Hans Niemann Profile
Is "Chess Brat" a fair sobriquet?
That’s how he’s referred to in the title of this (not appropriate for kids) profile in the mainstream (i.e. non-chess) press. (HT: Marginal Revolution) It does seem that he’s lived down to that label, which is really sad. Alienating everyone is not just bad for his career, narrowly defined, but for his life in general. Hopefully he finds someone (preferably more than one person) he trusts and respects - and who is trustworthy and meriting that respect - who can help him grow as a person; as it is, he seems hell-bent on alienating everyone around him. It’s a pity for chess, but especially for him as a human being.
My main objection to Hans is he simply gets too much attention. He’s consistently below 2700. Just not close to the top players.
Niemann seems to be shooting himself in the foot not just by being obnoxious, but also by what seem to be fairly groundless and certainly tiresome proclamations of his own genius. I forget who used the term "streaky" to describe his chess, but it does seem to contain an above normal (for his level) tendency to make unusual moves he finds it difficult to rationalize. It's easy to be wowed by successful instances of such play. But when the net effect is a rating that hovers around 2680, it looks more like randomizing that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't work. So the epithet "chess brat" looks rather unmerited. For those of us old enough to remember, the original tennis brat, John McEnroe, had not just the tantrums needed for the soubriquet, but the skill.