Infamous chess grandmaster picks fight with Elon Musk over AI comments

One of the biggest names in chess with a controversial history has hit back at Elon Musk’s claims about the sport.

Hans Niemann engaged Musk in a (admittedly pretty well natured) Twitter/X spat after Musk claimed that a phone could beat the best players on the planet.

Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest talking points in 2024, and while AI has been a part of recreational chess for a long time, Musk has spoken about how he believes advancements will change the game.

Writing on Twitter/X, Musk looked to chess to discuss how AI will continue to impact on the world.

Musk wrote: “Won’t be long before AI can win at games that have vastly higher degrees of freedom than chess. Hope it’s nice to us.”

Taking issue with the post, Niemann stressed that the game of chess was much more complex than Musk was giving it credit for.

“Your point is valid regarding top level chess where deep computer preparation nullifies human creativity, however, for 99% of chess players, there is plenty of room for creative exploration and intellectual stimulation.”

Getty/Instagram/Hans Niemann

He went on to say that human intuition still played an integral patch of matches.

“More than happy to show how chess is a far more interesting game than you might realize,”

Could we be seeing Musk and Niemann go head to head soon? Only time will tell.

American chess grandmaster Niemann was only cleared of claims that he cheated in a 2022 match using vibrating anal beads last October.

The dispute had scandalised the world of chess after world champion Magnus Carlsen implied that Niemann had cheated in a match in late 2022 when he beat Carlsen in the prestigious Sinquefield Cup.

Carlsen, who is considered one of the best players in history, quit the tournament immediately. A week later, he also refused to play Niemann in a live broadcast online game, instead choosing to immediately resign the match before making a move.

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