It’s said you get only one chance to make a first impression, and two promising young American chess talents badly botched their audition.
GM Hans Niemann first shot to fame in a vicious cheating scandal, during which former world champion Magnus Carlsen memorably pulled out of a top-flight tournament in 2022 rather than play him. Neimann acknowledged using computer help in some online games as a teenager but angrily rejected charges by Carlsen and a number of top players that his quick rise up the rating charts after that was illegitimate.
The accusations sparked a massive legal and public relations battle that jumped from specialty chess blogs to headlines in major newspapers around the world.
Similarly, GM Christopher Woojin Yoo saw his promising junior career derailed by a string of questionable actions, most notably a physical assault on a video journalist after a painful loss that saw him expelled from the 2024 U.S. national championship tournament and hit with a year’s suspension by the U.S. Chess Federation.
But recent results suggest both players have made strides in patching up their reputations while continuing to improve their play.
The active and steadily improving Niemann, now 22, appears to have the thick skin of an elephant. He ranked 12th in the latest FIDE world classical ratings — his best showing ever — and has scored a string of fine results in events around the world. Most recently, he managed a 4-4 draw in a classical match in Belgrade, Serbia, against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, the veteran Russian star who has played in two world title matches.
Even more impressive, Niemann had to win the match’s last game just to earn the tie, which he did in impressive positional fashion from the White side of a Rossolimo Sicilian. The game evokes comparisons to the immortal Lasker-Capablanca game from St. Petersburg 1914, in which the great German champion chose a deceptively placid opening in his own must-win encounter, throwing his opponent off balance and winning in brilliant fashion.
Here, Niemann trades off a bishop for knight on Move 4, which psychologically puts the onus on Black — who would be happy with a boring draw — to play more actively than he would like. Black’s 9. h3 f5!? is a new move in this line, but Nepo never manages to resolve the long-term weaknesses on his queenside — especially that isolated a-pawn — resulting from the early bishop trade.
White gets a clear initiative with the well-timed 15. f4!, and Black hurts his own cause on 20. Re1 Rf8? (the rook is misplaced here, and that weak a-pawn loses a key defender; tougher was 20…Bf8 21. Qf3 Rb8) 21. Qe2! Rf6 22. Kh2! (prudently tucking the king away before initiating active operations) h6 23. Qe4 g5 24. Ne3 Nxe3 (Bf8 25. Nxd5! cxd5 26. Qxd5+; or 24…Nb6 25. Ng4 Rf7 26. Nxh6+) 25. Rxe3 Bf8 26. Qxa4; the weak pawn in lost and Black has no good way to halt the advance of White’s a-pawn in the long run.
Niemann never lets his experienced opponent back in the game: 31. a4 Rf1 32. a5 Bg7 (also going nowhere is 32…Bf4 33. Bxf4 Qxf4+ 34. Qxf4 Rxf4 35. a6 Ra4 36. Re8+ Kf7 37. Ra8 Kg7 38. a7 Ra2 39. Kg3 and the rook-and-pawn ending is won for White) 33. Qe8+ Qxe8 34. Rxe8+ Kh7 35. Re1! and the Black rook can’t get behind the passed pawn.
It’s over on 35…Rf7 (Rxe1 36. Bxe1 Bxb2 37. a6 Be5+ 38. Bg3 and wins) 36. Bd6 Bxb2 37. a6 c4 (Ra7 38. Re7+ Rxe7 39. Bxe7 Be5+ 40. g3 Bb8 41. Bxc5 Kg7 42. a7) 38. Bc5 Bc3 39. Re8 cxd3 40. cxd3, and the passed pawn will cost Black heavy material. Nepomniachtchi resigned.
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Yoo, who turns 20 in December, appears to have played a relatively light tournament schedule after apologizing for his misbehavior and serving his timeout. But he won a strong open tournament in Sardinia last year and earlier this month finished in a three-way tie for first in the stacked National Open Swiss event in Las Vegas. Yoo overcame an early upset loss to finish at 7-2, helped by a late-round win over GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami.
