Hans Moke Niemann (born June 20, 2003) is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He achieved a peak global ranking of No. 12 in May 2026.
Niemann was part of a cheating controversy in 2022 after defeating reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in that year's Sinquefield Cup. Carlsen and Chess.com accused Niemann of cheating, leading to a $100 million defamation lawsuit that was ultimately settled out of court. Niemann returned to competitive chess in 2023 after reconciling with both parties.
Niemann was born in San Francisco, California, and is of mixed Hawaiian and Danish ancestry. He moved to the Netherlands at the age of seven, where he attended a Leonardoschool for the gifted and started playing chess. He eventually returned to the United States, attending schools in Orinda, California, and Weston, Connecticut, before finally attending Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in New York City for his junior and senior years of high school. He then became financially independent while working as a chess teacher to support himself.
Niemann attended the U.S. Chess School alongside future grandmasters Andrew Tang, Abhimanyu Mishra, Awonder Liang, Christopher Yoo, and David Brodsky—as well as future U.S. Women's Chess Champion Carissa Yip. While there, he received training from grandmasters Joshua Friedel, Ben Finegold and Jacob Aagaard. He also received training from international master John Grefe, whom he considers his "first serious chess coach."
In 2012, Niemann qualified for the Dutch National Youth Chess Championship. Later, in December, he participated in his first rated tournament in the U.S. In 2013, he participated in the SuperNationals V in Nashville with a rating of 1486, scoring 4/7.
On December 16, 2014, Niemann became the youngest-ever winner of the Tuesday Night Marathon at the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club, the oldest chess club in the United States, earning him the title of USCF master. He also competed in the under-12 section of the 2014 World Youth Chess Championships in Durban, South Africa, scoring 6/11. By January, he had crossed the 2000-Elo rating threshold for the first time with a rating of 2192.
From 2016 to 2023, Niemann was a part of the U.S. Chess Federation's All-America Chess Team. After becoming a FIDE master in early 2016, he competed in the Saint Louis Invitational IM Norm. He and Carissa Yip were among the youngest players in the competition. He also competed in the 2016 North American Youth Championship, tying for first place in the under-18 section. In 2017, he entered the SuperNationals VI tournament as the top seed in the K–8 category with a rating of 2412, ultimately finishing in first place. Niemann has competed in the PRO Chess League since 2017, playing for the Las Vegas Desert Rats (2017), Saint Louis Arch Bishops (2019, winning team) and Norway Gnomes (2020).
In August 2018, Niemann competed in the U.S. Masters Championship, earning both a GM and an IM norm. He became eligible for the title of international master after his performance at the Cambridge IM Norm Invitational in August 2018, officially receiving the title later that year. From November 24-December 3, Niemann participated in the World Youth Under-16 Olympiad in Konya, Turkey—scoring six consecutive wins before finally finishing in third place overall. Then, from December 14–16, he played in the National K-12 Grade Championships, winning the blitz competition with a perfect score of 12/12, tying for first place in the bughouse duo competition, and tying for first place in the event overall.
From 2019 to 2021, Niemann's Elo rating rose from 2466 to 2645.
In April 2019, Niemann won the Foxwoods Open blitz event with a perfect 10/10 score. Then in June, he won the inaugural ChessKid Games hosted by Chess.com in a duos team with Alexander Wang, with Niemann scoring 20 straight victories in the event and qualifying for the 2020 Junior Speed Chess Championship. Later that month, he tied for sixth place at the 2019 U.S. Junior Championships in a field including Awonder Liang, Andrew Tang, and John M. Burke. In October, he participated in the 2019 World Youth Championships, leading the Open Under-16 section for seven rounds with a performance rating of nearly 2600 before ultimately finishing in ninth place. In November, Niemann competed in the 103rd Edward Lasker Memorial, tying for first place and achieving a GM norm. Then in December, he played in the National K-12 Grade Championships again, scoring 12/12 in the blitz event, 10/10 in the bughouse duo competition, and 7/7 in the 11th-Grade Championship.
In April 2020, Niemann participated in the FIDE World Youth Championship, placing sixth in the American Continental Selection Open. Then in November, he achieved his third and final GM norm at the Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy GM Norm Invitational, placing first in the event overall. Also in November, he won the 75th Annual Texas State Amateur Championship in Fort Worth, Texas with a score of 6½/7. In December, Niemann won the blitz competition at the VII Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival. He also surpassed the 2500 Elo threshold required to become a grandmaster, officially receiving the title in 2021.
In January 2021, Niemann placed third in the Vergani Cup, held in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. In February, he played in the Winter Chess Festival "Paraćin 2021" event in Paraćin, Serbia, winning both the classical and blitz sections with scores of 7/10 and 10½/11 respectively. Then in April, Niemann was featured on the front cover of Chess Life magazine, with a cover story documenting his journey to becoming a grandmaster and an accompanying podcast. In July, Niemann won the World Open in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, defeating John M. Burke in tiebreaks. Later that month, he won the U.S. Junior Championship hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC), which entitled him to compete in the 2022 U.S. Chess Championship. In August, he finished second behind grandmaster Aleksandr Lenderman at the 121st U.S. Open Chess Championship with a score of 8/9.
In May 2022, Niemann broke into the classical top 100 with a rating of 2656. He was the 12th-ranked American. In August, he participated in the FTX Crypto Cup, winning a game with the black pieces in a second-round match against Magnus Carlsen. In the post-game interview after defeating Carlsen, Niemann said "chess speaks for itself" before walking off. Despite winning four other games, Niemann did not win any of his overall matches in the tournament, finishing last out of a field of eight with zero match points. A few weeks later, at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, Niemann won another game against Carlsen, leading Carlsen to withdraw from the tournament and sparking international controversy. Niemann then faced Carlsen again two weeks later in the Julius Baer Generation Cup. Carlsen resigned the game after one move, further fueling the controversy.
In December, Niemann placed second at the Chessable Sunway Sitges Open after winning in tiebreaks against Amin Tabatabaei. As a result of the tournament, Niemann's rating rose above 2700 on the official FIDE ratings list for the first time. Later that month, Niemann played in the World Rapid & Blitz Chess Championships in Kazakhstan, finishing 100th out of 177 in the rapid section and 47th out of 176 in the blitz section.
In April 2023, Niemann finished sixth out of 200 at the Menorca Open, with the top ten players all tying for first place with scores of 7/9 after the nine-round round-robin. Gukesh D ultimately won the event after tiebreaks. Later that month, he participated in the Kazakhstan Chess Cup, a "side event" to the 2023 World Chess Championship held in Astana at the same time. He finished sixth in a field of 167. In May, he played in the Baku Open International Chess Festival, starting as the top seed but ultimately finishing 54th out of 122. International master Prraneeth Vuppala achieved a surprise victory against Niemann in the tournament, crossing the 2500 Elo mark necessary to become a grandmaster as a result. Later that month, Niemann participated in the 2023 Dubai Open Chess Tournament as the second-highest seed. He finished 47th after losing to non-titled player Xue Haowen with the white pieces in the eighth round.