After the Norwegian world champion accused him of cheating, American grandmaster Hans Niemann launched a lawsuit against him on Thursday.
It is the most recent development in a controversy that has shook the chess community.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Missouri, 19-year-old Niemann is suing Carlsen, his business Play Magnus Group, Chess.com CEO Danny Rensch, and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura for $100 million in damages.
Niemann charged the defendants with defamation and libel as well as conspiring to harm his reputation and means of support.
In an article published earlier this month, Chess.com claimed that Niemann had “probably cheated more than 100 times” in online games. Carlsen has previously accused Niemann of cheating.
Niemann “certainly cheated online considerably more than his public pronouncements imply,” according to the Chess.com study, “but there is a lack of hard statistical proof that he cheated in his game with Magnus or in any other over-the-board (“OTB”)—that is, in-person—games.”
Niemann said in his case that the 31-year-old Carlsen, the five-time defending world champion, Rensch, and Nakamura had “egregiously defamed” him and caused “devastating damages” to his career and reputation.
They are accused of “illegally conspiring to blacklist him from the profession to which he has committed his life,” according to the document.
The complaint claimed that Niemann had relied only on his income from teaching chess and competing in chess competitions since he was 16 years old.
Carlsen “viciously and deliberately retaliated against Niemann by falsely accusing Niemann, without any proof, of allegedly cheating during their in-person game,” it stated, after Niemann “soundly beat” him at the Sinquefield Cup competition in Missouri on September 4.
Chess.com “barred Niemann from its website and all of its future tournaments, to give weight to Carlsen’s unfounded and defamatory charges of cheating,” according to the complaint.
The prominent streaming partner of Chess.com, Nakamura, located in Florida, is charged with disseminating “hours of video information amplifying and seeking to buttress Carlsen’s fraudulent cheating charges.”
On September 5, not long after the first charges, Chess.com banned Niemann.
Niemann’s complaint claimed that Carlsen, whose Play Magnus firm Chess.com is presently purchasing for $83 million, exerted pressure on the corporation to make the decision.
Carlsen “believes that when it comes to chess, he can do anything he wants and get away with it,” according to the complaint. Carlsen has established himself as the “King of Chess.”
Niemann and Carlsen re-met in the sixth round of the online Julius Baer Generation Cup two weeks after Niemann’s Sinquefield Cup defeat.
After just one move, Carlsen announced his resignation and said he would “not play against those who have cheated repeatedly in the past.”
Carlsen remarked, “I recognize that my actions have angered many in the chess community. “I feel irritated. I would want to play chess. I wish to keep competing in the finest chess tournaments at the top level.”
On September 29, the International Chess Federation said that it has begun an inquiry into the allegations of cheating.
Niemann disputes the most recent allegations and says that he is “ready to play nude” if required. Niemann has previously confessed to cheating on Chess.com when he was between the ages of 12 and 16.