ladies and gentlemen Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating uh and a happy holidays to all the rest of you maybe you're celebrating with your family maybe some friends uh maybe just by yourself listen that's absolutely also okay just catching up on some Gotham content the year is gonna end really well and this is going to be a big update video on all things Hans Neiman Magnus Carlson and so on and so forth the video is going to be split into a couple of Parts first of all I am going to give you an update on the lawsuit between Hans Magnus chess. com and Hikaru a whole blender of individuals uh in this lawsuit as the parties I guess being sued uh have all responded in some capacity and I will take you through that then Hans Neiman just finished the tournament in Spain uh and Hans actually did extremely well he's at his highest rating ever and uh is now in the top 30 chess players in the world I mean he's still going up the ranks and after that after we take a look at that folks it's getting better you could not have asked for a bigger drama you thought seeing your family members with crazy political views was gonna be a thing to celebrate you know in Christmas and the New Years and all that stuff no no no no no no no no everybody is in Kazakhstan right now for the world rapid and Blitz championships this is the first time Magnus Carlson and Hans Neiman are gonna see each other in person since their game in St Louis at the sinkfield cup when this entire cheating scandal broke out and this is the first time Hans Hikaru and Magnus might be in the same room in like I don't know 10 years like literally I have no idea what's gonna happen if Magnus and Hans get paired is Magnus not gonna play is one of them gonna punch the other I I this is this is top tier stuff we're gonna get into all that all right uh bear with me I'm gonna try to make it worth your while hopefully this is a nice little holiday present um first things first right like we're not gonna read the massive documents uh that these folks filed tldr Magnus Carlson files a motion to dismiss the lawsuit uh and listen again I'm not a lawyer but uh the kind of legal breakdown is that when these things uh get filed these lawsuits uh the party does a motion to dismiss and provides reasoning uh why um I like these articles summarizing this you can of course go find the document read through it all yourselves uh but I love the spiciness of the lawyers like arguing that Hans spent years trying to create a reputation as the bad boy of Chess first of all thought I was doing that but okay uh and now wants to cash in by blaming others after the allegations derailed his career uh they of course bring up the report and you know Hun's uh Admissions and so on um and then you know the lawsuit has kind of said that there was a conspiracy between like Magnus charles. com and and I think even Hikaru so like they kind of tried you know they pulled that apart as well um and uh then there was a question about the whole jurisdiction so like hans's I think the address list or or something is like he's a Connecticut resident but because it occurred in Missouri it's like trying to be it they're trying to do it in Missouri but they have what's called uh anti-slap laws not this slap but like uh s-l-a-p-p which I think is covered here in the ches.
com article chess. com also filed uh a motion to dismiss we'll get into all the chess games don't worry bear with me it's Christmas come on don't don't don't don't get uh you know oh I'm Gonna Leave chess. com cited yes so here they are anti-slap statutes which stands for anti-strategic lawsuit against public participant I mean good God these these guys and their acronyms anti-slap um chess.
com filed like 40 or 50 different case law mentioned over 27 Pages 71 just like comes cited 71 other legal cases for why this lawsuit should not stand it's crazy um and I mean one of these things is this jurisdiction Connecticut therefore most significant relationship basically they're like we're not going to do this case in Missouri we got to do it in Connecticut because that's where he's from uh this is the entire thing here that chess. com published and naturally Hikaru did the same um but hikaru's was kind of different because Hikaru is like I wasn't even mentioned anywhere uh and uh you know like I I was barely mentioned in the report like I don't even know why I'm being sued so his was a little bit different and he also stated like his lawyer stated uh a bunch of different legal cases so essentially right now that's that's where the lawsuit is uh they're all trying to get it dismissed then we're you know we're about to we're about to see I don't I don't exactly know what the legal process is um but uh everyone has responded in some way and my God isn't spicy um now in the meantime Hans uh is in uh what was in Spain and now is in Kazakhstan and he just played a tournament Now give me about like 15-20 minutes here we're gonna just kind of show some games uh we don't have to go crazy in depth uh but I mean Hans has been on fire like he has been playing Super well um I'll take you through some of his games this was his first round game against uh Wim from Armenia and in these tournaments you know you gotta you gotta play lower rated players before you can go for the glory uh and yeah Hans kind of did that like his opponent castled so he just lashed out with H5 just a very provocative move inducing H4 out of his opponent so sort of meeting him there um and then he castled and then he got really aggressive with this move Knight G4 which has a couple of ideas pressure here opening the bishop but another very sneaky idea here white played Rook B1 so that that pawn was guarded and then I can come here and Hans here played something so nice such as such a nice idea here from black uh it it's actually already almost the complete unraveling of the white position it's an amazing little combination and Hans played Bishop C4 which you know at your level white just wouldn't see that the Rook is hanging at this level though it's just a slight destabilizing of that pawn making sure only the king guards it and now he plays F6 and white here greatly greatly misevaluates the danger it looks like black is sort of blocking his position no no no no because now there's this very nice move G5 and you know when a move like that can happen like bad things are on the horizon so the point is that after it takes takes takes you you don't have to take I mean you can go back to E3 it doesn't matter I'm going to keep hammering her away now right away all right not right away but uh my attack is gonna build up like I'm gonna go here and then H4 and then Etc um instead of that Hans gets in and uh he's got lockjaw like a pit bull here all right he just I mean look at the queen slides over to replace the Rook and now the bishop goes back to attack the rook and Hans is like so take it oh my you can't you take it the queen gets in I mean it's horrible so white goes here and Han says no no I really I insist take my Rook sacrifices The Rook for the bishop and then E5 a nice move kicking out the night I mean there's just nothing you can do nothing you can do the night goes here Hans takes up material King is completely safe and the wildest thing is it actually looks like white is about to deliver mate but white is not about to deliver mate the king is actually just forced in front of the Rook and well you'll see you'll see what happens it's game ends in a very similar Way Queen D7 is what's played Hans is completely safe and uh a very very kind of sad ending to this game as you know white is on the verge of mating black black just goes here but that's not even a defensive move it's an offensive move and Bishop to F1 check just an absolutely gorgeous attacking game here for mons like start to finish all right and uh he wins one all right not one this game was wild this was Hans playing uh uh FM from India and this was a really long game I'm gonna kind of Click you through it it started with a very imbalanced complex English uh and Hans as you can see here is looking for another same side attack like he's looking to get something going here on the light squares he wins a pawn uh Rook is just out just doing its thing on A5 I don't know what it what it's doing there um and here comes Hans Knight G5 Queen F3 Knight into F7 I mean attack just looks absolutely devastating here he takes Queen C6 and um I mean it's just made right like it it's got to be made somewhere Chief look at this look what Hans does to his opponent that King is just dancing on H5 Hans gets in but here he had to go here here and here and then wait a little bit for checkmate he had to like give a check and the King comes up and then he had to find Queen D7 because of this apparently white is just winning now Hans did not see that and instead did it this way and black to his credit actually avoided mate by blocking his King and using the King as a defensive measure and look at this check and the bishop blocks so Hans wins the queen back but now it's a long Rook end game and uh you know the game was very violent until it wasn't Hans now has to bully the king and he has to pick up the pawn very nice idea here checking the king into a check not just taking the pawn very instructive I'm out of breath man covet sucks um and it takes a very long time all right it takes a very long time but a queen will beat two Rooks if the queen has a bunch of extra pawns and if the king is very weak and right now that's just what's going on and uh Hans was winning for about 50 moves in this game but you know it took him a very long time to convert it um he ends up checking checking checking checking checking and then starts pushing all the rest of his Pawns and there we go and yeah black just decided that he didn't want to sit here for another 40 moves um and reside so that was a fun one Han starts with two very convincing wins um he never stopped so in round three Hans had the black pieces versus firad Burak from turkey and Hans played this very fascinating line B5 so he's like okay I'm gonna create some ASAP imbalance uh and then he just played normal this is just normal stuff he took as much space as he possibly could on the queen side um and then white played in this kind of King's Indian attack style where white is like I'm gonna mate you and black is like okay that's adorable that you think that um but if