The controversy surrounding Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann has caused strong reactions around the world. More than two weeks ago, the Norwegian withdrew from the large-scale Sinquefield Cup tournament after meeting the American.

On Monday, Carlsen went on to deliberately lose against Niemann again, on the Champions Chess Tour.

Carlsen has so far not explained why, but many have speculated that he thought Niemann was cheating and the deliberate defeat was a form of protest.

– Won’t rule it out

Danish international chess referee Arild Rimestad believes the situation can be interpreted from two different theories.

One is that most people speculate that Carlsen deliberately lost in reaction to the fact that he believed Niemann cheated in the match against him in the Sinquefield Cup.

– That tweet, in which he indirectly accused Niemann of cheating. But there was speculation and the internet was boiling over. So it could be considered a protest, Rimestad told Dagbladet.

But the Dane also came up with another theory.

– Yesterday I read a lot of different statements online, and one of them is that this can also be an excuse (ed. note to Niemann) like any other. Then I thought, it could be that. When he doesn’t say anything, we really don’t know anything, so it could be a protest or an apology.

Rimestad believes that no theory can be ruled out, as Carlsen has not yet commented on the matter. He believed that Carlsen should understand what he was showing Niemann by doing what he did.

– Is it an apology is difficult to say, it may be a protest, but I will not rule out that it is an apology, he concluded.

Doubtful

Chess expert Atle Grønn doesn’t believe in that theory.

– Oh, it’s original and creative. If it is an apology, the recipient should at least understand that it is an apology. It was funny at the time (theory, editor’s note), but then it had to come out, he told Dagbladet.

Like Grønn, NRK expert Torstein Bae believes theory is creative. He himself points out that you can’t really rule anything out when Carlsen doesn’t make a statement. At the same time, he was clear about which theory he believed was most likely.

– I give credit to Arild Rimestad for putting forward that theory. “We can’t rule out any theory, but I feel it’s definitely more likely with the theories other people have, that Magnus doesn’t want to sit and play against someone he seems to think is cheating,” he told Dagbladet.

Dagbladet had tried to contact Magnus Carlsen via Henrik’s father and manager on Tuesday, with no response.