Chess prodigy Hans Niemann suing Magnus Carlsen for $100 million over cheating accusations

Hans Niemann's lawsuit claims that Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and others engaged in a coordinated campaign to ruin his reputation and career.

• 19-year-old Grandmaster Hans Niemann is suing Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, and others for $100 million over cheating accusations.
• The lawsuit accuses the defendants of libel, slander, unlawful group boycott and more.
• It also claims that the cheating accusations against Niemann were a coordinated effort to ruin the American's career.

Hans Niemann, the 19-year-old Grandmaster embroiled in a cheating scandal, filed a lawsuit against world champion Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com, grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, and others, seeking $100 million in damages.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of slander, libel, unlawful group boycott, tortious interference with business, and civil conspiracy.

Niemann defeated Carlsen in an over-the-board match at the Sinquefield Cup in Missouri in early September. Afterward, Carlsen withdrew from the tournament, posting a vague tweet that implied he couldn't say more about his reasons for withdrawing.

Weeks later, during an online match against Niemann at the Julius Baer Cup, Carlsen quit after just one move, shocking the chess world, which already believed Carlsen was accusing Niemann of cheating.

Carlsen eventually released a statement saying he believes Niemann has "cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted."

Niemann had admitted to cheating twice during online matches when he was 12 and 16 years old and called them regrettable mistakes.

However, a Chess.com investigation, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, later determined that Niemann had "likely" cheated over 100 times in online matches, as recently as 2020. The investigation's report said that Chess.com's anti-cheating software found that Niemann often opened different screens at the time of his moves in online matches, suggesting he was receiving illegal assistance.

Niemann has said he's never cheated in an over-the-board match and didn't cheat against Carlsen. The lawsuit claims that Carlsen appealed to Sinquefield officials to have Niemann disqualified, but tournament organizers declined because Carlsen did not have evidence that Niemann cheated. There is no proof that Niemann cheated against Carlsen, and some experts who reviewed the Sinquefield Cup match didn't find evidence that Niemann cheated. 

Chess.com's investigation, however, called Niemann's improvement and growing FIDE (the governing body of chess) ranking "statistically extraordinary."

Niemann was banned for a time from Chess.com.

Niemann's lawsuit accuses Carlsen and Chess.com of collusion, making note that Chess.com agreed to purchase Carlsen's app, Play Carlsen, for $83 million.

"As the dominant source of chess-related news and events, access to Chess.com also has a major influence on top chess players' image and public exposure," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit also claims that Chess.com worked with top streamers like Nakamura to further spread the allegations made against Niemann.

The lawsuit claims that the defendants' "coordinated campaign of defamation and misinformation has nevertheless already had the desired effect of destroying Niemann's reputation, career, and livelihood."