[TheIronMaiden]

Niemann became famous after the 2022 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, where he defeated the then world champion Magnus Carlsen and triggered cheating allegations, a $100m lawsuit, and an enduring hostility between the pair which remains unresolved. It is now generally accepted that there was no cheating, and certainly no anal beads, involved.

Now Niemann, who has jumped up to world No 21 after being outside the top 40 a year or so ago, is making a push for a place in major invitation tournaments, for which he has had few opportunities due to his relatively low ranking, difficult personality, and a widely publicised incident of trashing his hotel room.


Earlier this month Niemann defeated Anish Giri, the Netherlands No 1 and one of the best players in Western Europe, in a $50,000 series in Utrecht. Niemann’s victory was by 24-18 in a mixed series where the scoring was 3 points for classical games, 2 for rapid and 1 for blitz Niemann won at classical and blitz, and drew at rapid. After his match with Vitiugov, he will go to Paris for a $30,000 series against France’s No 3, Étienne Bacrot. He could reach the world top 15 with further strong performances.

Niemann’s concept, individual matches to offset a lack of top quality tournament invitations, has a precedent more than a century ago when José Raúl Capablanca toured multiple cities, also including London and Paris, and in master play scored +19=5-2.

Capablanca’s tour was highly successful, and comparable to the legendary Paul Morphy’s European tour of 1858. It established the Cuban firmly as the pre-eminent challenger to the reigning world champion, Emanuel Lasker.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/ar...sses-in-london