The Saint Louis Chess Club has decided to close its doors to GM Hans Niemann. The club announced that Hans Niemann will no longer be invited to their tournaments due to alleged inappropriate behavior, which includes private property damage, rude comments, and an uncooperative attitude. Niemann immediately responded, saying that Saint Louis Chess Club’s explanations are ridiculous and that the statement is just ‘an excuse to blacklist one of America’s brightest talents’.
A Reddit ‘insider’ who claims to live in Saint Louis now ‘reveals’ what happened in Saint Louis and why the Saint Louis Chess Club brought the decision to ban Hans Niemann from their events. The Redditor confirms the Club’s allegations that Niemann damaged the private property and says that it’s well known that Hans Niemann completely destroyed his room in Saint Louis during the USA Championship. “Hans destroyed mirrors, tiles, the marble table etc. He is banned for life from ever stepping foot in the St. Louis Chase Park Hotel ever again. StL does not want to talk about it publicly for good reasons, but pretty much every staff member and players in St. Louis knows about this“.
Hans Niemann confirmed that he caused damage in the hotel room during the US championship but said that wasn’t a real reason why Saint Louis Chess Club blacklisted him from their events. He also said that no mirrors, tiles or marble tables were damaged. Levy Rozman aka GothamChess addressed the new drama in the video published on his YouTube channel, while Hikaru Nakamura spoke about the issue during his live stream. Reactions to Saint Louis Chess Club’s ban on Hans Niemann can be found here.
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