Magnus Carlsen: The Downfall

2022: The False Accusation Scandal

Hans Niemann defeated Carlsen in Round 3 of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup on September 4th. Carlsen then withdrew from the tournament, and posted a meme on twitter of José Mourinho saying "I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I am in big trouble.". Niemann denied the accusations in his Round 5 post game interview as well as on twitter.

Carlsen then proceeded to not elaborate or say anything for 2 weeks.

In the meantime, Chess.com banned Niemann from their site immediately after beating Carlsen. Carlsen's company Play Magnus Group was acquired by Chess.com after accepting Chess.com's offer in August 2022 in a US $80 million dollar deal. Carlsen's insinuations were also taken up by Hikaru Nakamura who posted many videos on his channel about Niemann.

On September 19th, During the Julius Baer Generation Cup, Carlsen resigned after 1 move against Niemann. When asked why he stated vaguely (giving his first public comment in 2 weeks):

"Unfortunately, I cannot particularly speak on that, but people can draw their own conclusions, and they certainly have. I have to say I'm very impressed by Niemann's play and I think his mentor Maxim Dlugy must be doing a great job."

On September 28th, Chess.com would leak their communications with Maxim Dlugy to VICE magazine.

On September 26th, Carlsen published a statement saying:

"I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted."

In the lawyerly statement, he also branded Niemann as having an improper level of 'tenseness', as well as an improper level of 'concentration':

"throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions"

Carlsen also said that he couldn't say more on the grounds that Niemann didn't 'give him permission'.

"Unfortunately, at this time I am limited in what I can say without explicit permission from Niemann to speak openly."

On October 4th, Chess.com published a report on Niemann. The report was released publicly and coincided with the start of Niemann's first classical tournament since the Sinquefield Cup (The U.S. Championship). The report made insinuations about Niemann's play against Carlsen and also claimed that Niemann lied about the details of his cheating on Chess.com, without providing any statistical or toggling data to back up this claim.

The majority of the 72 page report did not in fact refer to Niemann's cheating on chess.com, but to giving details about Niemann's OTB play and his OTB rating rise. It also gave many graphs (one graph per page) of the OTB rating rise of various players without any explanation. The last section of the report bizarrely includes email correspondence of another player (not Niemann) who got banned from the website for cheating.

On October 20th, Niemann sued Carlsen as well as Play Magnus Group, Chess.com, Rensch, and Nakamura for defamation and unlawful collusion.

In December 2023, FIDE published its report on the matter. Carlsen claimed that he had 'secret evidence' about Niemann cheating that he couldn't reveal due to 'the lawsuit'. However, the 'secret evidence' seemed to vanish like a sandcastle in the wind. FIDE anemically called this 'disappointing'.

2023: Watch Complaint

Alisher Suleymenov defeated Carlsen at the Qatar Masters. After the Round 2 defeat, Carlsen took to twitter with his grievances, charging his opponent's watch with the crime of causing him to lose his concentration.

"I was completely crushed in my game today. This is not to accuse my opponent of anything, who played an amazing game and deserved to win, but honestly, as soon as I saw my opponent was wearing a watch early in the game, I lost my ability to concentrate."

Carlsen Tweet, 12th Oct 2023

Carlsen also went on to claim that Suleymenov was not following FIDE rules by wearing a watch.

"I did ask an arbiter during the game whether watches were allowed, and he clarified that smartwatches were banned, but not analog watches. This seems to be against FIDE rules for events of this stature"

However, the FIDE Arbiter's Manual do not state that analog watches are not allowed, only smart watches (p.234 Question 23, p.238 Answer 23).

2024: Jeansgate, World Championship Abandonment

In the 2024 World Rapid, Carlsen faltered scoring a disappointing 5/8 after 8 rounds. Carlsen was fined for wearing jeans in violation of the dress code for the tournament that was set out in advance. FIDE gave Carlsen another opportunity to change pants before Round 9, but Carlsen refused and left the tournament. Nepomniachtchi also broke the dress code and was told to change. In an interview on Take Take Take, Carlsen said it was a 'matter of principle'. Carlsen capped off the interview by swearing at FIDE in an attempt at a micdrop moment.

