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Journalism of Courage
Five-time World champion Magnus Carlsen and online platform Chess.com have urged a US federal court to toss out a libel suit brought against them by US Grandmaster Hans Niemann, who Carlsen has accused of cheating.
Chess.com executive Daniel Rensch and Norwegian Carlsen said in their filings that Niemann was an “admitted” cheat who failed to identify any defamatory statements by them in his lawsuit in US District Court in Missouri, reports Reuters.
Niemann’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Niemann, 19, said in his $100 million lawsuit that the defendants were “colluding to blacklist” him from professional chess.
He said he had been shunned by tournament organisers since Carlsen had accused him of cheating at the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis in September.
Carlsen had lost the match to Niemann which saw him immediately withdraw from the tournament, setting off a flurry of speculation in the chess world that Carlsen believed Niemann had cheated.
The speculations were led by US GM Hikaru Nakamura and several other top chess players too backed Carlsen.
Rumour erupted into scandal later that month when Carlsen resigned after one move in a match against Niemann during an online tournament.
Carlsen then released a statement saying he believed Niemann had cheated “more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted”.
Chess.com banned Niemann after the first match against Carlsen and later published a report saying he had likely cheated more than 100 times in online games.
Niemann has admitted to cheating in online chess matches when he was 12 and 16 years old but has denied ever doing so in during tournaments involving prize money.
He said he “was prepared to play naked” to prove that he didn’t cheat.
Tournament organisers say they have not found any evidence that Niemann cheated but speculations continue.
Numerous theories have been floated, with some extraordinarily suggesting that even vibrating anal beads can be used to cheat in over-the-board chess.
