Here is Hikaru's reaction to the Final Final statement on Hans Neiman vs everyone in chess legal action.
Chesscom Blog: https://www.chess.com/blog/CHESScom/chess-com-concludes-legal-dispute-with-hans-niemann-niemann-to-return-to-chess-com
WSJ Article: https://www.wsj.com/sports/chess-cheating-magnus-carlsen-hans-niemann-be3b9c5

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Welcome back everyone for today's video we have a very big update regarding the scandal that everyone saw and rocked the chess world nearly 1 year ago.

So today we have a big article from chess.com they've now published an article in regards to the Hans Niemann lawsuit.

We have, of course, the Hans Niemann update from Chess.com.

So from Chess.com, we see Chess.com concludes the legal dispute with Hans Niemann, Niemann to return to Chess.com.

Chess.com and Hans Niemann have resolved their differences and are moving forward.

As many readers will be aware, Chess.com and Niemann, as well as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have been engaged in a lawsuit over the past year after Neiman defeated Carlson in September at the St.

Phil's Cup and Carlson withdrew from the event.

Shortly after those events, Chess.com privately closed Neiman's account and published an investigative report about Hans Niemann's play.

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.

Chess.com, Magnus, Hans, and Ikaro all have their own opinions about the events surrounding the controversy and they agree they should be able to talk openly about their views.

To be clear, Before we get too deep into the weeds, I will be giving you guys some thoughts on this afterwards as well.

So I'm not simply reading through the whole article.

At the end, I do intend to at least say something about this.

In the meantime, chess.com, Magnus and Hans have released the following statements about their agreement.

It says, 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 at 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 22 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 the passionate fans and community members who allow us to do what we do.

Now, in regards to the statement, it seems pretty clear-cut what they're saying here to read between the lines.

This is more or less what the Chess.com statement is saying as they stand behind the report which said he cheated online but not in person.

We have a statement from Magnus Carlsen which says, I acknowledge and understand Chess.com's report including a statement that there is no determinative evidence that Neiman cheated in his game against me at the Sinkfield Cup.

I am willing to play Neiman in future events, should we be paired together, Magnus Carlsen.

Now the statement also very straightforward.

It looks like he's saying essentially that he agrees with the chess.com report and that he will play him in the future if they should be paired of course whether they play in the same events very big question mark is obviously Magnus is playing less and less classical chess these days whereas Hans seems to be playing every classical chess that exists on the known planet Earth.

Alright, so let's keep going, and then we have a statement from Hans Niemann here at the bottom which says, 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 Ovid and Ovid for believing in me and helping me resolve my case." This is a statement from Hans Niemann.

So again, pretty straightforward, doesn't really say a whole lot, just that the legal end has been concluded.

It says, as Hans returns to chess.com, he will be allowed to play in any and all events and will be treated no differently from any other player.

Chess.com always retains the right to open and close accounts based on our judgment.

We will continue to protect and grow the game.

So as you'll probably note, this is a pretty short post here on Chess.com.

There's not a whole lot there other than some statements some general stuff you will notice a couple of things though that are probably very obvious First of all, there is no statement from me.

I will say it quite clearly I do feel like I got dragged into this And so that is 1 little bit that I want to add.

Because people are going to look at this and be like, well, where's Hikaru's statement?

That being said, of course, as I mentioned at the start of this video, I will be saying a couple of things.

So now this is more or less, I don't want to say a statement.

I don't really like reading verbatim, but due to the sensitivity around the issue here's what I will say.

The legal matter related to Hans and the Singfield Cup, Chess.com's report and decisions and opinions expressed are over.

Ultimately everyone will or has formed their own opinions.

Some have very strong opinions 1 way or the other.

I don't think that anyone's opinion is going to change at this point in time.

So everyone has their own opinions about Hans based upon his performance there and in other events.

We of course do know that FIDE has implemented new additional security measures since the events of the Sinkfield Cup.

Of course, as far as Hans goes, we do know that Hans is currently rated about 40 to 45 points lower than he was after the Sinkfield Cup did conclude in September of 2022.

Again, you know, whatever the reasons may be, he has not been performing at that same level.

Hans, however, is able to compete very frequently throughout the world.

