Niemann sues Magnus Carlsen for BRL 521 million over chess cheating allegations

In the latest move in the scandal that rocks the chess world, young American prodigy Hans Niemann, 19, filed a lawsuit this Thursday (20) against five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen, 31, of Norway.

Niemann sued in federal court in the state of Missouri, in the United States, asking for US$ 100 million (about R$ 521 million) in damages he would have suffered when he was accused of cheating in chess games.

The lawsuit is against Carlsen and his company Play Magnus Group; Danny Rensch of Chess.com, the leading online chess platform; and the American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.

Niemann accuses the defendants of libel and slander, as well as collusion to destroy his reputation and livelihood.

Carlsen has publicly denounced Niemann for cheating, and Chess.com claimed in a report earlier this month that the American “probably cheated over a hundred times” in online games.

In his lawsuit, Niemann said Carlsen, Rensch and Nakamura had caused “devastating damage” to his reputation and career by “gravely defaming” him.

The American also accuses them of “illegal collusion to blacklist him from the profession”.

Since the age of 16, Niemann’s only livelihood has been the money he earns teaching chess and participating in tournaments.

After Niemann “noisily defeated” Carlsen in the Sinquefield Cup in Missouri on September 4, the Norwegian “retaliated Niemann aggressively and maliciously, falsely accusing him, without any evidence, of having cheated in some way during his match.” , said the text.

It didn’t take long for the chess world to resonate with both the unexpected defeat and the accusations, and theories began to emerge. Some even in a joke tone, including that Niemann would have used an anal device to receive tips on the best moves. Although noisy, this hypothesis does not have any evidence or evidence.

For its part, Chess.com, according to the lawsuit, “banned Niemann from its website and from all future events to lend credence to Carlsen’s baseless and defamatory accusations of cheating.”

Nakamura, an influential partner at Chess.com and featured on platforms such as Twitch, is accused of posting “hours of video content amplifying and attempting to bolster Carlsen’s false allegations of cheating.”