An nameless reader quotes a report from CNBC: Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann filed a $100 million lawsuit in opposition to world champion Magnus Carlsen and others for alleged defamatory statements claiming that Niemann cheated in competitors. The go well with claims that the defendants, together with Chess.com, inflicted “devastating damages” in opposition to Niemann by “egregiously defaming him” and “unlawfully colluding” to bar him from the skilled chess world. “My lawsuit speaks for itself,” Niemann stated Thursday in a Twitter post.
Niemann, 19, has admitted to dishonest on two events, as soon as when he was 12 years previous and a second time when he was 16. However he denied claims that he cheated in an over-the-board match in opposition to Magnus Carlsen this 12 months. Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in September after dropping to Niemann, and ultimately got here ahead with issues that Niemann had cheated within the match through which he defeated Carlsen. The go well with claims that Carlsen’s feedback had been a retaliatory try to maintain Niemann from damaging his status. Chess.com subsequently banned Niemann after reporting that an inside investigation revealed proof of extra dishonest than Niemann’s public statements had expressed.
The report from Chess.com didn’t discover proof of dishonest in Niemann’s over-the-board matches, together with the match in opposition to Carlsen, although the web site notes that its dishonest detection is primarily used for on-line matches. The report does, nevertheless, allege that Niemann possible cheated in over 100 on-line chess video games, together with a number of prize cash occasions. It additionally exhibits that Niemann’s Chess.com “Energy Rating” sits within the vary of over a dozen nameless grandmasters who’ve admitted to dishonest. The report additionally notes that Niemann is by far the fastest-rising participant by yearly acquire in classical over-the-board chess. The lawsuit is accessible in full right here (PDF).