#i don't even go here and the lack of transparency regarding Carlsen's influence over chess.com is ticking me off

[arctic-hands]

[Image Description: a section of the Wikipedia article "Chess.com" that contains the bullet point "August 2022: The Play Magnus Group accepted an offer to be acquired by Chess.com. The acquisition is scheduled to take place within eight weeks of the agreement at a value of 800 million kr (US$80 million). According to Dot Esports, the Play Magnus Group was only making a "sustainable profit" on Chessable and the merge left "no other realistic chess competitor" except the free, open-source Lichess.[17][18]"

Funny how when you click the link to the Play Magnus Group, it takes you to this guy:

[Image Description: the header of the Wikipedia article for Magnus Carlsen, that says "Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen[a] (born 30 November 1990)[1][2] is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. He has held the No. 1 position in the FIDE world chess rankings since 1 July 2011 and trails only Garry Kasparov in time spent as the highest-rated player in the world. His peak rating of 2882 is the highest in history. He also holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the elite level in classical chess.[3]"

Who is accusing nineteen year old Hans Moke Niemann of cheating, leading to the "vibrating anal beads" conspiracy.

What's also interesting is that Carlsen and others are using Chess.com's investigation as proof of Niemann's cheating

[Image Description: a headline from Chess.com that says "Chess.com: 'Niemann Has Likely Cheated In More Than 100 Online Chess Games'" by PeterDoggers. The first paragraph says "In a 72-page report made public on Tuesday, Chess.com states that GM Hans Niemann "has likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several prize money events." Chess.com also notes that Niemann is "the fastest rising top player in classical OTB chess in modern history" but hasn't found clear evidence that Niemann cheated over the board." End I.D.]

I haven't read the seventy-two page report (and chess makes my head spin so I undoubtedly won't) but I have yet to see any article, including Chess.com's, mention the conflict of interest.