Of Jörn Reher
The next round of Mega Chess Zoff has begun!
Alleged ‘anal bead fraudster’ Hans Niemann (19) is suing five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen (31). Since late September, he has openly claimed that Niemann cheated.
The American doesn’t want to put up with that anymore. He is suing Carlsen and the two American chess players Danny Rensch and Hikaru Nakamura for 100 million dollars (102 million euros) in damages.
Niemann accuses Carlsen and Co. of defamation and slander as well as collusion in order to destroy his reputation and his existence. Niemann further claims that Carlsen, Rensch and Nakamura caused “devastating damage” to his reputation and career. After Niemann’s Sinquefield Cup victory in Missouri, Carlsen “violently retaliated by falsely accusing Niemann, without evidence, of having somehow cheated during their match,” the lawsuit states.
► Context: The Zoff between Carlsen and Niemann has been causing a lot of emotion in the chess world for weeks. The starting point was Carlsen’s withdrawal from a chess tournament in the United States in early September. The Norwegian then posted a tweet from football coach José Mourinho (59). In the clip, Mourinho said if he spoke he would be in a lot of trouble. Carlsen said he currently feels similar to the coach.
Two weeks later, Carlsen gave up a game against Niemann in an online chess tournament after a single move. At the end of September, the 31-year-old made specific allegations of cheating against Niemann for the first time. Carlsen said Niemann cheated more than he admitted, even recently.
Niemann had cheated several times in online chess tournaments in the past. He only admitted to two cheating attempts, but chess website chess.com banned Niemann from continuing to use the platform because he had “probably cheated more than 100 online chess games” on chess.com.
In return, Niemann claims his ban from chess.com was pressured by Carlsen. His company Play Magnus is currently being acquired by chess.com for $83 million. Carlsen, as “chess king”, assumes “he can do whatever he wants in chess and he can get away with it”, criticizes Niemann.
Canadian chess grandmaster Eric Hansen spoke publicly in a Twitch livestream with Aman Hambleton in September following the Carlsen-Niemann case over the possibility of using anal beads to receive vibration signals in order to plan the next moves. Since then, there has been speculation as to whether Niemann cheated Carlsen in this way.
It is unclear whether Niemann will succeed in his trial. Just as it is unpredictable if and when the dispute between Carlsen and Niemann will end. Carlsen’s response to Niemann’s lawsuit will be eagerly awaited.
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