Hans Niemann, who was accused of cheating by world champion Magnus Carlson, has filed a lawsuit against the Norwegian player and the online gaming platform Chess.com for slander and libel, claiming at least $100 million in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in US district court in Missouri, also lists Carlsen's online chess platform Play Magnus, Chess.com executive Danny Rensch and US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura as defendants.
The 19-year-old Niemann claimed the defendants are "conspiring to blacklist him" from the world of professional chess and have been shunned by tournament organizers since five-time world champion Carlsen publicly accused him of cheating.
Carlsen's surprise loss to Niemann and subsequent withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, Missouri in September sparked a furore of comments and accusations, including from Nakamura, that the American had cheated. Weeks after the Sinquefield Cup, the Norwegian resigned after just one move against Niemann in an online tournament and said later in September that he believed the American had "cheated more, and more recently, than he publicly admitted." .
In a statement Thursday, Chess.com's lawyers said Niemann's allegations were baseless and the company was saddened by his decision to take legal action. "Hans has publicly confessed to cheating online in the wake of the Sinquefield Cup, and the resulting consequences are of his own making," the statement read.
"Chess.com hopes to set the record straight on behalf of their team and all honest chess players." Representatives for Carlsen and Nakamura did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chess.com banned Niemann after the first match against Carlsen and published a report earlier this month that he had likely cheated more than 100 times in online games. Niemann had previously been banned from Chess.com for cheating online, having admitted that he had not played fair in non-competitive games on the website in his youth, but denied any wrongdoing while playing games on the board. .
Their lawsuit said that Chess.com "banned Niemann from its website and all future events, to give credence to Carlsen's baseless and defamatory accusations of cheating." "Carlsen, having solidified his position as the 'King of Chess,' believes that when it comes to chess, he can do whatever he wants and get away with it," the complaint added. The lawsuit further accused Nakamura, a broadcast partner of Chess.com, of posting "hours of video content that amplifies and attempts to reinforce Carlsen's false cheating allegations." The International Chess Federation (FIDE) said last month that it would open an investigation into the cheating allegations.
