Chess Prodigy Hans Niemann Denies Using Vibrating Sex Toys To Cheat In Tournament

Hans Niemann, 20, a chess grandmaster, has repeatedly denied the claim that he cheats in over-the-board chess.

In a conversation on Piers Morgan Uncensored, he addressed the specific claims that he cheated with vibrating sex toys. These allegations emerged on social media, although it is unclear the original source of the accusations. 

When pressed as to whether he had used such toys as he played, Neumann replied, “Well, your curiosity is a bit concerning, you know – maybe you’re personally interested, but I can tell you, no. Categorically, no, of course not.”

In the 2022 at Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Neimann beat five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen.

In the days that followed his victory, The New York Times reported that Neimann had stated, “They want me to strip fully naked, I’ll do it. I don’t care, because I know that I’m clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission? I don’t care, you know? Name whatever you guys want.”

Carlsen declared that Neimann had cheated in their game. He did not provide specific details as to how Neimann did this, but social media was quick to think Neimann had used vibrating sex toys to receive signals that instructed him as to what moves to make.

Shortly after the game against Carlsen, Neimann was interviewed by the St. Louis Chess Club, in which he maintained that he never cheated in over-the-board games–but admitted he had cheated in “random games on Chess.com” when he was younger, which he declared “the single biggest mistake of my life.”

A 72-page report by Chess.com alleged that Neimann had “likely cheated” in over 100 online matches between July 2015 and August 2020, “Including several with prize money events.”

The report claimed that in 2020, Neimann had privately confessed he cheated to the website’s chief chess officer, which led to his temporary ban from the platform.

Niemann filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Chess.com, Carlsen and a popular streamer and chess player Hikaru Nakamura, who he claimed was responsible for “egregiously defaming him.”

Neimann’s lawsuit said that Chess.com’s claim he admitted to cheating was completely false. In June, the case was dismissed, and Neimann posted on social media that his lawsuit had been resolved in a mutually acceptable manner.

“I look forward to competing against Magnus in chess rather than in court,” he said.

Shortly afterwards he was reinstated to Chess.com.