But thanks to the Speed Chess Championships’ round-of-16 bracket, Carlsen will now have to face Niemann in the event’s semifinals on Sept. 6. Carlsen beat chess grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals, while Niemann defeated grandmaster Wesley So to reach that spot. The winner of the Carlsen and Niemann match will head into the title match to compete for the top spot and their share of the $175,000 prize pool in Paris, France.
Given the history, the Carlsen and Niemann face-off will be one of the more anticipated matches in the Speed Chess Championship; the feud goes beyond just accusations on social media. A month after that accusation on X, Niemann took things a step further and filed a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen, arguing that the cheating accusations were defamatory; he also claimed chess platform Chess.com colluded with Carlsen to ban him from the website and its events.
Will he get there? That’s hard to say. But what is guaranteed is that Carlsen and Niemann both will be looking to make a statement on the chess board at the Speed Chess Championship in September. Polygon has reached out to both Carlsen and Niemann for comment.