Later, Carlsen said that Vishy Anand was 'not ready for the job' (as FIDE Vice President) because he didn't let him wear jeans:

“Anand said very clearly that he didn’t know that he had any opportunity to do anything past, you know, go with the arbiters’ honestly draconian decision of not pairing me. And that means that he was, for all his good qualities, he was not ready for this job. That’s what I feel. "

Carlsen, Take Take Take Interview

“Obviously it was not a step we wanted to take. We offered several options (to Magnus). The arbiter said that as long as Magnus changed his jeans before the ninth round it would be fine. But Magnus said that he was not going to do it on principle. He’s himself stated that it’s a matter of principle for him. The arbiter simply applied the rules and we supported that.”

Anand, Chessbase India Interview

Carlsen played Nepomniachtchi in the Knock Out Finals of the World Blitz Championship. The winner had to score best out of four. Carlsen won the first two games and Nepo in turn bounced back with two wins as well. Whoever won the next game would become champion. After 3 draws, Carlsen proposed to Nepo that they share the title. Nepo agreed and they told this to the FIDE arbiters. FIDE then officially declared them to be 'co-champions'.

This turn of events was widely condemned in the chess world as being unsporting and cowardly.

Allegations of match-fixing surfaced after a Chessbase India video captured remarks that Carlsen made to Nepomniachtchi:

"If they like refuse, we can just play short draws until they give up." (laughs)

Carlsen to Nepomniachtchi, while waiting for FIDE decision

Carlsen later claimed this was a joke on twitter.

Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi embracing after abandoning their match. Credit: Lennart Ootes/FIDE

2025: Table Slam

During Norway Chess which began at the end of May, Carlsen defeated Gukesh in Round 1. This tweet then appeared on Carlsen's twitter:

Gukesh then proceeded to defeat Carlsen in Round 6. Carlsen also went on to slam the table which became a viral clip. Carlsen said "sorry" and then exclaimed "Oh my God!". He finished up by patting Gukesh on the back.

Carlsen won Norway Chess and Gukesh finished 3rd.

Before the start of the SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia Tournament 1 month later, Carlsen commented on Gukesh again.

"Gukesh hasn’t done anything to indicate that he’s going to do well in such a tournament. I hope for his sake that he can play better, but playing him in this tournament I will approach it as I’m playing one of the presumably weaker players in the tournament."

Carlsen, Grand Chess Tour Interview, 1st Jul 2025

The Round 6 curse struck again as Carlsen was paired with Gukesh. Gukesh defeated Carlsen again and went on to top the Rapid section overall.

"Honestly, I am not enjoying playing chess at all right now. I just, I don't feel any flow at all when I'm playing. I'm constantly hesitating and it's just really poor right now."

Carlsen, After being defeated by Gukesh, Take Take Take Interview

During the Blitz section Gukesh collapsed and Carlsen won the tournament overall. Gukesh finished 3rd on the strength of his Rapid results.

"The score is shocking... The good thing for him is it couldn't really have gone any worse... Hopefully for his sake he can calm down and play with a different attitude tomorrow, because now he doesn't really have anything to lose."

Carlsen, On Gukesh's results in the Blitz section, Grand Chess Tour Interview

"When nobody else has a great performance, my B-game is usually enough. Always striving for more though!"

Carlsen, Tweet after winning the Croatia tournament, 6th Jul 2025

Conclusion

Carlsen's standing and reputation has declined severely over the past years. Nevertheless, he continues to command an 'enthusiastic' fanbase. Carlsen has settled into a quasi-retirement in classical chess, only playing 15 classical games over the past year, calling into question his current ranking.