‘VK is… not Virat Kohli’: Niemann, infamous for Carlsen chess cheating scandal, leaves fans in splits

Hans Niemann left Indian fans in splits with a subtle dig at Magnus Carlsen's defeat to Vincent Keymer.

It was an epic showdown as Vincent Keymer drew to Magnus Carlsen in the second game of their Weissenhaus Freestyle Chess Grand Slam semi-finals, in Wangels (Germany). Keymer had already beaten Carlsen in the first game on Tuesday, and on Wednesday showcased his talent once again with a gritty draw. The result saw Keymer enter the finals, where he will face Fabiano Caruana.

Hans Niemann's latest 'Virat Kohli' left fans in splits.

On the other hand, Caruana took six games and almost eight hours to defeat Uzbek GM Javokhir Sindarov in the armageddon tiebreaker, with even scores in the previous classical, rapid and blitz games.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, American GM Hans Niemann posted a cryptic tweet. Initially, he wrote, “VK is a strong player”, which many fans perceived to be Keymer, and also an indirect dig at Carlsen. Carlsen and Niemann were involved in an infamous chess cheating scandal in 2022.

But soon, Niemann struck again, in reference to his earlier ‘VK’ tweet. He joked that by ‘VK’, he meant Vladimir Kramnik, and not Indian cricketer Virat Kohli or even Keymer. He quipped,, “VK is Vladimir Kramnik, not Virat Kohli or Vincent Keymer :)”

Fans were left in splits, with one responding, “The crossover no one expected.”

Here are the other reactions:

Keymer was one of Gukesh’s seconds at the recent World Championship, where the Indian GM defeated Ding Liren to create history. Speaking to the Take Take Take application after knocking out Carlsen, Keymer said, “Mostly I'm relieved that I managed to see out this very tough game. And also it's for me a personal incredible achievement to beat Magnus in a match.”

“I mean, basically, even if I was in a must-win situation, that position would have been quite nice. I mean, my position was, I think, clearly better. I was up on the clock around 20 minutes. So, yeah, to get myself into that much trouble after that is really not something I'm proud of. But, yeah, it happened,” he added.

On Wednesday, D Gukesh’s miserable run at Weissenhaus continued as he crashed to a defeat to veteran GM Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura will contest for fifth place with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who beat Alireza Firouzja.