Chess.com co-founder Danny Rensch admits regret over how the platform handled Hans Niemann during the 2022 cheating scandal. Rensch acknowledges that Niemann had legitimate reasons for his complaints following Chess.com’s acquisition of Play Magnus Group and his subsequent tournament ban.

Daniel Rensch

Daniel Rensch

Chess.com CCO

I think if everybody had it to do over again there might have been slightly cooler heads and there might have been opportunities for us to kind of review things to do game review differently

The controversy stems from Chess.com’s 2022 actions when they banned Niemann from their championship following cheating allegations. Niemann initially admitted to online cheating in rated games, then later in prize games, before changing his position. Rensch suggests Niemann should acknowledge the truth and cease accusations against the “chess mafia” to repair his reputation.

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