you don't mate me I'm going to create an avalanche over here and um I'm gonna beat you if you don't beat me right so it's basically like either black gets mated or black wins the game on the queen side that's sort of how this works uh White plays dc5 Hans comes back takes B4 takes the bishop now HG and does this and basically white just sort of has some soft spots I'm trying not to have like a coughing fit Knight takes A2 and um G6 maybe a bit of an overreaction but I mean just in general like if if if you go back a couple moves here to like this position um it was always going to be very difficult uh for white to defend and try to attack at the same time white probably should have played A3 to be honest with you I'm not really sure why white didn't I think he just thought he was winning the game and Hans was like I'm not taking the pawn and and black can take a white can take a black spawn would check but um yeah just Rook C8 here I I'm not like completely sure what was overlooked but I guess like I said I think white just thought he was mating like I think white just went completely all in and sometimes when you go completely all in you lose everything like in poker but in chess there's no you know you don't have to wait for anybody to draw any cards you just make one Rook move like white went on this massive monster belligerent attack and black just moved his Rook you can check me you can check me and my king will just run to safety and that's exactly what happened and I just defended against mate I have more material than you and uh Hans comes back trades Queens gets into an end game and just D4 and the the craziest thing is that he's only up a pawn but the game is over because white has to play like some very passive move and I will just trap your knight or you will play this very passive move and then I will just get your pawn and promote so Han's just making it look effortless against GM's just absolutely breathtaking now the Turkish delegation decided that they were going to go after hunts so they brought vahab sanal who's one of the top rated players in Turkey like top three top four uh they have yomaz over there they got italic I think but they have uh they also have ipatav I think um but yeah he's one of the best players in turkey and he's like okay well Hans you know you beat you beat my countrymen uh I'm gonna go I'm gonna get you back Hans is like yeah all right yeah we'll see about that A4 get my night out we chilling you know slow play just slow play no trades yet in fact this game didn't have many trades at all one Pawn trade Hans secures control of the B5 Square nice black goes here now we have a rook trade and now Hans just kicks the night out of the center uh the Knight leaves Hans doesn't want a night trade and now Hans goes on the same side attack again he's doing this a lot Bishop H6 counter attack E3 defends the Knight Bishop goes back and uh Hans now starts applying this queen side squeeze so he took some space over here pushed back Black's pieces and now he's gonna uh he's gonna apply the queen side squeeze Knight B5 and so on and the bishop maybe drops back maybe H4 G5 let's see what happens so Queen D2 Rook C8 I mean black is right there I mean he's game I told you H4 is coming Bishop takes e takes that's a huge decision and the problem right now is black cannot get in at all black has no moves um and now Hans opens the door for his Queen F5 and the other idea here is that if you take I have absolutely no plan to take and I have absolutely no plan to do this either all I wanted was to open up your king because now I will attack the pawn on E7 and I will only play G5 or queen G5 when I'm ready like I can play Queen G5 right now and just go on this big attack Hans does it this way forces the queen to now no longer have any Vision there plays G5 now because now the point is that you can take and that's threat and when he gets kicked out he just backs up I mean he's just he's making it look so easy just dances in dances out like improves his position on all three sides of the board against the 2600 opponent cracks open the center walks the pawn into the black position and look at this are just firing everywhere just an amazing amazing game here patient patient trading Queen C3 and queen E5 and black just has no moves legit black has no moves black black is about to get hit with this and this I mean just four out of four and I mean Hans was slowed down he he drew a couple of games but then you go a few rounds later in the event he has the white pieces again he's playing ottoven uh I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly uh from India and this game was very weird so black I think blitzed out um like 20 moves I think the first 20 moves of this game uh ottovan played instantly like he did not think if I remember correctly and Hans just also I mean like was playing relatively good Pace but he was thinking and black was playing every movie instantly castles hunt played Bishop G2 black played E5 shredding open the center but hunts took a free night black one here and then tried to open up the center once again and Hans was like well if I go here there is a triple Fork oh wait no there's Knight E3 of that move whoa