Niephaus represented West Germany in 12th Chess Olympiad at Moscow 1956, scoring +5 –2 =3 at first reserve board. He also played for FRG in friendly matches against Netherlands (1951, 1954, 1957), Yugoslavia (1951, 1954), Switzerland (1952) and Austria (1953), in the Clare Benedict Cup at Bern 1957 and Lugano 1959, and in the European Chess Team Championship at Oberhausen 1961.