Hans Niemann, the teenage American grandmaster on the heart of an alleged dishonest scandal, sued world champion Magnus Carlsen, on-line platform Chess.com and others for slander and libel on Thursday and is searching for no less than US$100 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed at a U.S. District Court in Missouri, additionally lists Carlsen’s on-line chess platform Play Magnus, Chess.com govt Danny Rensch and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as defendants.
Niemann, 19, claimed that the defendants are “colluding to blacklist” him from the skilled chess world and that he has been shunned by event organizers since five-time world champion Carlsen publicly accused him of dishonest.
Carlsen’s shock defeat to Niemann and his subsequent withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri in September sparked a furore of feedback and allegations, together with from Nakamura, that the American had cheated.
Weeks after the Sinquefield Cup, the Norwegian resigned after only one transfer against Niemann in a web based event and stated later in September he believed the American had “cheated extra – and extra just lately – than he has publicly admitted.”
In a press release on Thursday, attorneys for Chess.com stated there was no benefit to Niemann’s allegations and that the corporate was saddened by his choice to take authorized motion.
“Hans confessed publicly to dishonest on-line within the wake of the Sinquefield Cup, and the ensuing fallout is of his personal making,” the assertion learn.
“Chess.com appears ahead to setting the file straight on behalf of its group and all sincere chess gamers.”
Representatives for Carlsen and Nakamura didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Chess.com banned Niemann after the primary match against Carlsen and revealed a report earlier this month that stated he had probably cheated greater than 100 instances in on-line video games.
Niemann had beforehand been banned from Chess.com for dishonest on-line, having admitted he had not performed pretty in non-competitive video games on the web site in his youth, however denied any wrongdoing whereas contesting over-the-board video games.
His lawsuit stated that Chess.com “banned Niemann from its web site and all of its future occasions, to lend credence to Carlsen’s unsubstantiated and defamatory accusations of dishonest.”
“Carlsen, having solidified his place because the ‘King of Chess,’ believes that in relation to chess, he can do no matter he needs and get away with it,” the criticism added.
The lawsuit additional accused Nakamura, a streaming companion of Chess.com, of publishing “hours of video content material amplifying and making an attempt to bolster Carlsen’s false dishonest allegations.”
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) stated final month it will open an investigation into the allegations of dishonest.
Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris