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Comment by qq66 | Hacker News Reader

This is way too much accusation without any evidence, and a terrible blow to Carlsen's sterling reputation. What he should have said was:

"Niemann is an admitted chess cheater, and has cheated even more than he has admitted to, per Chess.com's recent statement. Cheating destroys the game and I refuse to play against known cheaters. I will not play Hans Niemann or any other known cheaters."

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I am confused. Isn't that what he essentially said? What other accusations is he making (the "more than he publicly admitted" part aligns to your Chess.com reference), other than the addition of his observations of his behaviors during their match?

Are you referring to the concluding paragraph?

No, I agree with the person you're responding to. Saying "I refuse to play with known cheaters" is better than "He's cheating and so I don't want to play with him". With the letter you suddenly have to prove something really difficult. With the former you have absolutely nothing to prove.

But.... that is what he said. Please highlight the part of the statement where he said something that was closer to "he is a known cheater" vs. "he is cheating".

The distinction is whether he cheated previously to the Sinquefield Cup or at the Sinquefield Cup itself. It's a critically important distinction.

Except he did play him, and only after that loss did he withdraw from the tournament and refuse to play with him again. The implication is clear to all that Carlsen suspects foul play in that game, I don't see the point in being coy about that now.

One presumes Magnus believed Niemann cheating in an OTB game wasn't possible; now he believes that's not the case and has decided that even OTB games aren't worth the time/effort/risk.

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