Hans Niemann's Solution ♔ The Chess “Cheating” Scandal Explained

A clarification: there was nothing "serious" about the anal beads sideline. How that became a thing: Eric Hansen of Chessbrah fame was discussing the scandal while streaming, and one of his fans wrote in chat "Maybe he was using anal beads." Eric sarcastically said something like "sure, he was using anal beads." A clickbait newspaper pretended that this was a real theory and published it. Then, more mainstream newspapers reposted it. That's when people like Elon Musk saw it and made jokes about it. Who knows, maybe that's Niemann's system, but that's how the public became aware of the idea.

I would add that some people also suspect him of cheating because he apparently gave a bad analysis of his own match. This led people to believe that he must've cheated somehow if he was able to play so well while seemingly not being able to adequately explain why he chose the moves he did.

Great to see how well this video is doing. You are still way to underrated for being one of the best Asmartist on the platform

Yes, this is EXACTLY what i needed. Ty so much for your hard work and high quality videos. Your videos speak for themselves.

I will give Hans the benefit of the doubt. It is highly unlikely that someone will come out so dominant after being away for so long, but not impossible. I recall that some had accused Anna Rudolf of cheating with a lipstick simply because she was beating people that she shouldn't be betting at her level, so I'll hold off on accusing Hans until serious evidence is provided.

Holy crap you should make way more chess mini-docs like this, your writing is excellent! Last line especially! :)

I have a younger sister, when she was about 5, I wanted to teach her how to play chess. I said to her, "The object of the game is to capture the opponent's king." She said "OK, on your mark, get set, go" and grabbed my king off the board, big smile on her face. I was like....good game.....

This is an excellent piece of work, editing, voice over - top notch documentary - especially your ending - "Even in Chess, not everything is Black and White" This is brilliant!

I had heard about this and came straight here for the explanation, can't wait to hear your take on how this unfolds as time goes by!

This is an incredibly well put together video summing up this event. And I really enjoyed how level headed and informative it was.

You left out some very strong evidence against Hans in his post-game analysis after his game vs Alireza where he seemingly couldn't justify the moves he made. Alireza, a 2700 rated player was "Amazed" at the moves Hans made against him. Also the fact that in that review, the ~2300 rated interviewer was able to more accurately analyze the position than Hans was.

This might very well be the most perfectly executed video I've ever seen on YouTube. I'm honestly flabbergasted by the quality.

Not only is your documentary the clearest, it is also the most measured, fair, and thorough appraisal of the events unfolding so far. Well done, and thank you.

Wow, had no idea about the business side of this story. This is probably the most informative video on the scandal. Excellent job!

I’m a big fan of your channel mostly for the ASMR content. However, I must admit I was positively amazed by this video, both for the quality of the information/exhaustiveness provided, as for the balanced analysis you make out of it. You made the whole scandal very clear to understand, and captivating to listen to until the very end ! Once again, big congrats and thank you for your content 😊

I have not followed professional chess in over a year, but this was literally one of the most captivating videos I have ever watched. Your writing, your storytelling, your voice, wow. This video is gold. How do I like a video twice

Fantastic and balanced analysis of both sides of the allegations. Easily the best video on the subject I’ve seen to date.

This is well made. I can share this even with my non chess familiar friends that are hearing about this situation. Super easy to digest, informative and with proper weighting of the stakes for Hans and Magnus to top it off.

This is by far the best coverage of this whole thing on the internet

You told this story in the most interesting, yet objective way possible. Been watching for a long time. Happy to see you grow