‘FIDE must punish players’: American Hans Niemann slams Russian No.1 Ian Nepomniachtchi over comments on 14-year-old

Hans Niemann and Ian Nepomniachtchi American chess grandmaster Hans Niemann criticized Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi after the former world championship challenger questioned a move played by 14-year-old Canadian chess player Aaron Mendes during an online tournament.Niemann called on FIDE, the international governing body of chess, to take action against players who publicly accuse or suggest wrongdoing, especially when it comes to young players.

Niemann calls for FIDE action

Niemann said on social media that FIDE should punish players who make such comments publicly and set a clear example to prevent similar incidents in the future.“FIDE must punish players for public accusations and innuendos, especially when it comes to a 14-year-old player. Nepo made similar comments about Faustino Ora(12). FIDE must set a precedent to prevent this in the future. NBA fining players for complaining about referees is much more extreme in comparison,” Hans wrote on X.He also urged players who have genuine concerns about the game to use official channels rather than making accusations publicly.“If you want to press charges, do so privately to the FIDE Ethics Commission, do not slander your fellow chess players and cause irreparable damage,” he added in a separate post.

What happened during the game?

Mendes, a Canadian chess prodigy who became the country’s youngest international champion at the age of 12, defeated Nepomniachtchi in the 10th round of the Titled Tuesday tournament on September 1.Nepomniachtchi contested one of Mendes’ moves on his current. The Russian grandmaster seemed suspicious that Mendes had chosen en passant capture instead of control.“A fourteen-year-old boy, right? Well, the boy who won’t make a check move on purpose—hats off to him. That’s very respectable,” he said.“I wouldn’t have any suspicions about this game, but his en passant instead of a check – leaves a bad taste. Like, why? How? For what? Aaron, my friend… Well, luckily we won’t play against Aaron again because we’ve already learned from him.”The incident occurred after Nepomniachtchi blundered on move 38, giving Mendes a strong advantage. Two moves later, Mendes left his gunner under attack, but went for an en passant move instead. Nepomniachtchi retired five moves later.Mendes currently has a classic rating of 2340 and is ranked #27 in Canada.