“I take note of the analysis that there is no clear evidence that Niemann cheated in our Sinquefield Cup game. I am ready to play against him in the future,” Carlsen said. He himself did not present any concrete proof of the American’s guilt.

“We have agreed with Hans Niemann that we will leave disputes in the past and continue to follow a common path. Hans can play with us again, we look forward to his participation in our tournaments,” said the representatives of the Chess platform. .com. , which is the largest center for online chess games and hosts a number of prestigious competitions for elite players.

This is one of the reasons why Niemann demanded high compensation. Because of this affair, he lost several lucrative opportunities. The server Chess.com expelled him from the Chess Global Championships online tournament with a million dollar subsidy, and the organizers of “Chess Wimbledon” in Wijk aan Zee rescinded his invitation. “I am happy that my lawsuit resulted in an agreement acceptable to all parties. I would rather compete with Magnus behind the chessboard than in court,” Niemann said.

There is no proof

The controversy around Niemann has been going on since September last year. American at the prestigious Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis defeated Carlsen in a classic chess game, even with black pieces, and the world number one subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Moreover, the 32-year-old Norwegian made another telling move two weeks later when he dropped a straight game after the second move of an online tournament in the Champions Chess Tour series.

Carlsen then accused Niemann of cheating on numerous occasions that the day after the St. Louis attack admitted. The American chess player confirmed fraud in two online tournaments on the Chess.com server several years ago, when he was not yet a grandmaster. He repeatedly apologized for his actions at the time.

A year ago, an in-depth analysis by Chess.com also drew attention, which suspected Niemann of cheating in online games in more than a hundred cases. A number of suspicious parties took place in 2020, which is to say much later than the American admitted. But the paper’s findings point out that in games played live behind the chessboard, analysis reveals nothing significantly unusual. Moreover, the mechanism used by the server to detect cheaters is not specialized for classic games.

A spicy duel between the two players could take place today in the online tournament on Chess.com called Titled Tuesday, which is regularly attended by a number of world-class players, including Carlsen.