Creating Spectacles: UFC-Style Chess

Hans discusses ambitions to make high-stakes, spectator chess and the need for personalities and leverage.

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Episode notes

Hans Niemann on beating Magnus Carlsen, the cheating accusations that nearly ended his career, and the "chess mafia" he says tried to destroy his life.

At 19, Hans Niemann beat the world's greatest chess player. Magnus Carlsen withdrew without explanation. Within weeks, Niemann was facing global cheating accusations, blacklisting from his own federation, and a fight to save his career.

Four years on, he's world No. 12 and still climbing. In this interview, Hans addresses everything: what Magnus actually saw at the board, the $100 prize he won at 12 that became "the greatest crime" of the saga, the 70-page report and what was really in it, the time Magnus was caught taking a move on his own livestream, and the top-10 player banned for cheating whose name was never published.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Hans On Magnus

00:01:20 - What Did Magnus See When You Beat Him?

00:04:40 - "I'm Closer To The Older Players"

00:07:20 - Being Called A Cheat At 19

00:11:30 - The Chess Mafia

00:15:25 - Could You Catch Magnus?

00:29:30 - The Cheating Accusations, The Cost

00:35:55 - Bitterness Is Poison

00:38:25 - WHO Believed The Allegations And Why

00:40:40 - Losing Faith In The Media