US chess prodigy Hans Niemann is suing $100M over claims he used anal beads to cheat
- American prodigy Hans Nieman has sued Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, Chess.com and three others for defamation
- He claims they wanted to blacklist him by claiming he hit Carlsen by using anal beads to cheat
- Weeks after the incident, Chess.com published a report claiming that Niemann “probably cheated” in hundreds of games.
American chess prodigy Hans Niemann has sued the Norwegian grandmaster, who accused him of using anal beats to cheat – as well as online platform Chess.com, who claim they defamed him and tried to blacklist him from the game put.
In court documents filed in Missouri on Thursday, he alleges that 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen, whom he himself describes as the “king of chess,” was concerned the teenager would damage his multi-billion dollar mark after beating him in September .
Weeks after the incident, Chess.com published a report claiming that Niemann “probably cheated” in hundreds of games.
Two other chess players – Daniel Rensch and Hikaru Nakamura – are also named as defendants.
Niemann, 19, denied the allegations and said he only cheated twice in his life – aged 12 and 16 – and both offenses were among the biggest regrets of his life.
He is now demanding a trial “to recover from the devastating damage the defendants have caused to his reputation, career and life by outrageously defaming him and unlawfully conspiring to divert him from the profession to which he has dedicated his life has to blacklist,” the lawsuit states.
This is an evolving story
American chess prodigy Hans Nieman has sued the Norwegian grandmaster who accused him of using anal beats to cheat – as well as online platform Chess.com
In court documents filed in Missouri on Thursday, Niemann alleges that 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen, whom he calls the self-proclaimed “king of chess,” was concerned the teenager would damage his billion-dollar mark after beating him in September
Niemann was accused of using vibrating anal beads to communicate with his coach during a September 4 tournament against Carlsen.
The 19-year-old chess prodigy previously explained he would play naked to prove doubters wrong after rumors suggested he may have used vibrating anal beads controlled by a third party to pick the best moves in his match to determine against Carlsen.
“Carlsen’s unprecedented actions, coupled with his baseless allegations, sent shockwaves through the chess world and immediately thrust Niemann at the center of what is now widely described as the greatest single chess scandal in history,” the lawsuit reads.
“Although Carlsen had no legitimate basis to believe that Niemann actually cheated on him, he was able to ensure that no reputable chess tournament would invite Niemann to compete in the future, and his false accusations would cause other top chess players to do the same to boycott.”
But more than a week after the anal bead cheating allegations, a 72-page report accused the “self-taught chess prodigy” of cheating “more than 100 times” in an Oct. 4 Chess.com report.
“On October 5, 2022, Niemann was scheduled to begin participating in the US Chess Championship tournament, which, due to the repeated defamatory allegations and the blacklist of the accused, may be one of the last competitive chess tournaments Niemann will ever be allowed to play,” the statement said Legal action.
“Niemann was desperately hoping to enter this tournament, put on an impressive performance and soften the blow of at least some of the defendants’ defamatory allegations. But once again the defendants had other plans.’
The lengthy report showed the prodigy privately confessing to Chess.com that he had cheated on numerous occasions, while also revealing that he was banned from the site – although this was never made public.
The report states that Niemann confessed to Chess.com COO Danny Rensch about his cheating during a Zoom call and then in writing during a Slack chat.
Many of the tournaments that Chess.com said Niemann cheated involved cash prizes, the report said, including Chess.com prize events, rapid chess championship qualifiers and the PRO Chess League.