In response to The Interview That Speaks for Itself by Hans Niemann, Chess.com CCO Daniel Rensch posted a series of tweets addressing the issues raised by the young American Grandmaster.
Hey @HansMokeNiemann
Congrats on the win! I watched your post-match interview and want to respond. My thoughts:
We 100% stand by the findings in the Hans Niemann Report. This includes both that we found no evidence of you cheating over the board, but also that you have cheated much more online than you continue to present. Ken Regan agreed with our conclusions in over 50 games despite lacking extra information available only internally to our systems.
Regarding me saying that you did not cheat while streaming, that is a misrepresentation of the context around our conversation. After you admitted to cheating, I had no desire to reveal which games or events we had found cheating in. And, at that time, we had no need to review all of the games you had played while streaming.
Nobody colluded to blackball you. There is no conspiracy theory. There was only deep concern about a kid who had a known history of cheating and who then beat the World Chess Champion and couldnโt explain it on camera. Cheating has consequences, even for young players.
If youโre currently having trouble getting invites or have bad relationships with other organizers, this could be due to your own behavior and communications, but there is no collusion.
We uninvited you to the Global Chess Championship because we thought it was the best thing to do at the time. We honestly regret how we handled that, and for that I personally apologize.
Weโre also sorry for the negativity you have been subjected to in the press. That is super hard, especially for a young person. That said, it was your choice to go public about the retracted invitation and your past history of cheating in an interview. We had always handled everything discretely and respectfully.
You are now back on http://Chess.com, playing in all of our events (which likely would have happened much faster if you hadnโt filed a lawsuit that was dismissed in federal court), and we are clearly providing a platform in our events and broadcast for you to voice your perspective. We aren’t limiting you in any way.
Wishing you the best of luck in Paris.
Magnus Carlsen vs Hans Niemann in Paris?
