Watch: Hans Niemann loses cool after opponent Samuel Sevian tries to fix his King’s crown at US Chess Championship

While all games involving Niemann are now closely watched, debated, and analysed, an unusual situation arose during the game against Sevian which showed the players communicating and Niemann, seemingly annoyed.

Sevian picked up Nimeann’s King from the board, and it seemed he was trying to fix the King’s crown. Niemann protested and asked for his King back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESIQ6z94A5E

In the post-game interview, Niemann explained it was a misunderstanding between the players. “The pin of the King was fallen off, so he’s just picked it up, but I was just a bit annoyed because it was on my time“.

He revealed that Samuel wanted to glue the piece, but the game continued as soon as he put the King back on the board.

Fabiano Caruana, who earlier nicknamed the 2022 US Chess Championship “The 2022 Disrespect Championship“, commented on the incident of Sevian picking up Niemann’s King, saying that the disrespect just reached its peak. “The disrespect just reached its peak. Sam decapitated Hans’ king“, wrote Caruana on his twitter account.

The disrespect just reached its peak. Sam decapitated Hans’ king

— Fabiano Caruana (@FabianoCaruana) October 18, 2022

When asked about the tournament so far, Niemann added that it is extremely difficult to play under the pressure that he felt from the beginning of the event:

Niemann has been in the limelight ever since world champion Magnus Carlsen accused him of cheating.

“As I said during the Sinquefield Cup, playing chess under unique conditions or unstable conditions is extremely difficult. But I think that after I lost three games like an idiot I sort of realized I’m not going to win the tournament so I relaxed a bit. And I also sort of realized I really hate losing so much. It keeps me up at night, and I wanted to sleep. So I decided to play better chess.

“And I also don’t want to give anyone the satisfaction of watching me lose,” he said.