Huge chess scandal ends with begrudging agreement as one grandmaster warns 'I may or may not name names'
Just under a year ago, the chess world exploded in a cheating scandal: world champion Magnus Carlsen, who some consider the finest to ever play the game, accused opponent Hans Niemann of cheating. Carlsen first implied this and, shortly afterwards, resigned against the same opponent after one move and released a statement saying «I believe that Niemann has cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted.»
Chess.com, the de facto home of the sport online (though FIDE remains the world governing body), then re-ignited the scandal with a report claiming Niemann had cheated in «over 100» online games.
For his part, Niemann robustly denied the claims and, shortly afterwards, filed a $100 million suit against Carlsen and multiple other defendants, including Carlsen's Play Magnus chess company, Chess.com, Daniel Rensch, and Hikaru Nakamura. This suit was later dismissed, leading to private discussions between the parties involved.
A statement has now been released by Chess.com saying that «Chess.com and Hans Niemann have resolved their differences and are moving forward.» It goes on to give a precis of events before saying that since June, «both sides have negotiated privately in a good-faith effort to resolve their issues and allow the chess world to move forward without further litigation. We are happy to share that all sides have reached an agreement.»
«Hans has been fully reinstated to Chess.com, and we look forward to his participation in our events,» Chess.com said. «We would also like to reaffirm that we stand by the findings in our October 2022 public report regarding Hans, including that we found no determinative evidence that he has cheated in any in-person games.»
Note the distinction between in-person
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