Norwegian world chess champion Magnus Carlsen withdrew from a chess game after a cheating controversy surfaced. He was engaged in a game against American Hans Niemann. The duo had gotten through only one move on Monday night.
The Julius Baer Generation Cup online tournament has been the stage for ongoing cheating allegations.
The five-time-world champion did not give an explanation before turning off his webcam. His actions are being seen as a protest against his opponent who has admitted to cheating in online games in the past, reported AFP.
Neimann is a rising star in chess and he is 12 years younger than Carlsen. A week ago, Carlsen lost a game to Neimann at the Sinquefield Cup in the US. He withdrew from the tournament after that.
The grandmaster also shared a video from 2014 on Twitter in which coach Jose Mourinho says: "I'd really prefer not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble." This is also being interpreted as a form of protest.
Dutch chess master Anish Giri told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 that Magnus doesn't have full trust in his opponent due to repeated online cheating. "It's an unprecedented case. I totally understand that from Magnus' point of view. But that said, of course, normally when you have that situation, you kind of deal with it. You just hope your opponent doesn't cheat and you play."
American Levon Aronian also admitted to understanding Magnus' frustration. "I'm somewhere in the middle. I do believe that Hans has not been the cleanest person when it comes to online chess. But he is a young guy. Hopefully, this will be a lesson to him."