ah you have to play Knight C5 first yeah duh and the point is that if you take uh then I go check and the king is in the center and black is winning like King E1 and here you play this and that I mean that's I mean you know but here's the problem uh Hans just didn't do that and then he just traded and was just up a bishop so anovan played an insane line I don't know if he mixed mixed piss prep I don't know if he decided he was just gonna go completely all out but it seemed like in this game that black played prep which was like if white plays All the Right Moves white is not better white is winning that happened sometimes in prep but it's like winning like up a pawn in this case the guy gets out of the prep and the guy just has a bishop like all things being equal black has no more attack and Hans just consolidates activates his bishop and just has to like break out of his position and he just plays this move and and then just very slowly very methodically his defense's position defends his king and the bishop is coming and the pawns are going the bishop on F1 is about to get out and it gets out in a very emphatic way it just takes the pawn that's been oppressing it because the pawn can't take because Queen takes Rook Rook G1 is terrifying but there's nothing there's nothing all the pawns have fallen the white king is just standing there there is absolutely nothing and uh Hans wins yet another game and I mean he just like is just like walking on water I mean it it's just he's just he just beats another 2600 GM I've beaten like three of them in my life he's just beaten three right in this video or something I mean it's unbelievable um and he like I said he he drew he drew some game um and I think the last game that he won this is the penultimate round and Hans is yet again playing a member of the Turkish delegation I mean all the Turkish delegation was just coming at him uh this game was weird Hans play decaro love it uh he played Antarctica love it and his opponent played Knight G3 which I have not seen at a high level because it allows H5 and H4 which I just never thought people allowed and then the Knight dances back um and I mean Hans just got like a very pleasant position it felt like I was a little perplexed why he didn't take right away I thought that was sort of the idea but he decided just to do it this way and uh yeah the players got a very imbalanced game white forced them to do that and then played like this Hans played Bishop H6 trying to get a trade and E5 very sharp game very sharp game goalker Khan had a definitely a pleasant I thought position from the opening uh with all his aggressive intentions but the Karo Khan is Rock Solid and I mean as you can see here black just doesn't really experience any sort of weaknesses Hans kicks out the rook and creates this big barrier of dark squares beautiful barrier that that side of the board is completely shut down and now it's going to be time to like rotate you gotta like rotate the forces Knight goes going to F4 so probably gotta take it and uh yeah I mean he's got another Knight and here comes the rook and here comes the other Rook Rook trade and he just gives a check and he's gonna win a pawn you could block but I got my knight coming to C4 you could stop that I got my queen nice and centered the queen is threatening to get in on three different fronts and uh yeah I mean just A6 and just when you thought that Hans was going to win this game in a 90 move end game white goes here like to play and win takes Knight brutal oh my oh my oh my it's a uh it's a sacrifice tactic it's a fork tactic it's an attraction tactic Knight C4 and black just wins and you can make this even more Savage if King to D1 in this position you know what I would play I wouldn't give any check I would play this you might as well right just force them to take and then Knight C4 um now the incredible thing is in the last round of this tournament Hans was playing Black against kyrilla lexienko who ended up winning the entire event Hans was half a point away so all kiril needed was a draw and Hans played for a win with black and he almost won he ended up drawing the game and he ended up winning the tie breaks against uh aminta batabe um who's a very strong player from Iran and Hans got second place so he gets second place his live rating is 2706 which is his highest rating ever uh he goes undefeated in the event I think he lost in uh one of the blitz playoffs against Tabata Bay Tabata Bay also had a monster event and the whole event was quite cool uh they play I don't know if you can hear that there's like someone trying to start a monster truck outside or something I don't know what's going on it's Christmas I don't know what people are doing go go back inside um so just a very very nice event from him I mean honestly like he has been on fire uh very curious to see what happens uh in this event in um in Kazakhstan so just so you are aware um the tournament in Kazakhstan that's about to start I'm trying to find an article on on chess. com but I I might just I might just tell you on uh on chess 24 uh they're all the same thing now so basically the world rapid and Blitz is a it's a it's a five-day event 26 27 28 29 and 30.