St. Louis, United States of America (USA)- American grandmaster Hans Niemann has filed a US$100 million lawsuit at the Eastern Missouri District Court against Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen.
Niemann, 19, is seeking damages from Carlsen, popular chess streamer Hikaru Nakamura, the chess.com website, and others over allegations that they colluded to egregiously defame him.
“(After Niemann soundly defeated Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup tournament in Missouri on September 4, he) “viciously and maliciously retaliated against Niemann by falsely accusing Niemann, without any evidence, of somehow cheating during their in-person game. Since the age of 16, Niemann’s sole means of supporting himself has been from the money he makes teaching chess and participating in chess tournaments,” read part of the lawsuit.
Niemann made headlines by defeating Carlsen in an over-the-board match at the Sinquefield Cup, with the Norwegian five-time world champion later withdrawing from the tournament.
Carlsen then resigned after just one move in an online match against Niemann at the Julius Baer Generation Cup later that month, fueling rumors that he suspected the American of cheating. He then went public with his accusations in a bombshell statement in which he described Niemann’s progress as unusual.
“Throughout our game in the Sinquefield Cup I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective,” said Carlsen.
In addition, the International Chess Federation announced on September 29 that it was opening an investigation into the accusations of cheating.
A chess.com report released in October contested Niemann’s claims, alleging that he had likely cheated in dozens of matches online, but with no claims regarding over-the-board meetings. Prior to the report, chess.com banned Niemann on September 5, shortly after the first accusations were made.
However, Niemann’s lawsuit suggests that the move by Chess.com was made under pressure from Carlsen, whose Play Magnus company is currently being acquired for US$83 million by Chess.com.
Niemann, who is ranked number 40 in the world, has been competing amid ramped-up security measures at the US championship in St. Louis, where the Californian finished tied for fifth place this week after a strong recovery in the latter stages of the tournament.
Nevertheless, Niemann has admitted to cheating in two online matches when he was aged 12 and 16, which he says he deeply regrets, but denies ever cheating in an over-the-board contest.
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