Chess prodigy Hans Niemann sues chess grandmaster Magnus Carlson and four others for $100M

American teenage 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, claiming they defamed him and sought to blacklist him from the game.

In court papers, filed in Missouri on Thursday, he claims that 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen, who he describes as the self-styled ‘King of Chess’, was fearful that the teenager would blemish his multi-billion dollar brand after beating him in September.

Weeks after the incident, Chess.com released a report claiming Niemann had ‘likely cheated’ in hundreds of games. 

Two other chess players – Daniel Rensch and Hikaru Nakamura – are also named as defendants. 

Niemann, 19, denied the accusations, saying that he only cheated twice in his life – at the age of 12 and 16 – and that both infractions were some of the greatest regrets of his life. 

He is now demanding a trial ‘to recover from the devastating damages that defendants have inflicted upon his reputation, career and life by egregiously defaming him and unlawfully colluding to blacklist him from the profession to which he has dedicated his life,’ according to the lawsuit. 

This is a developing story  

American teenage 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 papers, filed in Missouri on Thursday, Niemann claims that 31-year-old Magnus Carlsen, who he describes as the self-styled ‘King of Chess’, was fearful that the teenager would blemish his multi-billion dollar brand 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 declared he would play naked to prove doubters wrong after rumors suggested he could have used vibrating anal beads, controlled by a third-party, to determine the best moves to make in his match against Carlsen. 

‘Carlsen’s unprecedented actions, coupled with his unfounded accusations, sent shock waves through the chess world and instantly thrust Niemann into the center of what is now widely reported as the single biggest chess scandal in history,’ the lawsuit reads. 

‘Even though Carlsen had no legitimate basis to believe Niemann actually cheated against him, he could 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 boycott Niemann as well.’  

But more than a week after the anal bead cheating accusations, a 72-page report accused the ‘self-taught chess prodigy’ of cheating ‘more than 100 times’ in an October 4 report by Chess.com. 

‘On October 5, 2022, Niemann was scheduled to begin competing in the U.S. Chess Championship tournament, which, due to Defendants’ repeated defamatory accusations and blacklisting, is quite possibly one of the last competitive chess tournaments in which Niemann will ever be allowed to play,’ the lawsuit reads. 

‘Niemann desperately hoped to be able to compete in that tournament, deliver an impressive performance, and lessen the blow of at least some of Defendants’ defamatory accusations. Yet, once again, Defendants had different plans.’ 

The lengthy report showed that the prodigy privately confessed to Chess.com he had cheated on numerous occasions, while it also revealed that he was banned from the site – though this was never made public.

The report states that Niemann confessed his cheating to Chess.com COO Danny Rensch during a Zoom call, and afterwards in writing during a Slack chat.

Many of the tournaments Chess.com said Niemann cheated in included cash prizes, the report said, including Chess.com prize events, Speed Chess Championship Qualifiers, and the PRO Chess League.