Tony Rich: We have to assume Hans Niemann is innocent until he is proven guilty

The US Chess Championship 2022 started yesterday in Saint Louis Chess Club featuring 14 of the strongest America’s grandmasters and 14 of the strongest America’s female chess players. Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian headline the Open section field, which includes 19-year-old Hans Niemann who has been in the limelight for the last couple of weeks. Tony Rich, Executive Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club, joined the live studio yesterday, speaking about the recent happenings on the Carlsen – Niemann case. Explaining the official position of the Saint Louis Chess Club on the whole case, Rich said: “Has Hans cheated over-the-board? – We don’t know for certain. Has he cheated online? -Yes, admittedly he has. Do we still have to assume that he is innocent until he is proven guilty? -The answer is yes.“

“We want to ensure that our events are held with the highest integrity possible, and we want to ensure fair play across all the tournaments. I want the players to feel comfortable knowing that when they come to play in Saint Louis that we take it very seriously. For example, this year we implemented additional security measures. We have always had the metal detecting once, we have added to that the radio frequency scanners that check any signaling that is happening in the room, we have implemented the additional scanners that check for any silicon devices. That would be any electronics on the person, regardless of whether they are powered on or off, regardless of whether they are transmitting a signal or not“, said Tony Rich about the newly implemented anti-cheating measures in the club. See the complete video below

Read more: Hans Niemann goes through strict anti-cheating control at the US Chess Championship

The timetable of events related to the Carlsen – Niemann case: