Evidently not too busy to comment on chess media affairs while competing at the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, chess bad boy Hans Niemann found the time to tweet about 4-million subscriber strong Levy “GothamChess” Rozman’s latest clickbait title covering his game against super-GM Richárd Rapport.
Say what you will about Hans Niemann, he’s always good for a memorable quote. “The chess speaks for itself” instantly skyrocketed to meme status, and now he’s called out the biggest chess YouTuber around for using him as a title excerpt for his daily recap of the Grand Swiss.
“I feel bad for some International chess masters. They have to deal with the eternal reminder of their inadequacy,” Niemann wrote, screenshotting GothamChess’ latest video title. “Some seek solace in YouTube clickbait because they have nothing insightful to provide regarding actual chess games,” he continued.
Gotham responded soon, citing the Lichess analysis of the game that showed zero inaccuracies, mistakes, or blunders:
“Hans, you call your own games “perfection,” and this is the analysis of this one. I am hyping you up. I tried staying as neutral as possible during the last year and will continue to showcase your games to the masses.”
Niemann’s no stranger to controversy in the chess world, much like how Gotham, streamer of the year and elite-level clickbait connoisseur, has ruffled many feathers across the years with his undoubtedly effective video titles. They aren’t the only ones clashing about this pervasive YouTube practice: Not so long ago, world number one Magnus Carlsen called out Hikaru Nakamura and his team for a truly egregious video title, which insinuated a cheating allegation that never happened.
Carlsen, of course, was the one who ignited the biggest chess cheating controversy in the game’s modern history by publicly insinuating that Niemann had cheated over the board. While the young American did admit to cheating online, and chess.com’s statistical analysis suggests many more cases than he confessed to, so far, nothing has been proven when it comes to foul play in an offline environment. A defamation lawsuit filed by Niemann was settled out of court, though legal experts were skeptical about the veracity of his claims.
With six more rounds to go at the Grand Swiss, not counting today’s affair, there are still many opportunities for drama to emerge, especially as the Candidates spots get closer and closer to materializing. At the time of writing, Niemann’s locked into a pitch battle with Alireza Firouzja on table 3, with just fourteen moves played by each player after almost two and a half hours of play.
