Hans Niemann, the chess grandmaster at the centre of cheating allegations — which you can catch up on here — has filed a suit in a Missouri court suing world champion Magnus Carlsen, his chess app Play Magnus, the website chess.com, chess.com’s Daniel Rensch and streamer Hikaru Nakamura for $US100 ($AU159) million.
The suit, tweeted out by Niemann earlier today, can be read here.
My lawsuit speaks for itself https://t.co/rOfUxiNYCH
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) October 20, 2022
Niemann, the 19 year-old chess prodigy who has been accused of not just cheating but cheating using vibrating anal beads, says in the suit that the allegations against him are baseless and without merit, and world champion Carlsen has lashed out because he was “fearful that the young prodigy would further blemish his multi-million dollar brand”.
He also says that “a flurry of independent and unbiased sources” have proven he has not cheated, yet despite this “Carlsen unleashed his media empire to fan the flames of Carlsen’s cheating accusations, drown out the legitimate evidence refuting them” and have Niemann “blacklisted” from major international tournaments as part of a “conspiracy”.
The “media empire” he’s talking about are the other parties accused in the suit; Carlsen has his own chess app, Play Magnus, which was recently bought by Chess.com (where Niemann is now banned) for over $US80 ($AU127) million, and for whom Rensch (who Niemann also accused of lying about cheating admissions) is chief chess officer, and Nakamura a streaming partner.
Amazingly, the suit even includes a breakdown of the context behind one of the greatest sporting soundbytes of all time:
Basically, Niemann is saying that he beat Carlsen fair and square, that beating Carlsen put a dent in the world champion’s personal goals and business plans, and so in retaliation Carlsen and his mates in the chess world created this cheating scandal. And that as a result, the affair has “had the desired effect of destroying Niemann’s reputation, career, and livelihood.”
The suit is seeking to clear Niemann’s name, prove that “defendants made the defamatory statements with full knowledge that such statements were false”, and is looking for “no less than” $US100 ($AU159) million in damages.
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