Hans Niemann has filed a lawsuit accusing world chess champion Magnus Carlsen and others of defamation, in the latest twist to a cheating scandal that has rocked the chess world.
Tim Vizer / AFP via Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Tim Vizer / AFP via Getty Images
Hans Niemann has filed a lawsuit accusing world chess champion Magnus Carlsen and others of defamation, in the latest twist to a cheating scandal that has rocked the chess world.
Tim Vizer / AFP via Getty Images
Hans Niemann is launching a counterattack in a dispute with world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, filing a federal lawsuit alleging that Carlsen colluded with others to smear the 19-year-old grandmaster and ruin his career. his.
This is the latest move in an infected scandal unprecedented level of drama into the world of elite chess since early September, when Carlsen attributed Niemann’s upset win over him at the Sinquefield Cup tournament in St. Louis is the result of fraud.
Niemann wants a federal court in the eastern district of Missouri to award him at least $100 million in punitive damages. Defendants in the lawsuit include Carlsen, his Play Magnus Group, online platform Chess.com and its leader, Danny Rensch, along with grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
The suit says that after Niemann’s upset victory in September, Carlsen was motivated to maintain his “chess king” status so he could complete his acquisition of the company with Chess.com – a deals worth tens of millions of dollars.
The court application accused Rensch and Nakamura of using their influence to amplify and reinforce Carlsen’s claim that Niemann was a fraud. The jury trial was filed on Thursday, the day after Niemann ended the case United States Chess Championship in a five-way match for fifth place.
Chess.com again rejected Niemann’s version of events
Niemann has publicly acknowledged uses electronic devices to cheat in online matches – but he claims he only did so when he was 12 and 16 years old. He called one of those cases “a completely ridiculous mistake.” And unlike when he was 12, Niemann said, he has never cheated in a prize money tournament. He called it “the worst thing I could do.”
Niemann, who like other top players has lucrative video accounts on Twitch and other services, also said he hasn’t cheated when streaming the game.
But in early October, Chess.com issued a report refuting Niemann’s storysays, “Hans has likely cheated in more than 100 online chess games, including several bonus events. He was 17 years old when he was capable of cheating in several matches and this game. He’s also streamed 25 of these games.”
In response to the new lawsuit, Chess.com announced a statement from its attorney says the new allegations have no merit, and that the company “looks forward to setting the record on behalf of its team and all honest chess players.”
Noting that last month Niemann publicly confessed to cheating, the company added, “the resulting failure was of his own making.”
NPR’s request for comment from the other defendants in the lawsuit went unanswered before this article was published.
Niemann said Carlsen couldn’t lose to him
The lawsuit provides Niemann’s most complete account of his high-stakes dispute with Carlsen. It describes the Norwegian, who is considered one of the best chess players in history, as “notorious for his inability to cope with defeat.”
Carlsen caused an uproar in the chess world in late September, when he was once again pitted against Niemann in a tournament – but according to Niemann’s lawsuit, Carlsen “gutted the game after making a move. ” Carlsen later bluntly stated that he would refuse to play Niemann because of his past connections to cheating.
Niemann says the stance could get him blacklisted, as tournaments sponsored by companies affiliated with Carlsen or wanting the world champion to appear would have an incentive not to extend the invitation. for Niemann.
“The defendants’ malicious defamation and unlawful collusion, by design, destroyed Niemann’s remarkable career in its prime and ruined his life,” the lawsuit reads.
In Niemann’s view, his victory over Carlsen “should have pushed Niemann’s career to the next level and allowed him to continue to realize his enormous potential as a great chess player.” America’s next.” However, the lawsuit adds, “Niemann did not know at the time, that Defendants would do whatever was necessary to ensure that this never happened.”