As I said earlier, he's been playing tournaments pretty much nonstop since the lawsuit.

I mean, I think he was last in Abu Dhabi.

He played a tournament, I think Kazakhstan, I think Romania even.

So he's been all over the world playing a lot of tournaments.

So he is not short on opportunities at the present time.

So yeah, so even despite this, I mean, he has struggled.

He's lost or struggled to win against players who are 400 or more points lower rated than Magnus Carlsen.

All that said, and leaving the Hans issue aside, we should not ignore the very serious threat that cheating does pose to chess, whether it is online or whether it is over the board.

Modern chess faces opportunities to cheat, which to be frank, did not exist even maybe 30 years ago.

I was gonna say 100 years, but frankly, prior to technology did not exist because obviously, as we know in the modern age, computers have long surpassed humans.

Probably, I would say, again, this is a little bit historical, but until about 1997-ish, Humans were still better than the best computer programs, but ever since 1997 when Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, played against Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer, computers have just surpassed humans.

Every year since then, they've gotten better and better, and now it's not even comparable.

We're just so bad at chess relative to computers.

So again, the opportunities are much different now versus say 30, even a hundred years ago.

We need stronger anti-cheating standards and to provide a safe space for players to report their concerns.

Now, this is very, very important to mention that where players are able to report their concerns without being sued, labeled as sore losers or flat out ignored.

And you know, I think this, this is where we're going to kind of round it out a little bit here.

Just with this last little bit, because I think, you know, we've seen a lot of narratives, a lot of things that have been said about this over time.

But as I said, back in September of 2022, there were many very high-rated grandmasters who were speculating about cheating over the board.

Down the road, I may or may not choose to name names.

You know, I've had players who wrote directly to me, in fact, as well as others, and I do feel like many of these players, they've been able to kind of not have their names out there even though they've very much been involved in everything related to cheating Now, of course as I said, I'm not going to delve into that right now But I might go into that in the future as I do think it's very important they acknowledge the role that they played in all of this.

So that's more or less all that I have to say right now.

I think, you know, looking at it broadly, it was a very big scandal at the time it happened.

I think it's good that chess can move forward.

It's good that this is behind us I think you know There are a lot of things that were spawned out of this that were very negative Definitely reflected very poorly on chess as a whole I just hope that as far as like, you know over the border online cheating Whether you look at feed a whether you look at chess calm.

This is an issue that is taken very seriously I think ultimately that is the most important thing because when we go forward into the future There are a lot of big events over the board online and the single biggest threat Is definitely cheating without a doubt.

So we do need to keep that in mind now as I said, it's very good that this has been resolved As we move forward I may or may not have more to say about in the future right now Of course do the sensitivity around it and everything.

I don't really feel like it's the right time So I more or less told you guys how I feel You know again not a laughing matter by any stretch of the imagination for anybody involved, obviously.

Quite stressful for many of the parties, certainly, I think for everyone involved.

Then, as I said, I think the last point, as I Again, I'm repeating myself, because obviously, I don't do a lot of these short article blog posts and turn them into videos, but the last point needs, I really do, I will stress that again, that I think there are a lot of people who are able to sort of not have their names out there, It was not known publicly that they've been complaining about a lot of over-the-board cheating stuff over the previous couple of years.

And I do hope that at some point, some of those players do come forward and they acknowledge what they said instead of hoping that they can kind of fly under the radar.

So that is the last little bit that I have to add about the topic.

Again, It is good that everything has been resolved.

It's good for magas good for just calm and good for Hans Everybody gets to go forward with their lives.

We get to continue playing chess and following this great game So I think that's pretty much it for right now.

Obviously make sure to leave your comments below.

You know, there are certain things that of course can be said, cannot be said, but I think this is a pretty good place to leave for the time being due to the sensitivity around this.

But again, I hope you guys have enjoyed this video.

I will be back to covering chess games and doing recaps tomorrow.

I'm currently here in Orlando, going to go to Disney World, take a bit of a vacation.

So a little bit surprising to see this news drop this morning, but we have seen this drop.

Make sure to hit that subscribe button below if you haven't already, and I'll be back soon with some more great YouTube only content.