The Iranian master sets up a solid defensive array in this Kan Sicilian, but gets into trouble with the needlessly provocative 22. Bd3 g5?! (weakening the kingside when a simpler defense, such as 22…h6 23. h4 Ba8 was on tap) 23. f5 Nc6? (failing to sense danger in the position; here 23…Nxe5 24. fxe6 N7g6 25. Bxg6 fxg6 26. Re2 Rc4 27. Rxe5 Rxd5 kept the balance) 24. fxe6 fxe6 (see diagram; on 24…Ndxe5, White has 25. Ndxb5! axb5 26. Nxd5, threatening a capture on c7 and a fork on f6).
Now Yoo finds a powerful temporary knight sacrifice that blows up Black’s shaky center: 25. Nxe6! Rxe6 26. Nxd5 Rc8 27. Bf5 Rxe5 (no better was 27…Kf7 28. Nf4! gxf4 29. Rxd7+ Re7 30. Rxb7 Rxb7 31. Bxc8 and wins) 28. Bxd7, and White has won a pawn while retaining strong pressure on Black’s poorly placed pieces.
White’s edge only grows on 29. Nf6+ Kg7? (Kh8 was marginally better, but White still rules after 30. Nh5 Rxf1+ 31. Kxf1 Ne7 32. Rf2) 30. Nh5+ Kg8 31. Bf5! (with the threat of 32. Bxh7+ Kxh7 33. Rxf8) Re7 32. Rd6, and White’s army dominates the battlefield.
A nice tactical finesse ends the game: 35. Ke1 Ne5 36. Bc8!, and Black resigns as after lines such as 36…h6 (Bxc8 37. Rd8+ and mate next, while 36…Nf3+ is met by 37. Ke2 Re7+ 38. Kf2 Kg8 39. Bxb7 Rxb7 40. Kxf3) 37. Rxh6+ Kg8 38. Be6, the pinned rook will be lost.
We may be seeing more of Yoo in the coming days: Chess.com recently reported that Yoo snagged one of the two U.S. slots for the inaugural Esports Nations Cup Finals, a 128-player event in Saudi Arabia in November that’s part of the largest Esports competition.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Niemann-Nepomniachtchi, Match, Game 8, Belgrade, May 2026
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. d3 Qc7 6. Nc3 e5 7. O-O d6 8. Ne2 Be7 9. h3 f5 10. exf5 Bxf5 11. Ng3 Qd7 12. a3 a5 13. Nd2 Nf6 14. Nc4 Nd5 15. f4 exf4 16. Bxf4 O-O 17. Nxf5 Rxf5 18. Bg3 Rxf1+ 19. Qxf1 a4 20. Re1 Rf8 21. Qe2 Rf6 22. Kh2 h6 23. Qe4 g5 24. Ne3 Nxe3 25. Rxe3 Bf8 26. Qxa4 h5 27. h4 Bh6 28. Qe4 g4 29. Re2 d5 30. Qe5 Qf7 31. a4 Rf1 32. a5 Bg7 33. Qe8+ Qxe8 34. Rxe8+ Kh7 35. Re1 Rf7 36. Bd6 Bxb2 37. a6 c4 38. Bc5 Bc3 39. Re8 cxd3 40. cxd3 Black resigns.
Yoo – Ghaem-Maghami, National Open, Las Vegas, June 2026
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Nc3 d6 9. Be3 b5 10. O-O Nf6 11. Rad1 O-O 12. Rd2 Bxe3 13. Qxe3 Bb7 14. Be2 Qc7 15. a3 Rfd8 16. g4 Ne7 17. f4 d5 18. Qc5 Rdc8 19. Qxc7 Rxc7 20. e5 Nd7 21. Nd4 Re8 22. Bd3 g5 23. f5 Nc6 24. fxe6 fxe6 25. Nxe6 Rxe6 26. Nxd5 Rc8 27. Bf5 Rxe5 28. Bxd7 Rf8 29. Nf6+ Kg7 30. Nh5+ Kg8 31. Bf5 Re7 32. Rd6 Kh8 33. Bd7 Rxf1+ 34. Kxf1 Rf7+ 35. Ke1 Ne5 36. Bc8 Black resigns.
• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.
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