Post Magnus Carlsen's claims, a report states Hans Niemann has cheated more than 100 times

19-year-old American chess grandmaster Hans Niemann's sudden rise has been a surprise to many, and questions over his staggering improvement have increased all the more after five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen raised concerns of potential cheating. Carlsen raised such doubts after he played a game with black pieces against Neimann at the Sinquefield Cup. On that occasion, Neimann completely outplayed him in a way that seemed way beyond the 19-year-old's level.

Following this game, the two met again at the Julius Baer Generation Cup when Carlsen resigned after playing just one move. While the Norwegian did not give any explanation for resigning, he did put out a public statement a few days later that explicitly states that he believes Neimann was cheating.

After Carlsen's statement, FIDE have begun an investigation into the matter and will review Neimann's recent games. Amid the world chess body's investigation, a report has been released from Chess.com that Niemann has cheated on at least 100 previous occasions.

'Neimann's results are statistically extraordinary': Report

While comparing Hans Niemann's rise to some of the other top stars, an excerpt from Chess.com's 72-page report states, "Outside his online play, Hans is the fastest rising top player in Classical [over-the-board] chess in modern history. Looking purely at the rating, Hans should be classified as a member of this group of top young players. While we don’t doubt that Hans is a talented player, we note that his results are statistically extraordinary."

The report adds that the 19-year-old has cheated on at least 100 previous occasions, which is far more than he has publicly admitted. After Carlsen raised doubts that Niemann has cheated on far more occasions than he has admitted to, the American clarified that he has cheated at two points in his life but nothing more. One of them was at 12 years old and the other time was when he was 16.

Carlsen's statement sends shockwaves in chess community

While making his first public statement since the Julius Baer Generation Cup incident, Magnus Carlsen wrote on his official Twitter handle, "I believe that Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted. Throughout our game, in the Sinquefield Cup, I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do."

Since Carlsen's shocking allegations against Neimann, world chess body FIDE released an official statement to confirm that they would be reviewing the world champion's claims. Their complete statement read, "The focus of the investigation would be twofold: checking the world champion’s claims of alleged cheating by Niemann and Niemann’s self-statement regarding online cheating...The panel will ensure a fair ruling, protecting the rights of both parties during the investigation."