Magnus Carlsen left the New York competition after he was told he had to change out of his jeans. Now, the International Chess Federation has relaxed its dress code rules to allow for "elegant deviations".
Not really. The “funny” parts were all speculation and jokes from the public. The whole thing is actually kinda sad.
Hikaru suspected Hans was cheating, so he withdrew from the tournament and released a statement implying Hans was cheating. That led to the question of how you would cheat without a phone/computer… And that led to the vibrating anal beads meme.
So now everyone knows Hans as the anal beads guy, and everyone wonders if he’s still a cheater. The accusation did irreparable damage to his reputation and mental health.
Personally, I doubt he was cheating. I’m sure Hikaru has a more analytical take on the match that would be hard to see without his level of skill, but not even Chess.com can prove he cheated…so IMO the case against him can’t be all that substantial. To me, it seems like Hikaru was probably being a sore loser and used his power in the chess world to leave permanent scars on his opponent’s career.
I don’t even think Magnus intended any serious effect, let alone the scale that the meme communities escalated to. I agree he was probably being a sore loser, throwing out a frustrated and immature “I don’t believe I could have lost fairly” line.
I’m sure Hans could have lived with that accusation if there wasn’t any significant evidence and chalked it up as just that, being a sore loser. The internet went and blew it up though, with little regard for how that would affect Hans, so what Magnus intended doesn’t help him much in the end.
Not really. The “funny” parts were all speculation and jokes from the public. The whole thing is actually kinda sad.
Hikaru suspected Hans was cheating, so he withdrew from the tournament and released a statement implying Hans was cheating. That led to the question of how you would cheat without a phone/computer… And that led to the vibrating anal beads meme.
So now everyone knows Hans as the anal beads guy, and everyone wonders if he’s still a cheater. The accusation did irreparable damage to his reputation and mental health.
Personally, I doubt he was cheating. I’m sure Hikaru has a more analytical take on the match that would be hard to see without his level of skill, but not even Chess.com can prove he cheated…so IMO the case against him can’t be all that substantial. To me, it seems like Hikaru was probably being a sore loser and used his power in the chess world to leave permanent scars on his opponent’s career.
I don’t even think Magnus intended any serious effect, let alone the scale that the meme communities escalated to. I agree he was probably being a sore loser, throwing out a frustrated and immature “I don’t believe I could have lost fairly” line.
I’m sure Hans could have lived with that accusation if there wasn’t any significant evidence and chalked it up as just that, being a sore loser. The internet went and blew it up though, with little regard for how that would affect Hans, so what Magnus intended doesn’t help him much in the end.