It took less than a minute to reignite the feud. Hans Niemann v Magnus Carlsen at the Julius Baer Generation Cup opened conventionally with 1 d2-d4 Ng8-f6 2 c2-c4. But then Carlsen disappeared from the screen, the commentators were aghast, while Niemann shrugged and then also disconnected. The world champion’s father, Henrik Carlsen, had already announced that his normally media-friendly son would give no press interviews during the tournament. The action was captured live on the chess24 broadcast.
Monday’s cameo was the sequel to the controversial incident earlier this month across the board at the $350,000 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis. Carlsen was outplayed by Niemann, suffering a rare defeat as White, and withdrew from the tournament.
