Hikaru Nakamura on Carlsen’s withdrawal: “He would never do this in a million years” and more GMs react

The news of Magnus Carlsen's withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup took the chess world by storm. Not only did he just lose his undefeated streak to Hans Niemann, but he also made a record of leaving a tournament midway. Something he has never done before. But the attention of the community falls on Carlsen's withdrawal announcement, which had a cryptic hint toward possible false play.

Now this, if true, is a serious allegation. There is no evidence against Niemann so far and Carlsen basically dropped a bomb that left the entire community hanging. In times like these, we look towards their peers - all the other Grandmasters and chess experts, for their opinions.

Naturally, most of the chess community gravitated towards Hikaru Nakamura's Twitch stream. Holding 25K concurrent viewers, Nakamura discussed the issue. Initially, he commented:

"This is probably something I should not say, but I will say this anyway. There was a period of over 6 months where Hans did not play any prize money tournaments on Chess.com. That's the only thing I'm going to say on this topic."

But of course, that wasn't the only thing he said. Throughout the stream, he highlighted some fishy elements of Niemann. Regarding the rumor of Niemann getting caught cheating on Chess.com, Nakamura said "that is not up for debate, that is a known fact."

A tweet by "Unsubstantiated Chess Rumors" stated that Niemann was banned twice on Chess.com for engine cheating. Nakamura calls this tweet "legitimate."

Niemann had claimed to prepare for Carlsen's specific opening which led to a successful game for him. For Nakamura, he doesn't feel like Niemann's statement fits his gameplay. He commented that if Niemann had truly prepared for that opening, he wouldn't take long to move and would rather "blitz it out."

"If you are super well prepared, and you looked at something that morning, you blitz it out the first 20 moves. You don't pretend, you don't use 12 minutes, you use 3 or 4 minutes on one specific move."

Nakamura also reacted toNiemann's post-game analysis after his match against Firouzja Alireza. Throughout the clip, Nakamura was clearly critical of Niemann's analysis.

"This is really weird. This analysis is not a 2700 level analysis."

Regarding Carlsen's withdrawal, Hikaru Nakamura emphasized the fact that it is out of Carlsen's character and that he wouldn't do it in a million years.

"The thing about Magnus withdrawing is, to me, it just seems like Magnus think [Hans] cheated. Magnus would never do this in a million years, he just doesn't do that. He's the ultimate competitor, he's a world champion. He wouldn't do this unless he strongly believes Hans is cheating with a very strong conviction."

On a Twitch stream, Eric Hansen was similarly critical of Niemann's analysis, describing it as incoherent.

"[Niemann's analysis] was incoherent. Not only was it incoherent, but he was also incoherent in trying to give incoherent lines. And there's no luck or randomness in these top-level games where you just drift into playing level 2800 chess."

When asked about the match between Carlsen and Niemann, Nepomniachtchi called the match "more than impressive." He also said that Carlsen probably had a reason as to why he withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup.

Fabiano Caruana wasn't too keen on taking sides or making assumptions. He acknowledged the rumors going around regarding the cheating allegation. He also stated that Carlsen hasn't given a specific reason as to why he withdrew and without that reason, he won't say no more.

"I guess there's a lot of rumors already. I assume [Carlsen] hasn't given a reason yet why he decided not to play, but probably some people have a decent idea of what he's alluding to..what he has a problem with, I don't know. I'm not going to say anything else without it."

Aronian has been the only GM so far to tilt towards Niemann. According to him, when young players perform well, it's typical that accusations come to them.

"It quite often happens when young players play very well - there are always accusations towards them. All of my colleagues are pretty much paranoid, and quite often I was the one telling them, come on guys, I know myself, I'm an idiot and I'm a good player. I always think that young players can play very well. There is no reason for them not to play well."

He added, "I've played against Magnus when he was very young and I've learned from him a great deal."

The next day, on Sept. 6, Niemann addressed his past cheating history on Chess.com. He admitted he cheated once at age 12 during an online event when a friend used an engine. He also cheated in random online games to raise his rating. He said Chess.com confronted him, he confessed, and he accepted the punishment.

"This is what happened," he said. "When I was 12 years old, I was with a friend and I was playing Titled Tuesday. He came over with an iPad and the engine and he started giving the moves. I was a child, I had no idea what happened. This happened once in an online tournament."

He continued, "I wanted to gain some rating, I just wanted to get higher rates so I could play stronger players. So I cheated in random games on Chess.com. I was confronted, I confessed, and this is the single biggest mistake in my life. I'm completely ashamed and I'm telling the world because I don't want any misrepresentation or rumors. I have never ever cheated in an over-the-board game. Other than when I was 12, I would never ever cheat in a tournament with prize money. That is the worst thing I can do."

Niemann then criticized Carlsen, Nakamura, and Chess.com. He said Carlsen's tweet triggered public accusations. He said Nakamura amplified suspicion through livestreams. He added that Chess.com removed his account access and uninvited him from the Global Championship after his win over Carlsen.

"I believe this is completely unfair," he continued. "This is a targeted attack. If you look at my games, it has nothing to do with my games. They have only done this because of what Magnus and Hikaru have said and that the entire social media of the chess world is completely attacking and undermining me."

The controversy also affected how fans view chess integrity, which is important for fair competition. Esports betting platforms, like online casinos, depend on fair conditions to operate responsibly.

Niemann said he will defend his reputation and will not let major figures in chess damage his name.

According to the BBC, Chess.com removed Niemann from the global championship and banned him from the platform. The reported stated that Niemann filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and Nakamura. In 2023, The Guardian reported that a judge dismissed one claim in June 2023, and all parties reached an agreement in August 2023 that reinstated Niemann on Chess.com.

In January 2026, Niemann played in Tata Steel Chess India. There, he finished near the top in both the rapid and blitz events. He also tied for third place in the Masters section of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

In an interview on Feb. 7, Niemann said he was invited to the Prague Chess Masters 2026 as a replacement.

"Also I was just invited to another big tournament -- like a last-minute replacement, so I'm feeling like I'm re-immersing myself in the top chess world," he said. "I'm playing Prague Masters."