The roar surrounding Hans Niemann has quieted to a murmur, at least for the time being - $100 million lawsuits can do that, I suppose. Still, there are some materials of interest, so let’s have a look.
TIME Magazine profile of “Chess Detective” Ken Regan (HT: Ervin Middleton). Niemann and Magnus Carlsen may be the leads in this melodrama, but Regan is in clear contention for a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Here’s your chance to learn more about the man behind the most prominent anti-cheating algorithm in the business.
Anand on Niemann and cheating (HT: Ervin Middleton): He admits to his possible naivete about cheating (or his colleagues’ paranoia) and expresses skepticism about catching cheaters red-handed. In short, nothing terribly newsworthy, but he is an eloquent spokesman for a reasonable position.
One comment I really liked didn’t have to do with cheating. This was in the context of the Carlsen-Niemann game from the Sinquefield Cup, and Anand favorably compared Niemann’s psychological attitude to most others:
“When you play Carlsen, you desperately want to get it over with. Many people have this problem, they want to get it over with. They can't handle the tension of playing him for a couple of hours. So even if you have a better position, they use that as a springboard to liquidate into a drawn ending and take the draw.”
That’s a brilliant remark, one we should all take to heart both when we’re the beast in our little ponds and when we’re playing the local beast.
Detecting Cheating and Intelligent Design: An interesting podcast in which the topic of detecting design is in the forefront. Most of the discussion focuses on Niemann, with a brief and undeveloped (because largely assumed) application to the topic of intelligent design. The Niemann discussion is interesting, only occasionally marred by William Dembski’s insufficient background knowledge.
Fall Chess Classic (Group A): Little-known fact: when Niemann isn’t embroiled in controversy, he plays chess, and pretty well from what I hear. He recently participated in a very strong event in St. Louis, the Fall Chess Classic, scoring an undefeated 5/9 to take clear fourth, behind Yu Yangyi (6.5 points), Santosh Vidit (6), and Thai Nguyen (5.5). It was a break-even performance, as he lost half a point, which will leave his rating exactly where it is if it remains where it is by the end of the month (FIDE rounds up).
World Team Championship (rapid): As already mentioned a few days back, the World Team Championship - a rapid event - begins in several days, in Israel. Niemann will be on board one for the U.S. team.