There are at least a couple of chicken-and-egg issues here. First, he didn't receive a huge amount of attention until he beat Carlsen in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, got accused of cheating, and was banned from Chess.com in short order. That brought him a swarm of attention, and he hadn't done anything wrong there as far as anyone can tell, and the legal settlements seem to confirm that. Second, he has also been over 2700 - and did so at the age of 19, which though not unique is certainly something special. (He's still just 20 years old.) Moreover, most players who reached that strength at that age received the sorts of opportunities to play with the elite that helped propel them up to the mid-2700s and up; he has been deprived of those opportunities in part because of the cheating allegations and what appears to be a bit of blacklisting.
So while Niemann has clearly shot himself in the foot at almost every opportunity, not everything that has gone wrong for him over the past two years was his fault - and that includes some of the attention.
Btw, I think that within purely chess circles, the stronger juniors have received more attention (except in the immediate aftermath of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup). Youngsters like Gukesh, Pragg, Abdusattorov, and Firouzja (for example) have received more coverage on this blog and elsewhere, in keeping with their greater exploits.
I think we can agree that it's unfortunate that Hans receives attention for matters not directly related to his chess. He famously said that "chess speaks for itself" when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game a couple of years ago; it would be nice if both Niemann and the accusation-prone rivals would let that be the case (at least in the absence of genuine evidence that he cheated).
One more thing: worries about cheating are a huge threat to the integrity of the game, and so the attention that emerged from the Carlsen-Niemann game was merited on that level. It's a big deal if someone defeats the world champion in a tournament and does so by dishonest means. But, two years on, hopefully that can remain firmly in the past.
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.
The funny thing is that if you put Niemann back in the McEnroe era or earlier, he'd have been in the top 3 as an 18-year-old and #1 or #2 at his peak rating of 2708 as a 19-year-old. The explosion of chess prodigies has made us all a little jaded - Niemann's accomplishments are impressive, even if there have been some special players who have achieved even more by that age.
But yes, I completely agree that he should rein in the bragging, not only because it's obnoxious and alienating, but because there are plenty of others who have achieved more. As I wrote in the post, quoting Niemann, he should let his chess speak for itself.
My main objection to Hans is he simply gets too much attention. He’s consistently below 2700. Just not close to the top players.
There are at least a couple of chicken-and-egg issues here. First, he didn't receive a huge amount of attention until he beat Carlsen in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, got accused of cheating, and was banned from Chess.com in short order. That brought him a swarm of attention, and he hadn't done anything wrong there as far as anyone can tell, and the legal settlements seem to confirm that. Second, he has also been over 2700 - and did so at the age of 19, which though not unique is certainly something special. (He's still just 20 years old.) Moreover, most players who reached that strength at that age received the sorts of opportunities to play with the elite that helped propel them up to the mid-2700s and up; he has been deprived of those opportunities in part because of the cheating allegations and what appears to be a bit of blacklisting.
So while Niemann has clearly shot himself in the foot at almost every opportunity, not everything that has gone wrong for him over the past two years was his fault - and that includes some of the attention.
Btw, I think that within purely chess circles, the stronger juniors have received more attention (except in the immediate aftermath of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup). Youngsters like Gukesh, Pragg, Abdusattorov, and Firouzja (for example) have received more coverage on this blog and elsewhere, in keeping with their greater exploits.
I think we can agree that it's unfortunate that Hans receives attention for matters not directly related to his chess. He famously said that "chess speaks for itself" when he beat Carlsen in a rapid game a couple of years ago; it would be nice if both Niemann and the accusation-prone rivals would let that be the case (at least in the absence of genuine evidence that he cheated).
One more thing: worries about cheating are a huge threat to the integrity of the game, and so the attention that emerged from the Carlsen-Niemann game was merited on that level. It's a big deal if someone defeats the world champion in a tournament and does so by dishonest means. But, two years on, hopefully that can remain firmly in the past.
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.
The funny thing is that if you put Niemann back in the McEnroe era or earlier, he'd have been in the top 3 as an 18-year-old and #1 or #2 at his peak rating of 2708 as a 19-year-old. The explosion of chess prodigies has made us all a little jaded - Niemann's accomplishments are impressive, even if there have been some special players who have achieved even more by that age.
But yes, I completely agree that he should rein in the bragging, not only because it's obnoxious and alienating, but because there are plenty of others who have achieved more. As I wrote in the post, quoting Niemann, he should let his chess speak for itself.