Fri 21 October 2022:
A $100 million (£89 million) libel lawsuit has been filed by the teenage player at the center of a chess cheating scandal against the world champion and the website Chess.com.
Hans Niemann, 19, was accused of widespread cheating after a Chess.com investigation determined it was “likely” that he had violated the rules of more than 100 online games.
The lawsuit, filed at a US District Court in Missouri on Thursday, also listed Carlsen’s online chess platform Play Magnus, Chess.com executive Danny Rensch and US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as defendants.
It came after he beat 31-year-old world champion Magnus Carlsen – considered the greatest player of all time – sending shockwaves throughout world chess.
Image: Magnus Carlsen
Niemann claimed that the defendants are “colluding to blacklist” him from the professional chess world and that he has been shunned by tournament organisers since five-time world champion Carlsen publicly accused him of cheating.
Niemann had previously been banned from Chess.com for cheating online, having admitted he had not played fairly in non-competitive games on the website in his youth but denied any wrongdoing while contesting over-the-board games.
The investigation found no evidence of face-to-face cheating by Niemann against Carlsen or in any other in-person games.
But it did suggest widespread cheating online.
Weeks after the Sinquefield Cup, Carlsen resigned after just one move against Niemann in an online tournament and said later in September he believed Niemann had “cheated more – and more recently – than he has publicly admitted”.
In a statement on Thursday, lawyers for Chess.com said there was no merit to Niemann’s allegations and that the company was saddened by his decision to take legal action.
“Hans confessed publicly to cheating online in the wake of the Sinquefield Cup, and the resulting fallout is of his own making,” the statement read.
“Chess.com looks forward to setting the record straight on behalf of its team and all honest chess players.”
My lawsuit speaks for itself https://t.co/rOfUxiNYCH
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) October 20, 2022
In a statement on Thursday, lawyers for Chess.com said there was no merit to Niemann’s allegations and the company was saddened by his decision to take legal action.
“Chess.com looks forward to setting the record straight on behalf of its team and all honest chess players.”
The allegations of cheating will be investigated, the International Chess Federation announced last month.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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