US grandmaster is suing Norwegian champion and specialized website Chess.com for $100 million for accusing him of cheating without evidence
Hans Niemann, the American teenage grandmaster who has been at the center of an alleged cheat in the most competitive chess for months, on Thursday sued world champion Magnus Carlsen, the online platform Chess.com and others with an alleged crime of defamation and insult and as compensation for for the damage they would have already caused him, he is demanding $100 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in US court in Missouri, also lists Carlsen’s online chess platform Play Magnus, Chess.com director Danny Rensch and US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as defendants, Reuters reports.
Niemann, 19, claimed they are all “conspiring to blacklist him” from the world of professional chess. He claims in this regard that tournament organizers have shunned him 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 flurry of comments and accusations, including from Nakamura, that the famed 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 currently limited in what I can say without Niemann’s express permission,” he added without further explanation.
For their part, Chess.com’s lawyers said Thursday that Niemann’s allegations were baseless and that the company was saddened by its decision to take legal action. “Hans has publicly admitted that he cheated online in the aftermath of the Sinquefield Cup, and the consequences were self-inflicted,” 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.
Chess.com banned Niemann from participating in their tournaments after his first chess game against Carlsen. He also released a report earlier this month that he had “probably” cheated more than 100 times in games played over the internet. So far, however, no evidence has been provided to prove this.
Niemann had previously been banned from Chess.com for online cheating after admitting that he had not played fair in “friendly” games held on this website during his childhood. However, he denied having acted fraudulently while playing games ‘in situ’ on the board.
In his lawsuit, Niemann alleges that Chess.com “banned” him from accessing its website and participating in all of its future events, “giving credence to Carlsen’s baseless and defamatory allegations of cheating.” The latter, adds his complaint, “after cementing 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.”
In addition, Niemann accuses Nakamura, a Chess.com broadcast partner, of posting “hours of video content that amplifies and attempts to amplify Carlsen’s false accusations of cheating.”
For its part, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) said last month that it would open an official investigation into these allegations of fraud, but has not said otherwise.
Source: La Verdad
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