American Grandmaster Hans Niemann became the Diving Chess Cape Town 2025 Champion on Thursday after defeating compatriot Fabiano Caruana in the final of a unique underwater chess event. The competition was held at the Silo Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, alongside the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam finals. Uzbekistan’s newly minted FIDE World Cup winner, Javokhir Sindarov, secured third place by defeating Indian Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi. In this event, players make their moves on a small chess set placed 110 centimetres deep at the bottom of a swimming pool. After moving, a player surfaces to catch their breath, at which point their opponent must immediately dive to make the next move. From the pool, Niemann proudly showed his medal to the applause of local supporters, before later facing Diving Chess World Champion Michal Mazurkiewicz. Mazurkiewicz won a rook and pawn for a bishop after a blunder by Niemann as early as move two, but the American grandmaster ultimately outplayed his specialist opponent to win that game as well. The Diving Chess competition was the first …