Hans Niemann sues Magnus Carlsen for $100 million after he accuses him of cheating after defeat
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A month ago at St Louis, Missouri, Hans Niemann defeated chess legend Magnus Carlsen and then got accused of cheating. This had the world sit up and take notice of the 'sportsmanship' in the game of the brains.
Now, Niemann is taking his defense to the court. He has now sued Carlsen for $100 million in damages because he was defamed. He claims in the lawsuit that he was defamed by Carlsen and a major gaming institution, Chess.com, according to a report by the New York Post.
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Hans Niemann, 19, has said that Norwegian Grandmaster Carlsen was lying about his cheating. He claims that his allegations stem from the furiousness of not being able to cope with a game loss, much less one to a relative newcomer.
"Notorious for his inability to cope with defeat, Carlsen snapped,” the lawsuit declares, adding he “maliciously” plotted to ruin the younger player’s reputation. “Enraged that the young Niemann, fully 12 years his junior, dared to disrespect the ‘King of Chess,’ and fearful that the young prodigy would further blemish his multi-million-dollar brand by beating him again, Carlsen viciously and maliciously retaliated against Niemann,” the suit claims.
Niemann is also suing Chess.com along with Carlsen, claiming that their revocation of his invitation to play in their world-famous Global Championship has tarnished his reputation. “[The] defamation and unlawful collusion has, by design, destroyed Niemann’s remarkable career in its prime and ruined his life,” the suit declares. While the accusation gained momentum, rumors did too. Some were hellbent that Niemann had used a sex toy to signal winning moves during the match - this led to his rear being checked by the metal detector at the St Louis event.
This comes after Carlsen had apparently accused Niemann of cheating in a Twitter post on September 4, shortly after the game with him. His lawsuit claims that he did it with the intent to spread “false accusations.”
In Carlsen’s tweet, he has a video of the security guard saying, “If I speak, I am in big trouble.” This didn’t explicitly indicate cheating, but it would seem that it was enough to make Chess.com revoke their invite to Niemann to play.
Carlsen defeated Niemann in a rematch on September 19. Carlsen then formally accused Niemann of cheating on September 26, saying “Niemann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.” He indicated to Niemann’s open admission to cheating when he was 12 and 16, in online matches.
Lawyers for Chess.com dismissed the allegations, and said it looked "forward to setting the record straight on behalf of its team and all honest chess players". Carlsen is yet to respond.
