chess feud
Defamation and collusion: US chess player Niemann is suing world champion Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen (left) is considered one of the best chess players in history. In October 2020, 19-year-old Hans Niemann (right) was still very far down the world chess rankings. Today he is in the top 50. In September he beat Carlsen
© Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club/DPA
The dispute between chess world champion Magnus Carlsen and the American Hans Niemann enters the next round: Niemann is suing the opponent for defamation for 100 million dollars in damages.
In the feud with world chess champion Magnus Carlsen, the young US player Hans Niemann launched a major counterattack: The 19-year-old American has now filed a lawsuit against the Norwegian Carlsen in a court in the US state of Missouri: Niemann is demanding no less than 100 million dollars (102 million euros) in damages from Carlsen as well as from Carlsen’s company Play Magnus and the two US chess players Danny Rensch and Hikaru Nakamura. Niemann accuses them of defamation and slander as well as collusion to destroy his reputation and existence.
The controversy surrounding Carlsen and Niemann has been causing a stir in the chess world for weeks. Carlsen withdrew from a chess tournament in the United States in early September after Niemann beat him there. Two weeks later, Carlsen abandoned a game against Niemann at an online chess tournament after just one move. At the end of September, the 31-year-old then made concrete allegations of fraud against 19-year-old Niemann for the first time. Carlsen explained that Niemann had cheated more often than he had admitted – even recently.
Hans Niemann actually cheated in the past
Niemann had admitted to cheating twice in online chess tournaments in the past – once at the age of 12 and once at the age of 16. However, Niemann assured that he had never cheated in a face-to-face tournament. He even offered to play naked so trickery could be ruled out.
In early September, chess website chess.com banned Niemann from further using the platform because he had “probably cheated in more than 100 online chess games” at chess.com.
In his lawsuit, Niemann accuses Norwegian Carlsen and US players Rensch and Nakamura of causing “devastating damage” to his reputation and career. After Niemann’s win at the Sinquefield Cup in Missouri, Carlsen “viciously retaliated by falsely accusing Niemann, without evidence, of somehow cheating during their face-to-face play,” the lawsuit states.
Magnus Carlsen is said to have put pressure on Chess.com
Chess.com has banned Niemann from its website and all future events “to lend credibility to Carlsen’s baseless and defamatory allegations of cheating.” Chess streamer Nakamura “reinforced” Carlsen’s “false allegations of cheating” in hours of live video.
Niemann also suggests in his lawsuit that his ban from chess.com came under pressure from Carlsen, whose company Play Magnus is being acquired by chess.com for $83 million. As the “King of Chess”, Carlsen assumes “that he can do whatever he wants in chess and that he will get away with it,” criticizes Niemann.