Grandmaster Hans Niemann during a game of chess this month. /
The American grandmaster sues the Norwegian champion and the specialized website Chess.com for 100 million dollars for having accused him without evidence of cheating
Hans Niemann, the teenage American grandmaster who has been at the center of an alleged cheating scandal in the most competitive chess for months, sued world champion Magnus Carlsen, the online platform Chess.com and others on Thursday for an alleged crime of slander and insults And as compensation for the damage that they would have already caused him, he claims compensation of 100 million dollars.
The suit, filed in US district court in Missouri, also lists Carlsen’s online chess platform Play Magnus, Chess.com executive Danny Rensch and US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as defendants, Reuters reports. .
Niemann, 19, claimed that they are all “conspiring to blacklist him” from the world of professional chess. He claims in this regard that tournament organizers have shunned him ever since five-time world champion Carlsen publicly accused him of cheating.
Carlsen’s surprise loss to Niemann and subsequent withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri in September sparked a furore of comments and accusations, including from Nakamura, that the famous American chess player had cheated.
Things took a turn for the worse when weeks after the Sinquefield Cup, the Norwegian champion resigned after making just one move against Niemann in an online tournament. Later, in early September, he said he “believed” the American had “cheated more – and more recently – than he admits.” “I would like to say more. Unfortunately, I am limited at the moment in what I can say without Niemann’s explicit permission,” he added without further explanation.
For their part, Chess.com’s lawyers said Thursday that Niemann’s accusations were baseless and that the company was saddened by his decision to take legal action. “Hans has publicly confessed to cheating online in the wake of the Sinquefield Cup, and the resulting consequences are of his own making,” the company said in a statement. “Chess.com hopes to set the record straight on behalf of its team and all honest chess players,” he adds. For their part, the representatives of Carlsen and Nakamura have not yet spoken.
Recurring fraud?
Chess.com banned Niemann from competing in their tournaments after his first chess match against Carlsen. Also, he published a report earlier this month where he said that he had “probably” cheated more than 100 times in games played over the internet. However, no evidence has been provided so far that can prove it.
Niemann had previously been banned from Chess.com for cheating online, having admitted that he had not played fair in ‘friendly’ games held on this website during his youth. However, he denied having acted fraudulently while playing games ‘in situ’ on the board.
In his lawsuit, Niemann claims that Chess.com “prohibited” him from accessing its website and participating in all of its future events, “thus lending credence to Carlsen’s baseless and defamatory accusations of cheating.” The latter, adds his complaint, “having solidified his position as the ‘King of Chess,’ he believes that when it comes to chess he can do whatever he wants and get away with it”.
Additionally, Niemann accuses Nakamura, a broadcast partner of Chess.com, of posting “hours of video content that amplifies and attempts to reinforce the false allegations of cheating made by Carlsen.”
For its part, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) indicated last month that it would open an official investigation into these allegations of cheating, but has not indicated anything else in this regard.
