The chess scandal involving Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen ends up in court. The American Niemann, who is suspected of fraud, renewed the allegations against his Norwegian counterparty in advance and, together with his lawyers, made a bold statement in the complaint.
Hans Niemann goes on the offensive. The US grandmaster, who has been under suspicion of fraud for weeks, defends himself against the serious allegations by Magnus Carlsen and goes to court. As was announced last week, Niemann’s lawyers have filed a lawsuit. The young American is demanding a total of 100 million dollars in damages from the Norwegian Carlsen, the online platform chess.com and other players. Niemann accuses the defendants of defamation and collusion to destroy his reputation.
In a letter, it has now become known, the 19-year-old protests that Carlsen ruined his life with false allegations. “Despite the falseness of the allegations, the defendant intentionally destroyed Niemann’s impressive career and his life with vile defamation and after illegal collusion,” it says. Chess is his life, stresses Niemann, who describes himself as a self-taught child prodigy. His opponents would now try to exclude him from the chess world to which he had sacrificed his whole life.
Niemann railed against Carlsen in particular. The world chess champion is “corrupt” and a “coward,” he rumbles. The Norwegian abused his position in the chess world to build a highly lucrative brand himself. He thinks he can do whatever he wants in his role as “King of Chess”. Since his defeat in the Sinquefield Cup, Carlsen has been waging a vile campaign of revenge because he “is not able to deal with defeats,” according to Niemann’s accusation.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian’s lawyer is extremely calm about the allegations made by the US grandmaster. “Hans Niemann has admitted that he has cheated in the past and his lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to shift the blame to others,” Craig Reiser, Carlsen’s attorney on the matter, told the Wall Street Journal. Reiser made a similar statement to the news portal “Axios”. “We will vigorously defend ourselves against the allegations,” the lawyer announced there and emphasized: “The allegations are completely unfounded.”
Carlsen made allegations of fraud against Niemann in September. The “chess.com” site then came to the conclusion in its investigation that Niemann is said to have resorted to unauthorized computer support in many cases. The Norwegian genius himself has not yet commented on the lawsuit. His lawyers are believed to have advised him to hold off over the upcoming trial.
You can find out more about the chess scandal from our colleagues at sport.de!
(This article was first published on Monday, October 24, 2022.)
