Fabiano Caruana shared his opinion on Hans Moke Niemann in a conversation with Cristian Chirila on the C-Squared Podcast. Caruana says that not focusing on Classical play is a mistake. Fabiano notes that achievements at S-Tier events make headlines.

Fabiano Caruana

Fabiano Caruana

World's No. 3

“[Cristian Chirila: What happened to Hans? I heard about this hypothesis of Wesley. He talked to Hans and Hans said that he’s not focused on Classical.

But that seems like a complete 180 from what he used to proclaim. Why the switch? Do you feel maybe he’s trying to follow Magnus’ footsteps and play the tournaments that provide the biggest financial incentives?]

If that’s the case it’s probably a mistake on his part. Because Classical chess remains the most relevant in some way.

We have a lot of Rapid and Blitz and they’re certainly very important events. But the ones that actually make headlines, besides the Rapid and Blitz World Championship, perhaps, it’s the Candidates, it’s the Olympiad, the World Championship, the World Cup.

These events usually make headlines.”

Hans Niemann played in 7 Classical events in 2026. He has lost 40.9 points and dropped 17 positions over the past year. Niemann’s Classical rating dropped below 2700 for the first time since 2024 on October 22. Hans is currently World’s No. 32 with 2697.1 points in the live rating.

Credit: Yoav Nisenbaum / FIDE