The world chess champion, Magnus Carlsen, abandoned his game in the Julius Baer Generation Cup tournament in two moves against the American Hans Niemann, the same rival against whom, two weeks ago, he lost in the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis (USA) in a classic rhythm game that induced the Norwegian to withdraw from the tournament insinuating that the North American had cheated.
The reunion of both players in this seventh tournament of the Champions Tour, which is played online, had aroused great expectation among fans, after the enormous controversy that erupted with the abandonment of Carlsen in San Luis, in face-to-face competition at classical rhythm .
The Norwegian did not give clear explanations after his withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup, but everyone understood that he was obeying their suspicions when they saw that his rival was playing at full speed against a rare variant of the nimzo-Indian that he had prepared expressly for that game. .
"I have retired from the tournament. I have always enjoyed playing at the St. Louis Chess Club and hope to be back in the future," Carlsen wrote on his Twitter account, where he has 715,000 followers. The message hinted at something else behind his withdrawal as it was accompanied by an old video of José Mourinho in which the Portuguese football coach commented: "If I speak, I get into big trouble."
Niemann, number 49 in the world chess ranking, had defeated Carlsen with black and ended the streak of games without losing that the world champion had extended to 53. The American claimed that, by chance, he had reviewed that line a few hours before the game. "By some kind of miracle, I checked that line today. I don't know why, it's kind of ridiculous but it was. I don't understand why I looked at it, it's ridiculous," he said.
That was the first time they had met in classical chess and the two players shared first place in the tournament tied on 1.5 points after getting a win and a draw. That victory also allowed Niemann to overcome the 2,700-point barrier in the world ranking for the first time.
"It must be embarrassing for the world champion to lose against an idiot like me," the American commented then.
The new clash between Carlsen and Niemann, now online, lent itself to all kinds of options: from a normal game to a refusal of the world champion to play against Niemann. What hardly anyone expected is that the world champion agreed to play but gave up on the second play, giving away the point to his rival.
The 19-year-old American, who starred in episodes of chess fraud when he was 12 and 16, opened this Monday with a queen's pawn (1.d4), Carlsen responded by taking his knight to f3, and when White continued with 2. c4, the world champion resigned.
The new defeat could have little importance in the development of the tournament, since, at the end of the first phase, all against all, the first eight have access to the quarterfinals, which are already played through matches to the best of four games of 15 minutes per side with 10 seconds increment per move.
If the two protagonists of the controversy qualify (Carlsen has it practically certain and Niemann's chances grow a lot with the gift of the champion), they could face each other again in any of the following rounds, fueling the curiosity about the attitude that the champion would adopt .
