Chess rivals bury the hatchet in “anal bead” cheating scandal

After chess Grandmaster Hans Niemann defeated former world champion Magnus Carlsen last September at a tournament in St. Louis, MO, Carlsen accused his opponent of cheating — kicking off a roughly year-long scandal that rocked both the chess world and social media.

Commentary on the internet fanned the scandal’s flames, leading to widespread rumors that Niemann could have cheated using anal beads.

After Carlsen’s initial accusation made headlines, Niemann admitted that he had cheated in online matches on Chess.com but not at the Sinquefield Cup, where he had beaten Carlsen.

The website launched an investigation into Niemann’s account and found he had “likely” cheated in more than 100 games, leading to his account being suspended. However, the same report found that there was “a lack of concrete statistical evidence” that Neimann had cheated in the Sinquefield Cup or in any other in-person (a.k.a. “over-the-board”) matches. In retaliation, Niemann filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Carlsen; Chess.com; and another Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamura, who also stated publicly that he believed Niemann had cheated.

Flash forward to June of this year. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, leading to the parties involved negotiating “privately in a good-faith effort to resolve their issues and allow the chess world to move forward.” Yesterday, Chess.com posted a statement to its website saying Niemann’s account had been reinstated.

Both players issued statements of their own, indicating they’re open to playing against each other in the future. Niemann even said that he looked “forward to competing against Magnus in chess rather than in court.” Whether Carlsen and Niemann’s agreement had any financial component wasn’t disclosed. Chess.com also said that, going forward, Niemann will be “treated no differently than any other player.”

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While this salacious back-and-forth is now firmly in both players’ rearview, there may be more chess cheating scandals in the future, according to grandmaster Nakamura. He ominously said that, though he is happy “everyone gets to go forward with their lives,” he still maintains there are many highly-rated players who “were speculating about cheating over-the-board” and that he “may or may not choose to name names” in the future.