American GM Hans Niemann (Image credit: X)CHENNAI: American GM Hans Niemann, who has described Magnus Carlsen and elite chess organisers and sponsors as a “mafia” over what he sees as their scheming and high-handedness, has expressed sympathy for D Gukesh’s struggles as world champion.“Corrective action is really difficult in chess because when things go bad, people around you cannot really pinpoint mistakes or come up with a concrete plan,” said world No. 19 Niemann.“In other sports it is body positioning, force, technique etc that could set the tone for improvement. But no one can go inside a chess player’s mind. Chess is an abstract sport. That’s why it is very isolating.”That said, Niemann did not sugarcoat his assessment of Gukesh’s standing as a player. “The main reason why Ding Liren and Gukesh did poorly after becoming world champions is that they were never the best in the world, not even close to it. Yes, they had a string of great results etc. Hence the setback they suffered is not a major shock.”Niemann welcomed the removal of the rating qualification spot for the 2026 Candidates Tournament, arguing that the qualifiers through that route in the previous three cycles — Ding, Alireza Firouzja and Hikaru Nakamura — had found loopholes in the system and played easier games to secure their places.The 23-year-old also gave the thumbs-up to the new regulations awarding two Candidates spots through the Total Chess World Championship Tour and two for cumulative consistency across the two-year FIDE Circuit. “These slots are given via far more equitable and grand sample size (of games) than FIDE Grand Swiss and World Cup. Total Chess is the most democratic format of all the events,” he said.Niemann even suggested that Total Chess could become the sole world championship format if the number of annual qualifying events before the grand finale were increased from three to 10-12. “That would be the fairest World Championship format in tune with the times.” Niemann was accused by world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen of cheating in classical chess, an allegation he denied. The two later reached an out-of-court settlement.