A Statement From the 2025 Atomic World Champion

Interview

Since my last blog post, I've had the chance to catch up with NoZ over discord. Through my conversations with him, it seems clear to me that NoZ does not want to pay any attention to what others are saying about him right now.

When asked about if the allegations for boosting and cheating were true, Noz said, "Nobody cares about the boosting, that one is true Fact is just, lichess banned me, and I dont appel because I believe its useless and I dont care. I reached everything I wanted and Im fine with myself. Im retired and dont really care what happens in the future".

I also asked him if he had any motivation to get unbanned and play some more atomic games, albeit just for fun. He replied, "For me, the chapter is closed. Ill leave the house, in probably a few days after leaving a few more remarks, and then its done. I dont really care. I left some stuff behind for the community, teached some ppl, and did other stuff. But for me its simply over"

I asked him a few more questions and got similar answers, as he cited that his word has lost its meaning and there are multiple people in the community that don't trust him. We gave each other a couple life updates before hopping off. Since our conversation, he has in fact left the house discord server.

Accurate Games

Below I'd like to share a couple games of suspicion that were put in the house, followed by my final thoughts of the situation. Both of these games feature incredible accuracy in very important games.

Final Thoughts

I still remember my first interaction with NeverOFzero. We were paired in the 2023 AWC. The only day I could play was during the lichess marathon that was taking place. NoZ planned to play in the marathon, but was gracious enough to still schedule the match for that day. When we finally played our match, NoZ had been playing chess for 12hrs+ straight, and was very exhasuted. With no time to prep either, I ended up beating him 5.5-2.5, even though he was the better player. Rather than being upset that I wasn't agreeable to any of his match time suggestions, he congratulated me and helped me prepare for my future opponents in the AWC. It was a pleasant surprise. On a side note, he also finished top 100 in the marathon.

After that day, I've always considered NoZ to be one of my closest friends on the site. Actually, our friendship was pretty one-sided. NoZ was constantly helping me prep and congratulating me in my victories (in life and in atomic). At first, I was taken aback, since I didn't know why this stranger was wanting to help me. I thought maybe he was friends with my opponents and was telling them what I would play instead. But every time I played an opening that he suggested, it worked to perfection, just as he had predicted. I felt bad as I wasn't as active at the time and, thus, not always present for his victories as well (which were more impressive than mine).

I remember watching his match agaisnt vlad in the 2024 AWC. Vlad beat him 8-7 in armeageddon in a match that NoZ had plenty of chances to win. When we talked later, he seemed to still be upbeat and fine with the result, despite the disappointment. To me, he always carried himself this way. He was a light in the community.

Since starting the youtube channel, NoZ has been a huge supporter. He has probably messaged me 10 different times with suggestions on how to improve the videos. He filmed with me for 2-3 hours playing all sorts of variants for content. As he's watched my videos, he's noticed flaws in my gameplay and given me pointers. To me, it's antoher sign that NoZ is a very strong player. Lastly, when he won my cash prize arena, he gave the money away to people in the atomic community that he felt deserved it. I never asked him to do this, he just gave me 4 usernames and said "Can you five these people wings instead?".

Fast forward to today, and I truly do not know what to think. On one hand, I respect everything Noz has done for the atomic community and for me personally. On the other hand, I have no respect for cheaters. I also believe that people make mistakes, and if it was proven that he cheated, I would welcome him back to atomic, since I still think he is a very high level player. I'll leave you all with this:

If NeverOFzero didn't cheat, then he has been a great friend who supported me and others in our personal and atomic lives. I could also say he is one of the GOATs of atomic and the rightful 2025 Atomic World Champion. If NeverOFzero did cheat, he has still been a great friend that supported me and others in our personal and atomic lives.

NeverOFzero gave me permission to share our conversation in this blog post.