‘FIFA must punish players’: American Hans Nyman criticizes Russia No. 1 Ian Nepomniachy over comments on 14-year-old | Chess News
US chess grandmaster Hans Nyman has criticized Russian player Ian Nepomniatchi after the former world championship competitor questioned a move made by 14-year-old Canadian chess player Aaron Mendes during an online tournament.Niemann called on the Fédération Internationale de Chess, the international governing body for chess, to take action against players who make public accusations or suggest wrongdoing, especially when it comes to young players.
Neiman calls for action by the International Chess Federation
Writing on social media, Niemann said the FIDE must punish players who make such comments publicly and set a clear example to prevent similar incidents in the future.“The FIDE must punish players for public accusations and insinuations, especially regarding 14-year-olds. Nebo made similar comments regarding Faustino Oro (12). The FIDE must set a precedent to prevent this from happening in the future. “The NBA fines players for complaining about referees, and this is much more extreme by comparison,” Hans wrote on X.He also urged players who have genuine concerns about a game to use official channels instead of making accusations publicly.He added in a separate post: “If you want to make an accusation, express it privately to the FIDE Ethics Committee, and do not tarnish the reputation of your fellow chess players, causing irreparable harm.”
What happened during the match?
Mendes, the Canadian chess prodigy who became the country’s youngest international player at the age of 12, defeated Nepomniacci in the 10th round of Tuesday’s Sept. 1 event.Nepomniatchi questioned one of Mendes’ moves in his direction. The Russian teacher seemed skeptical about Mendes choosing to arrest the passerby rather than make a check.“A 14-year-old boy, isn’t he? Well, the boy who doesn’t intentionally move the check – hats off to him.” “This is very respectable,” he said.“I don’t have any doubts about this game, but passing it instead of a check leaves a bad taste. Like, why? How? Why? Aaron, my friend… Well, fortunately, we won’t play against Aaron again in the tournament, because we’ve already learned our lesson from him.”This incident came after Nepomniatchi’s mistake in move 38, which gave Mendes a strong advantage. After two moves, Mendes left his bishop under attack but opted for traffic instead. Nepomniachchi resigned after five steps.Mendes currently has a classic rating of 2340 and is ranked No. 27 in Canada.
