Hans Niemann’s $100 Million legal battle is over!
Author: Maria Fragaki
“If I speak, I am in big trouble.” Magnus Carlsen tweeted after withdrawing from the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, leaving accusations of Hans Niemann cheating. Eight months later Niemann’s $100 Million defamation lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Chess.com, the Play Magnus Group, and Daniel Rensch speaks for itself; and it’s dismissed!
The story
Magnus Carlsen lost to the lowest rated player, Hans Niemann in Round 3 of the 2022 Sinquefield Cup. It was his second loss against Niemann in a month and the first in classical chess. It was obviously a shocking result which costed Magnus 9 whole rating points, and took him more far away from his 2900 goal. After that, Niemann gave an interview and mentioned that he “miraculously” looked at an obscure line the same morning that happened in the game and that he had only looked at it because of Magnus had played it against Wesley So in the 2018 London Chess Classic.
Magnus decided to withdraw from the tournament and tweet a video of Mourinho saying that “If I speak I’m in big trouble”, leaving clear indications that he believes Hans Niemann cheated.
Right after that GM Hikaru Nakamura started streaming, saying: “There was a period of 6 months where Hans did not play any tournaments for money on chess.com. That’s all I’m going to say.”, and absolutely roasting Niemann.
Proof of cheating online
“Other than when I was 12 years old, I have never, ever, ever – and I would never do that, that is the worst thing that I could ever do – cheat in a tournament with prize money.” Hans Niemann said in an interview given at the Sinquefield Cup.
Chesscom publicly disagreed with Niemann and gave indications that he has cheated more than he stated by releasing a 72 page report at the The Wall Street Journal. This report showed that Hans Niemann had “likely cheated” more than 100 times online, but there is still a lack of concrete statistical evidence that he cheated in his game with Magnus at the Sinquefield Cup 2022 or in any other over-the-board game.
The lawsuit
Eight months ago, in what probably is the largest legal action in chess history, Hans Niemann filed a lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Chess.com, the Play Magnus Group, and Daniel Rensch, seeking at least $100 million for each cause of action.
Niemann’s lawyers stated that because of Carlsen’s actions and the fact that everyone believed his accusations, Nieman is not even able to get a job as a chess teacher, let alone compete in top events.
Accordingly, Niemann asserted the following claims against Defendants: slander, libel; unlawful group boycott under the Sherman Act (a anti-monopoly law), tortious interference with contract and business expectancies, and civil conspiracy, seeking damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but no less than $100,000,000.
The outcome
According to the official report by chesscom
The judge in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri noted that “counts 3 and 4,” both regarding a possible antitrust injury, were dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning they cannot be brought again. The other counts were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction but “without prejudice,” meaning that the court dismissed federal claims and declined to hear state claims. This leaves the door open for the case to be re-filed in a state court, for instance if new evidence appears. [...] This means that, at least for the moment, the legal battle that followed cheating allegations toward Niemann, causing a scandal covered by media all over the world, is over.