Speaker 0: Welcome back everyone for today's video we have a very big update regarding the scandal that everyone saw and rocked the chess world nearly 1 year ago. So today we have a big article from chess.com they've now published an article in regards to the Hans Niemann lawsuit. So here we go. We have, of course, the Hans Niemann update from Chess.com. So let's go right into the action.

So from Chess.com, we see Chess.com concludes the legal dispute with Hans Niemann, Niemann to return to Chess.com. Chess.com and Hans Niemann have resolved their differences and are moving forward. As many readers will be aware, Chess.com and Niemann, as well as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have been engaged in a lawsuit over the past year after Neiman defeated Carlson in September at the St. Phil's Cup and Carlson withdrew from the event. Shortly after those events, Chess.com privately closed Neiman's account and published an investigative report about Hans Niemann's play.

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. Chess.com, Magnus, Hans, and Ikaro all have their own opinions about the events surrounding the controversy and they agree they should be able to talk openly about their views. To be clear, Before we get too deep into the weeds, I will be giving you guys some thoughts on this afterwards as well. So I'm not simply reading through the whole article.

At the end, I do intend to at least say something about this. All right. In the meantime, chess.com, Magnus and Hans have released the following statements about their agreement. It says, 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 at 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 22 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 the passionate fans and community members who allow us to do what we do. Chess.com. So this is a chess.com statement. Now, in regards to the statement, it seems pretty clear-cut what they're saying here to read between the lines.

That he cheated in any in-person games. This is more or less what the Chess.com statement is saying as they stand behind the report which said he cheated online but not in person. We have a statement from Magnus Carlsen which says, I acknowledge and understand Chess.com's report including a statement that there is no determinative evidence that Neiman cheated in his game against me at the Sinkfield Cup. I am willing to play Neiman in future events, should we be paired together, Magnus Carlsen. Now the statement also very straightforward.

It looks like he's saying essentially that he agrees with the chess.com report and that he will play him in the future if they should be paired of course whether they play in the same events very big question mark is obviously Magnus is playing less and less classical chess these days whereas Hans seems to be playing every classical chess that exists on the known planet Earth. Alright, so let's keep going, and then we have a statement from Hans Niemann here at the bottom which says, 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 Ovid and Ovid for believing in me and helping me resolve my case." This is a statement from Hans Niemann. So again, pretty straightforward, doesn't really say a whole lot, just that the legal end has been concluded. I will, of course, finish here.

It says, as Hans returns to chess.com, he will be allowed to play in any and all events and will be treated no differently from any other player. Chess.com always retains the right to open and close accounts based on our judgment. And we take that stewardship seriously. We will continue to protect and grow the game. So as you'll probably note, this is a pretty short post here on Chess.com.

It's not a super long article. There's not a whole lot there other than some statements some general stuff you will notice a couple of things though that are probably very obvious First of all, there is no statement from me. Secondly. I am NOT mentioned in this. I will say it quite clearly I do feel like I got dragged into this And so that is 1 little bit that I want to add.

Because people are going to look at this and be like, well, where's Hikaru's statement? There's no statement from Hikaru. That being said, of course, as I mentioned at the start of this video, I will be saying a couple of things. So now this is more or less, I don't want to say a statement. I don't really like reading verbatim, but due to the sensitivity around the issue here's what I will say.

The legal matter related to Hans and the Singfield Cup, Chess.com's report and decisions and opinions expressed are over. Ultimately everyone will or has formed their own opinions. Some have very strong opinions 1 way or the other. I don't think that anyone's opinion is going to change at this point in time. So everyone has their own opinions about Hans based upon his performance there and in other events.

We of course do know that FIDE has implemented new additional security measures since the events of the Sinkfield Cup. Of course, as far as Hans goes, we do know that Hans is currently rated about 40 to 45 points lower than he was after the Sinkfield Cup did conclude in September of 2022. Again, you know, whatever the reasons may be, he has not been performing at that same level. Hans, however, is able to compete very frequently throughout the world. As I said earlier, he's been playing tournaments pretty much nonstop since the lawsuit.

I mean, I think he was last in Abu Dhabi. He played a tournament, I think Kazakhstan, I think Romania even. So he's been all over the world playing a lot of tournaments. So he is not short on opportunities at the present time. So yeah, so even despite this, I mean, he has struggled.

