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The chess world was stopped in its tracks late last year when 19-year-old Hans Niemann defeated Magnus Carlsen, the top ranked player in the world, who then withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup and soon after allegations were tossed around that Hans Niemann had been using intimate/adult toys to cheat at live chess.
We now know those allegations to be false. In fact, we knew that a while back after Chess.com concluded its investigation. But the chess world can now move on with its life after Hans Niemann, Chess.com, Magnus Carlsen, and Hikaru Nakamura have settled their legal dispute that played out over the past year.
Chess.com was involved in the legal battle as they terminated Hans Niemann’s account after the adult toy cheating allegations surfaced. They then published a report about Hans Niemman’s play, all of which was detailed in a blog post from Chess.com announcing that all parties are moving on from the adult toy cheating scandal.
Interestingly, this only pertains to the legal side of things. In the announcement, Chess.com stated “Chess.com, Magnus, Hans, and Hikaru all have their own opinions about the events surrounding the controversy, and they agree they should each be able to talk openly about their views.”
Here are the three statements, from Magnus Carlsen, Hans Niemann, and Chess.com, now that the legal dispute has bene resolved.
The one from Magnus Carlsen is worded very carefully: I acknowledge and understand Chess.com’s report, including its statement that there is no determinative evidence that Niemann cheated in his game against me at the Sinquefield Cup. I am willing to play Niemann in future events, should we be paired together.
Hans Niemann released this statement: I am pleased that my lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen and Chess.com has been resolved in a mutually acceptable manner, and that I am returning to Chess.com. I look forward to competing against Magnus in chess rather than in court and am grateful to my attorneys at Oved & Oved for believing in me and helping me resolve the case.
And chess.com had this statement in their update about the chess world adult toy cheating scandal: We are pleased to report that we have reached an agreement with Hans Niemann to put our differences behind us and move forward together without further litigation. At this time, Hans has been fully reinstated to Chess.com, and we look forward to his participation in our events. 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. We all love chess and appreciate all of the passionate fans and community members who allow us to do what we do.
This was a huge story for so many (very obvious) reasons. First and foremost, the idea of cheating in live chess seems so outlandish that it caught attention. Then allegations of adult toys being used to practice optimal strategy seemed so far fetched it grabbed even more attention.
There was even a body scan before an event!
Chess player Hans Niemann, accused of cheating by using vibrating anal beads, receives full body scan before match. pic.twitter.com/VHlcms2NgQ
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 6, 2022
Alas, there was no fire to go with the smoke. The investigation never uncovered any cheating in live chess events (a WSJ investigation determined he’d cheated online) and now everyone can go back to their lives.