Chess pro Hans Niemann calls Mexico a “failed society” as poor wifi costs him match

Michael Gwilliam
hans niemann in mexico

Controversial chess star Hans Niemann is facing some backlash for his comments about Mexico after a disappointing performance at the FIDE World Junior Chess Championship.

Hans Niemann has been in some hot water as of late. After settling his dispute with Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen over his alleged cheating, he got into it with Alexandra Botez for “degenerate” Twitch streams.

Now, Niemann has managed to upset even more people following a broadcast where he blamed a loss on a Mexico hotel’s poor wifi and made some disparaging comments towards the country.

In an interview following his match against Konstantin Peyrer, Niemann proceeded to put Mexico on blast and explained what happened during his division 2 match.

Hans Niemann calls Mexico a “failed society”

Speaking on his loss against Vincent Keymer at the Champions Chess Tour AI Cup 2023, Niemann revealed that he kept disconnecting through the game.

“These people say they have good wifi, so they give me my own personal modem. Of course these geniuses only give me five gigabytes, so when you have two phones and one computer, it runs out in two days,” he said.

According to Niemann by the time the tournament came, he had no wifi and had to resort to using the hotel’s, but this ended up costing him, because he kept disconnecting and losing all his time.

“I was raging, because every thirty seconds I would disconnect for thirty seconds and it was just impossible for me to play against Keymer. So, I basically lost this match, exclusively because it’s a failed society and there’s no wifi,” he added. “I’m very disappointed that I lost that match because of the wifi.”

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While Niemann urged Mexico not to take his comments personally or be offended, plenty of users took issue with his remarks after he posted them to YouTube.

“What an obnoxious person. It’s interesting how a person’s view of themselves goes up at the same rate that others’ views of them go down,” a viewer stated.

“Imagine your lasting legacy being the joke of your pomposity,” another blasted.

So far, Niemann has not responded to the backlash, but with his remarks sparking plenty of discussion on Reddit, it will be interesting to see if the controversial chess star faces any sort of discipline.

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About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam