Hikaru hints this is reason he’s convinced Niemann cheated in chess drama

Chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer Hikaru Nakamura has dissected Magnus Carlsen's statement on the Hans Niemann cheating allegations and he believes one section may allude to the truth.

For the first time since allegations first arose, Carlsen released a statement via Twitter saying he believes Niemann cheated but he cannot speak to it.

"There is more I would like to say," Carlsen wrote. "Unfortunately, at this time I am limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly.

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Following the release, Hikaru streamed himself reading Carlsen's statement and pointed to this part as something that alludes to Niemann's potential guilt.

Hikaru says Niemann's silence "looks very suspicious" although he added that "taking the fifth is not an admission of guilt."

Magnus Believes Hans Niemann is a Cheaterwww.youtube.com

The chess cheating scandal first began in early September when Niemann, 19, beat chess grandmaster Carlsen, 31.

Soon after, allegations that Niemann cheated began swirling, especially after Carlsen unexpectedly quit a second match against Niemann only one move into the game.

Carlsen, verbally, remained quiet on the matter until Monday when he released his statement.

"If Hans doesn't say something or the information doesn't come out then, I mean, it seems like he's admitted something," Hikaru said in his video.

Hikaru added that from the statement, it seems Carlsen has more information about Niemann allegedly cheating but cannot share due to legal reasons.

Chess.com released a similar statement earlier this month saying they banned Niemann after sharing "detailed evidence" with him that "contradicts his statements regarding the amount and seriousness of his cheating on Chess.com."

They did not elaborate.

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