This whole thing has been extremely ugly. At the core I think one thing needs to be stressed. An accusation of cheating in a game like chess is potentially care

This whole thing has been extremely ugly. At the core I think one thing needs to be stressed. An accusation of cheating in a game like chess is potentially career ending. It's an extremely heavy thing to throw at another player. There seems to be no evidence that Niemann cheated OTB (his cheating as a 12-15 y/o online I do not take as evidence of anything, as a zoomer socialised on internet gaming he has the misfortune of having his misbehaviors better documented than older generations, it's to me comparable to famous esports players who used to cheat as kids online) Magnus has not made a clear accusation but just withdrew and posted a meme insinuating cheating, which is awful because that ambiguity in itself creates drama. Any player should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise. World Champions should speak with clarity instead of trolling. The online social media and twitch coverage of the event throws fuel on the fire by creating incentives to milk the entire thing for views, chess coverage degenerates more and more into internet gossip and drama, it's unbecoming for the game. Unlike most people I think the recent surge in popularity has not been good for the professionalism of the game.