe suspicious behaviour on Niemann’s part, and Professor K Regan did not detect any cheating or anything of concern from a statical point of view.”

The report also revealed that two-time world championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Peter Svidler were among those who had approached Chief Arbiter Chris Bird after Carlsen’s defeat to voice concerns about Niemann’s play.
“After Carlsen’s loss, and before his withdrawal, he met with Chief Arbiter Chris Bird accompanied his father H Carlsen, his second GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi and GM Peter Svidler… It is important to note that GM Nepomniachtchi voiced concerns of GM Niemann to the event organiser when he learned of his participation prior to the commencement of the tournament,” the report reads.

Magnus Carlsen fined, but absolved of three charges
The FIDE Investigatory Panel’s report was submitted to FIDE’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, which made its ruling public on Wednesday. In it, it found Carlsen not guilty on three charges out of four. However, it found Carlsen guilty on the fourth charge (withdrawing from a tournament without a reason) and fined him 10,000 euros for it.
The FIDE Investigatory Panel also concluded that the accusations Carlsen against GM Niemann are likely to have brought chess into disrepute in the public eye.

FIDE’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, while announcing its decision on Wednesday, stated: “GM Carlsen’s suspicions of cheating were based on reasonable grounds despite the ultimate conclusion that GM Niemann had not made himself guilty of over-the-board cheating. The reasonableness of GM Carlsen’s belief rested upon GM Niemann’s own confession of online cheating, and a report released Chess.com. The EDC held that GM Carlsen’s withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup was without valid reason and that if he had had concerns about the fair play of his opponent, he should have followed the prescribed procedure of making a confidential in-tournament cheating complaint to the organizers. In light of GM Carlsen’s status as the foremost chess player in the world with a considerable influence and following, his withdrawal set a bad example for other chess players and he is therefore given a fine of 10,000 euros.”