Carlsen accepts Niemann's concession
After nearly a year, the war outside the chessboard between Carlsen and Niemann has just ended, according to the announcement of the Chess platform on August 28.
Chess announced that Niemann was allowed to return to play on the online chess platform, and they reaffirmed the point that "there is no clear evidence that Niemann cheats in board games".
The statement also quoted Carlsen as saying that there was no evidence that Niemann cheated in his game against him in the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022. "I'm ready to fight Niemann in the future, if we can play against each other," he added.
Niemann is pleased that the Carlsen and Chess lawsuit has been resolved by consensus, regarding his return to playing online there. "I'm eager to play Carlsen in chess, not on the court," the 20-year-old added.
Chess is the world's leading chess platform, not long ago acquired another company contributed by Carlsen. They locked Niemann's account shortly after Carlsen dropped out of the Sinquefield Cup. And two weeks after Carlsen actively lost to Niemann in the Generation Cup online tournament on September 19, 2022, the platform continued to issue a 72-page report accusing Niemann of cheating more than 100 times online. The proof they give is that the fraud detection algorithm was praised by Niemann himself as "the best in the world". The platform also lists "suspicious" chess tournaments of the 20-year-old player, but does not point to evidence. They also made public the emails they exchanged with the American player, although they had previously promised to keep it private.
On September 26, 2022, Carlsen said he believes "Niemann has cheated more, more recently, than he has publicly admitted". The five-time world champion also said he didn't want to play with players who cheated, because he "didn't know what they might do in the future".
At the same time, the world's number three player Hikaru Nakamura has also repeatedly said that Niemann's games and momentum over the past few years are questionable.
On October 20, 2022, Niemann published a 44-page document, suing five defendants including Chess, a director of the platform, Nakamura, Carlsen and his former company. The number one young American player wants to claim no less than $100 million in damages if the defendants are found guilty. Niemann pointed to five damages he suffered from the incident, including his reputation, the opportunity to play against strong opponents or his ability to attract sponsors.
Niemann hired the New York City-based law firm Oved & Oved. A company representative also announced on August 28, 2023 that "today is a great day for chess". "We are pleased that the parties have reached a successful settlement, and helped Niemann get back to playing the sport he loves," said attorneys Terrence Oved, Darren Oved and Andrew Urgenson. "We are confident that Niemann will continue to make the right moves, both inside and outside the chessboard."
