American GM Hans Moke Niemann commented on the termination of the broadcast partnership between Chess.com and Take Take Take on April 7. Niemann states that Chess.com does not care about professional chess, and compares the situation to his cheating scandal with Magnus Carlsen.

Hans Moke Niemann

Hans Moke Niemann

American GM

“The chess world is starting to wake up. This is how they treat a company that was cofounded by their #1 brand ambassador.

They were partners, shared content creators. They were so close that most people thought that they were personally invested. Chess.com are power hungry, corrupt, and willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their monopoly.

Chess is simply a vehicle for them to make money, they don’t care about the ecosystem of chess professionals.

If the chess mafia would do this to their closest competitor. Imagine what they would do to a supposedly powerless 19-year-old teenager.

People will do terrible things if they truly believe they can get away with it.”

Take Take Take relaunched its app as a free play & learn chess platform based on Lichess.org on April 6. Take Take Take and Chess.com became direct competitors in the online chess platform space.

Take Take Take is a social chess app co-founded by Magnus Carlsen and Mats Andre Kristiansen, launched in October 2024. The platform focused on live tournament coverage, community feed, and AI-powered coaching, and had no play functionality before the rebrand.

Credit: Ivica Muller