Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana engage in war of words as chess witnesses another dispute over cheating

American chess stars Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana were involved in a war of words over cheating in chess and on the ‘Titled Tuesdays’ online tournament that takes place on Chess.com every Tuesday. Caruana expressed concern on the possibility of cheating in Titled Tuesdays in a discussion with Chess.com Chief Chess Officer Danny Rensch on his podcast, the C Squared Podcast.

Titled Tuesdays is held twice every Tuesday in the form of ‘Early Titled Tuesday’ and ‘Late Titled Tuesday’, and during the discussion with Rensch, Italian-American Grandmaster Caruana stated that he “doesn’t respect” the event, evoking a sharp response from world No 2 Nakamura.

“Wait, let me get this straight. So Fabiano, the guy who’s complaining about cheating nonstop, is literally saying that he doesn’t respect the tournament. But then why is cheating such a big issue?What is he even saying? That’s insane,” Nakamura, a popular streamer himself in addition to being among the top players in the world, said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

“You don’t respect the tournament, but you’re saying that cheating is a big problem. Then why are you even talking about the issue in the first place if you don’t care about the tournament? Like I mean this is just weird,” he added.

Caruana accuses Nakamura of being ’extremely uncharitable’

World No 3 Caruana, however, hit back at Nakamura in another video, describing him as “extremely uncharitable” while explaining that he could express concern about an event without actually participating in it.

“When I say that I don’t respect a tournament, it’s also my personal opinion. I can choose to play or not to play in events. Other players do so, too. Hikaru, for example, said he doesn’t want to maybe play in the next freestyle event. I don’t really think that we should question people if they don’t want to play because it’s a personal opinion. Maybe he just doesn’t like the event,” Caruana continued.

“Gukesh and Alireza also declined their invitations. That’s their prerogative and if I don’t want to play Titled Tuesday, it really shouldn’t be held against me because that’s my prerogative and whatever reason I may have. I think the fact that I feel that cheating is at a level which is not acceptable to me is a good enough reason.

“I think that you could see Hikaru was being extremely uncharitable also because even before I even said anything, he had an expression on his face that what I said was ridiculous. He had that face even before I even said a word. Like all I said was, ‘I’ll give you my reason.’ He had an expression like I had just said something shocking. I understand if he wants to maybe rock the boat a bit for views,” he added.

Cheating has been a contentious issue in chess, particularly in online games, and was at the heart of one of the biggest feuds in chess history – in which world No 1 and five-time champion Magnus Carlsen had accused American GM Hans Niemann of cheating during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup.

The accusations would lead to a $100 million lawsuit against Carlsen as well as Nakamura and Chess.com. And even though the case was dismissed with the two parties settling out of court, Carlsen and Niemann continue to share frosty relations, taking potshots at each other from time to time.