Hans Niemann spectacularly won the 2023 Tournament of Peace in Zagreb. The US grandmaster was the second seed in the lineup, behind Anton Korobov, and dominated the rest of the field at will.
Niemann started with a win over Alexander Motylev and then drew his game against Hrvoje Stevic. Niemann then grabbed six wins in a row, including victories over well-known grandmasters Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ivan Cheparinov and Ivan Sokolov.
In round 8, Niemann signed a short draw with Ante Brkic, only to really step on the gas again in the final round, when he faced rating favourite Korobov.
Towards the end of the tournament, some players apparently more or less gave up their hopes and completed the remaining rounds with short draws.
Niemann won the tournament with a 3-point lead and had a 2946 tournament performance rating. Ante Brkic, Anton Korobov and Vasyl Ivanchuk finished tied for second place with 5 points each.
After winning the tournament, Niemann shared a couple of posts on X comparing his triumph with that of Bobby Fischer in 1970. Back then, Fischer had won the Tournament of Peace, which took place in Rovijn and Zagreb. The US legend scored 13/17 points in the 18-player single round-robin, leaving Viktor Korchnoi, Vasily Smyslov, Svetozar Gligoric and Vlastimil Hort two points behind in the final standings.
Two lone Americans up against the world, facing immeasurable odds
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) November 30, 2023
Victorious 53 years apart at the legendary Tournament of Peace
8/9: 2946 performance rating
I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible pic.twitter.com/qjZlhRIYJp
As reported by Tarjei J. Svensen on X, the organizer of the event in Zagreb referred to Niemann’s out-of-this-world victory in an interview given to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
Organizer of the Zagreb event with a pretty shocking quote to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten:
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 30, 2023
"Niemann's performance is out of this world, but we have no definite proof that he is cheating. We have some indications, but we don't know if anyone wants to report him." https://t.co/8vEPLQitH3
| Rg. | Name | Elo | Land | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Pkt. | Wtg1 | Wtg2 | Wtg3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | 2659 | 8 | 4,5 | |||||||
| 2 | GM | Brkic, Ante | 2622 | 5 | 3 | |||||||
| 3 | GM | Korobov, Anton | 2667 | 5 | 2 | |||||||
| 4 | GM | Ivanchuk, Vasyl | 2653 | 5 | 2 | |||||||
| 5 | GM | Motylev, Alexander | 2619 | 4,5 | 2 | |||||||
| 6 | GM | Sokolov, Ivan | 2588 | 4,5 | 1,5 | |||||||
| 7 | GM | Stevic, Hrvoje | 2549 | 4 | 2,5 | |||||||
| 8 | GM | Kozul, Zdenko | 2531 | 3,5 | 1,5 | |||||||
| 9 | GM | Zelcic, Robert | 2478 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| 10 | GM | Cheparinov, Ivan | 2649 | 2,5 | 1 |
