Grand Master Hans Niemann called on the American chess system to focus on building a sustainable model that kept local players at the heart of its long -term goals instead of counting on mercenaries born abroad.
Learn more
The American Grand Master Hans Niemann criticized the cultivation of chess in his country of origin, comparing it to the existing system in India and by declaring how the lack of structural support for the players led to the decline of the game in the United States. Niemann continued by saying that the lack of support is what means that the budding chess players leave the game in favor of the continuation of higher education and alternative careers, forcing American failures to count on “mercenaries” of other countries.
Niemann deplores the minimal support of American chess players at home like himself
In a recent article on the social networking platform X, the 21-year-old controversial GM has decided to take a closer look at the decline of American failures “citing the examples of leading players such as Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Leinier Domínguez Perez and Wesley So.
“Players like Caruana, Aronian, Dominguez, and therefore represented other countries, and their transfers were largely motivated by financial incentives. Meanwhile, local talents like me and Mishra (Abhimanyu) receive minimal support.
“Where is American patriotism when it comes to promoting and investing in our own players? India and Uzbekistan have proven that the investment massively in talented players pays huge dividends,” wrote Niemann on X.
Niemann added that the money spent for the recruitment of players established in other countries should rather be allocated to local talents. He also declared in his post that his words were not conceived as a personal attack on Caruana or any other player.
“Should we spend $ 200,000 a year to recruit a player who has represented another country for 25 years, or should we allocate this same funding to feed our most promising young talents?” This unsustainable model will leave us empty -handed once these mercenaries age and retire.
“I want to emphasize that I have great respect for all chess players, and my words should not be considered as personal attacks. On the contrary, they reflect deep frustration with a broken system – which undermines the future of American failures and the development of our next generation of champions,” added Niemann.
Although the United States was not quite the kind of dominant force in failures, because the USSR was before its dissolution in 1991, it produced some of the greatest players in sport such as Bobby Fischer.
The fact that two players from the current five and five of the five and five in the first 20 of the classic notes of Fide are American – although the majority of them, as Niemann pointed out, were players born abroad who also represented their native country.