So be it, whatever the reason might be. He's lost or struggled to win against players who are 400 or more points lower rated than Magnus Carlsen. But again, time will tell, obviously. All that said, and leaving the Hans issue aside, we should not ignore the very serious threat that cheating does pose to chess, whether it is online or whether it is over the board. It is a real concern.

Modern chess faces opportunities to cheat, which to be frank, did not exist even maybe 30 years ago. I was gonna say 100 years, but frankly, prior to technology did not exist because obviously, as we know in the modern age, computers have long surpassed humans. Probably, I would say, again, this is a little bit historical, but until about 1997-ish, Humans were still better than the best computer programs, but ever since 1997 when Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, played against Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer, computers have just surpassed humans. Every year since then, they've gotten better and better, and now it's not even comparable. We're just so bad at chess relative to computers.

So again, the opportunities are much different now versus say 30, even a hundred years ago. We need stronger anti-cheating standards and to provide a safe space for players to report their concerns. Now, this is very, very important to mention that where players are able to report their concerns without being sued, labeled as sore losers or flat out ignored. This again is quite relevant. And you know, I think this, this is where we're going to kind of round it out a little bit here.

Just with this last little bit, because I think, you know, we've seen a lot of narratives, a lot of things that have been said about this over time. But as I said, back in September of 2022, there were many very high-rated grandmasters who were speculating about cheating over the board. So there are many strong players. Down the road, I may or may not choose to name names. You know, I've had players who wrote directly to me, in fact, as well as others, and I do feel like many of these players, they've been able to kind of not have their names out there even though they've very much been involved in everything related to cheating Now, of course as I said, I'm not going to delve into that right now But I might go into that in the future as I do think it's very important they acknowledge the role that they played in all of this.

So that's more or less all that I have to say right now. I think, you know, looking at it broadly, it was a very big scandal at the time it happened. We've now moved forward from there. I think it's good that chess can move forward. It's good that this is behind us I think you know There are a lot of things that were spawned out of this that were very negative Definitely reflected very poorly on chess as a whole I just hope that as far as like, you know over the border online cheating Whether you look at feed a whether you look at chess calm.

This is an issue that is taken very seriously I think ultimately that is the most important thing because when we go forward into the future There are a lot of big events over the board online and the single biggest threat Is definitely cheating without a doubt. So we do need to keep that in mind now as I said, it's very good that this has been resolved As we move forward I may or may not have more to say about in the future right now Of course do the sensitivity around it and everything. I don't really feel like it's the right time So I more or less told you guys how I feel You know again not a laughing matter by any stretch of the imagination for anybody involved, obviously. Quite stressful for many of the parties, certainly, I think for everyone involved. That should be noted.

Then, as I said, I think the last point, as I Again, I'm repeating myself, because obviously, I don't do a lot of these short article blog posts and turn them into videos, but the last point needs, I really do, I will stress that again, that I think there are a lot of people who are able to sort of not have their names out there, It was not known publicly that they've been complaining about a lot of over-the-board cheating stuff over the previous couple of years. And I do hope that at some point, some of those players do come forward and they acknowledge what they said instead of hoping that they can kind of fly under the radar. So that is the last little bit that I have to add about the topic. Again, It is good that everything has been resolved. It's good for all parties.

Of course. It's obviously I mean It's good for me. It's good for magas good for just calm and good for Hans Everybody gets to go forward with their lives. We get to continue playing chess and following this great game So I think that's pretty much it for right now. Obviously make sure to leave your comments below.

You know, there are certain things that of course can be said, cannot be said, but I think this is a pretty good place to leave for the time being due to the sensitivity around this. But again, I hope you guys have enjoyed this video. I will be back to covering chess games and doing recaps tomorrow. I'm currently here in Orlando, going to go to Disney World, take a bit of a vacation. So a little bit surprising to see this news drop this morning, but we have seen this drop.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I'll see you guys in the next video. But this is what it is. So it reads very much like legalese. So that's how it goes.

So hope you guys enjoyed the video. Make sure to hit that subscribe button below if you haven't already, and I'll be back soon with some more great YouTube only content. See you guys, bye.

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Hans Niemann Update: Statements by Magnus Carlsen / Chess.com