After his victory against Magnus Carlsen, on September 5 at the Sinquefield Cup, in the United States, the Norwegian champion had questioned the probity of the young player 19 years.
Le Monde
Hans Niemann counterattack. The young American chess player filed a complaint on Thursday October 20 in the United States against those who accuse him of cheating, including his Norwegian rival Magnus Carlsen. He claims them $ 100 million (102 million euros) of damages.
The 19-year-old man, a prodigy according to his relatives, filed an appeal to the civilian in a federal court of the Missouri against the five-time world champion and other actors in the world of chess, including the Chess platform .com, which he accuses of “defamation” and “collusion”.
Their allegations “destroyed his remarkable and ruined career in the egg in the egg”, write his lawyers in this complaint consulted by the France-Presse agency. Hans Niemann has been excluded from numerous competitions and “can no longer obtain jobs as a chess professor in serious schools”, they assure. This complaint is the most remarkable act of the young chess master since the emergence of what his lawyers call “bigger scandal in history” in the discipline.
It all started on September 5 when the young American beat the Norwegian star during the Sinquefield Cup in the United States. Magnus Carlsen then withdrew from the tournament, by accusing it in an implication of cheating. His allegations were then taken up by the American player Hikaru Nakamura and the main online chess platform in the world, Chess.com, for whom the young Grand Master “probably cheated” at least a hundred times in online games.
“ready to play naked” to prove your talent
In his complaint, Hans Niemann accuses his detractors of having acted in a concerted manner by financial interest. “For fear that the young prodigy does not put in danger his multimillionaire brand by inflicting other defeats, Carlsen took revenge by accusing him without proof,” write his lawyers.
m. Carlsen, according to them, benefited from the support of the Chess.com site because he is selling him his company Play Magnus for $ 83 million. As for Hikaru Nakamura, “this is the most influential streaming partner of Chess.com”, they assure.
Hans Niemann admitted having cheated on Chess.com, when he was between 12 and 16 years old, but denies having continued and said he was “ready to play naked” to prove his talent.
The International Chess Federation (Fide) opened an investigation on September 29 to shed light on this case.