After gaining an extra 4 rating points on Thursday by scoring 1½/2 points against Etienne Bacrot, Hans Niemann reached his peak rating in classical chess: 2733 Elo points. In the live ratings list, he now stands ahead of a few very well-known names such as Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Richard Rapport.
The 2 games on Thursday were the last 2 classical games of the trio of matches that Niemann set out to play in August at the "Hans Niemann versus the world" series. Not one to mince words, Niemann shared his achievement on X, inviting organisers to take notice of his success. This mention seems to be connected to the ban imposed by the Saint Louis Chess Club earlier this year - the club cited Niemann's inappropriate behaviour, including damaging private property and rude comments, as justification for their decision. Niemann wrote:
Classical portion of the "Hans Niemann against the World" Paris match has come to an end. I am at my peak rating of 2733, #19 in the world. The next match will be against a top 5 player in the world with an even bigger prize fund. I hope that organisers take notice of my success, and give me an opportunity to compete in prestigious invitationals.
In the match against Bacrot, Niemann now has a 9-point lead after scoring 3 wins (all with white) and 3 draws in the classical portion of the confrontation. In his third game with black, Bacrot repeated the line of the Sicilian he had employed the previous day, and was once again defeated by his younger opponent.
The rapid section of the match will take place on Friday (starting at 18.00 CEST). It will consist of 6 rapid games with a 15+10 time control - each win in this section grants 2 points for the overall score in the match.
Hans Niemann playing white against Etienne Bacrot | Photo: Frans Peeters
