You'd think a board game like chess wouldn't cause any drama, but think again.
19-year-old chess master, Hans Neimann, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, a five-time World Chess Champion, as well as Chess.com and Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, according to Gizmodo.
This was brought on by allegations from Carlsen, saying that Neimann has been cheating in chess matches. As for Nakamura and the said chess website, Neimann claimed that they were colluding with Carlsen to further smear his reputation by also banning him from the chess website's platform.
The Hans Neimann Lawsuit at a Glance
Neimann filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern Missouri District Court. He is suing the defendants for slander and libel. The young chess master also claims that the allegations have caused his invitations to prestigious tournaments and matches to be revoked, as mentioned in CNN.
Neimann admitted to cheating in an interview, saying that he did so on random games in Chess.com when he was 12 and 16 years old. His admitting this could've been the spark that started the speculations that he had cheated on major online games.
Magnus Carlsen
The controversy began back in September, when 31-year-old chess maestro Carlsen backed out from the St. Louis Sinquefield Cup in the third round. Speculations arose, and others believed that it was because of the opponent he lost to, which was Neimann.
At first, Carlen did not make any comments about Neimann directly, only hinting at it through tweets and comments, but soon he released a statement concluding that he does believe that Neimann cheated.
Other than the fact that the 19-year-old chess master admitted to cheating before, Carlsen added that it was unusual that Neimann was outplaying him as black, as he did it in a way that only a few players could.
Chess.com
Chess.com had reportedly dealt with Hans' cheating privately before but spoke out in order to clarify their side of the argument when Hans spoke publicly about Carlsen and the platform. Chess.com then released a 72-page report claiming that Neimann likely cheated in more than 100 online games.
The online chess platform admitted that they had no evidence of Neimann cheating in over-the-board games but stood by their claims for virtual matches. The lawsuit said that the report was defamatory in nature.
Chess.com responded to the suit by saying that they were saddened by the situation and that it hurts the game of chess and its devoted players as well.
Hikaru Nakamura
In the lawsuit, it says that the 19-year-old chest master and Nakamura already had a rocky relationship since they streamed for Chess.com. Nakamura also criticized Neimann's play through his streams on Twitch and videos on YouTube.
He claimed that something was off with Neimann when it came to the way he plays. He was then accused of being a co-conspirator in Carlson's alleged schemes to ruin Neimann's reputation in the world of chess.
