Niemann, Hans MokeAge 21


Source: https://cq.ru/

Title
Grandmaster
Live Rating
2736.0
Live Rank
#19
FIDE Rating
2736
World Rank
#20
United States of America Rank
#6
FIDE Peak Rating
2736 - Apr 2025 (Age 21)
FIDE Peak Rank
#16 (2733) - Sep 2024 (Age 21)
Rapid
2621 World #78, Peak 2624 (Jan 2025)
Blitz
2734 World #18, Peak 2734 (Feb 2025)
Born
20 Jun 2003
San Francisco, California, USA
FIDE ID 2093596
Wikipedia

Active Years:
2013 - 2025
Total Games:
1404
Wins:
661 (47%)
Losses:
345 (25%)
Draws:
398 (28%)
Total score:
61%
Performance :
Performance for the last active 12 months:
2721
White:
C54 Italian Game (37 games)
D00 Amazon Attack (22 games)
B51 Sicilian Defense (20 games)
Black:
C67 Ruy Lopez (21 games)
B51 Sicilian Defense (19 games)
C55 Italian Game (15 games)

Each era creates its own heroes and antiheroes. From the very start of his career, Niemann consciously chose the role of the "Bad Guy." Conflicts, disputes, and clashes with the strongest players in the chess world have followed him throughout. Whether this will help Hans achieve his goal, and he aims to become the world champion, only time will tell.

Niemann was born on June 20, 2003 in San Francisco, but at the age of 7, he moved to the Netherlands with his parents. Hans attended a school for gifted children where he learned to play chess. His rapid progress allowed him to become an online chess instructor in middle school, gaining financial independence. At 13, after returning to the U.S., he immediately won the national U18 championship, joined the youth team and earned the title of IM. However, his international achievements at this stage were limited to 3rd place at the U16 World Championship in 2018.

At times, the American would deliver phenomenal performances. He won 20 consecutive games in the 2019 ChessKid Games, scored 10/10 in the Foxwoods Open Blitz Tournament and started 7.5/8 at the U20 World Championship. However, Niemann didn't always finish first. Due to his inconsistent results, it wasn't until 2021 that Hans became a grandmaster, though he never missed an opportunity to declare that he would undoubtedly become the world champion!

That summer, "Chess Life" featured Niemann on its cover. Shortly after he won the World Open (7.5/9), the U.S. Junior Championship (6/9) and placed second at the U.S. Open (8/9). He began 2022 in the top 100 and by midyear, after victories at the Capablanca Memorial (7.5/9), TePe Sigeman & Co (5/7) and Prague Challengers (6.5/9), he was already among the top 50! Soon, he shook the internet with a surprise win against Carlsen in the Miami online series, but it was his comments that caused the real stir. He won only the 1st game of the match, with the remaining three going to the world champion, but the American boldly stated: "Chess speaks for itself!" Magnus remained silent, especially as Hans's reputation in online chess was far from spotless – Chess.com had blocked his account several times, and Niemann later admitted to cheating.

Their encounter at the Sinquefield Cup came as an even bigger surprise (Niemann replaced Rapport at the last minute). The game ended with a victory for the American, after which Carlsen immediately withdrew from the tournament! Although Magnus made no accusations, everyone understood that he suspected his opponent of foul play... Niemann finished 6th (4.5/9), but following the event, he faced open ostracism and received no further invitations to elite tournaments. His response was a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen, Chess.com and the leadership of the largest chess platform. Two years of "war" brought no resolution and the parties eventually settled (the terms were not disclosed).

Thus, Niemann was forced to become the "king of opens." In 2022 he won the Sitges Festival (8/10). In 2023 he shared victories at the Sharjah Masters (6/9), Menorca Open (7/9), Las Vegas Super Swiss (7/9), Uralsk Open (6.5/8) and dominated the Tournament of Peace (8/9). In 2024 he triumphed at the Grenke Open (8/9). Afterward, he announced his own match series, confidently defeating Vidit, Giri, Vitiugov and Bacrot, which allowed him to break into the top 20 (2733). Hans made every effort to regain Carlsen's respect. He defeated Vachier-Lagrave and So in matches and reached the "final four" of the online Speed Chess series, where he met none other than Magnus in the semifinals.

The champion soundly defeated him but acknowledged that Hans had become much stronger. Magnus then lifted the moral ban he had imposed in refusing to sit across the board from him for two years, and even invited him to his Freestyle Chess series. It seems that, after this, the 21-year-old Niemann may finally be able to shed the "Bad Guy" mask and move toward his goal!

2700chess.com


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Games

#White PlayerRatingBlack PlayerRatingResultMovesSiteDate 
1
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931/2-1/264Moscow28 May 2025board
2
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27360-141Moscow28 May 2025board
3
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931/2-1/295Moscow28 May 2025board
4
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361/2-1/258Moscow28 May 2025board
5
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-048Moscow28 May 2025board
6
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27360-150Moscow28 May 2025board
7
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-043Moscow28 May 2025board
8
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-050Moscow28 May 2025board
9
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-035Moscow28 May 2025board
10
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-038Moscow28 May 2025board
11
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26930-166Moscow28 May 2025board
12
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-050Moscow27 May 2025board
13
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26930-130Moscow27 May 2025board
14
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-053Moscow27 May 2025board
15
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-052Moscow27 May 2025board
16
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27360-156Moscow27 May 2025board
17
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-052Moscow27 May 2025board
18
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-040Moscow27 May 2025board
19
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Dubov, Daniil
26931-042Moscow27 May 2025board
20
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-046Moscow27 May 2025board
21
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Tomashevsky, Evgeny
26811-045Moscow23 May 2025board
22
Grischuk, Alexander
2682
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361/2-1/259Moscow23 May 2025board
23
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Matlakov, Maxim
26261/2-1/252Moscow23 May 2025board
24
Svidler, Peter
2698
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361/2-1/241Moscow22 May 2025board
25
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
27570-140Moscow22 May 2025board
26
Radjabov, Teimour
2692
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361/2-1/239Moscow22 May 2025board
27
Artemiev, Vladislav
2679
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-054Moscow21 May 2025board
28
Niemann, Hans Moke
2736
Malakhov, Vladimir
26421/2-1/253Moscow21 May 2025board
29
Dubov, Daniil
2693
Niemann, Hans Moke
27361-034Moscow21 May 2025board
30
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341-068Moscow8 Mar 2025board
31
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27011-036Moscow8 Mar 2025board
32
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341-029Moscow8 Mar 2025board
33
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27011-060Moscow8 Mar 2025board
34
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27340-160Moscow8 Mar 2025board
35
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27011-054Moscow8 Mar 2025board
36
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341/2-1/287Moscow8 Mar 2025board
37
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27010-162Moscow8 Mar 2025board
38
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341/2-1/242Moscow8 Mar 2025board
39
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27011-041Moscow7 Mar 2025board
40
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341-052Moscow7 Mar 2025board
41
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27010-135Moscow7 Mar 2025board
42
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341-038Moscow7 Mar 2025board
43
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27011-077Moscow7 Mar 2025board
44
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27340-131Moscow7 Mar 2025board
45
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27010-169Moscow7 Mar 2025board
46
Dubov, Daniil
2701
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341/2-1/259Moscow7 Mar 2025board
47
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Dubov, Daniil
27010-126Moscow7 Mar 2025board
48
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Rapport, Richard
27131/2-1/268Moscow6 Mar 2025board
49
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
2753
Niemann, Hans Moke
27341/2-1/213Moscow5 Mar 2025board
50
Niemann, Hans Moke
2734
Esipenko, Andrey
26911/2-1/255Moscow5 Mar 2025board