American GM Hans Moke Niemann explained why he proposed a regulation change at the UzChess Cup 2026 technical meeting. Niemann says he doesn’t want to repeat what happened in the match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, and discusses his predictive abilities.

Hans Moke Niemann

Hans Moke Niemann

American GM

“I played a match in Serbia before this tournament. That’s why I’m so obsessed with tiebreaks now. My tiebreaks offer there was refused. So, I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.

I think it’s common for people to be upset at technical meetings, especially freestyle. But generally, organizers aren’t that accommodating. It’s actually great that they were receptive. Most organizers just say: ‘You should have read the rules’.

I assumed there would be a tiebreaker because I remembered the tiebreaker at last year’s tournament.

I’d like to win the tiebreak. But I’ll have to get there. Just to prove my point. For example, in Warsaw, I predicted that Gukesh or someone else would knock over pieces during the game. At the technical meeting, I asked what would happen in that case, and then it actually happened.

Wait until you see the level of prophesizing at this tiebreak. Lately, I’ve been very lucky with my predictions at technical meetings.”

Hans Niemann suggested replacing the Sonneborn-Berger system with Tiebreaks to determine the winner of a first-place tie. Organizers approved Tiebreaks for any number of players tied for first place after discussion with the players.

Niemann played an exhibition match against Ian Nepomniachtchi in Belgrade at the end of May. The GMs played to a score of 4-4, Ian refused to play a tiebreak, and the match ended in a draw. Nepo criticized the match, and Niemann made a public explanation of the situation.

The UzChess Cup 2026 takes place from June 7 to 15, at the Crowne Plaza, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Hans and Ian share last place after losing their first games.

Credit: UzChess YouTube