GM Hans Niemann has filed a defamation lawsuit in opposition to GM Magnus Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura, Chess.com, the Play Magnus Group, and IM Danny Rensch, searching for a minimum of $100 million in damages. The lawsuit is the following episode within the chess dishonest scandal that has been reported broadly upon in mainstream media since early September. 

19-year-old Niemann filed his federal lawsuit (right here in PDF) on Thursday, October 20 within the Eastern Missouri District Court and made the total, 44-page doc accessible himself in a tweet:

My lawsuit speaks for itself https://t.co/rOfUxiNYCH

— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) October 20, 2022

Against all 5 entities, Niemann is claiming slander, libel, illegal group boycott underneath the Sherman Act, tortious interference with contract and enterprise expectations, and civil conspiracy. For every explanation for motion, a minimum of $100 million is claimed.

Niemann states that Carlsen, Nakamura, Chess.com, Play Magnus Group, and Rensch have been “egregiously defaming him and unlawfully colluding to blacklist him from the occupation to which he has devoted his life,” and that the entire scenario has triggered “devastating damages.”

In the lawsuit, Niemann claims that he “can’t receive employment as a chess trainer at a good college” anymore. He additionally reveals {that a} scheduled match with the younger German grandmaster Vincent Keymer obtained canceled and that negotiations with the Tata Steel Chess Tournament have been abruptly ended.

In an announcement, the Wijk aan Zee event wrote to Chess.com:

“Throughout the yr there are a number of formal and casual conversations between the group and gamers, initiated from either side. No one is certain of participation.”

In response to a number of media requests, Chess.com has offered the next assertion from its attorneys:

Statement from Nima Mohebbi and Jamie Wine of Latham & Watkins, LLP

We are saddened by Hans Niemann’s choice to take authorized motion in opposition to Chess.com. We imagine his lawsuit hurts the sport of chess and its devoted gamers and followers world wide.

Chess.com is happy with its status inside the chess neighborhood and past, and can at all times defend the sport, the gamers, and their mission of each rising and defending on-line chess.

Hans confessed publicly to dishonest on-line within the wake of the Sinquefield Cup, and the ensuing fallout is of his personal making. As said in its October 2022 report, Chess.com had traditionally handled Hans’ prior dishonest privately, and was pressured to make clear its place solely after he spoke out publicly.

There isn’t any advantage to Hans’ allegations, and Chess.com seems ahead to setting the report straight on behalf of its crew and all trustworthy chess gamers.

Lawyers and non-lawyers on-line have already analyzed the submitting in depth. The most sturdy common evaluation up to now is offered in an intensive Twitter thread by Akiva Cohen, a litigator at Kamerman, Uncyk, Soniker & Klein in New York, who highlights varied challenges for Niemann to beat together with jurisdiction and proving precise malice.

OK, #LitigationDisasterTourists, by common request (@yesh222 @ariehkovler @crowder and others) let’s do a dwell learn. I’ve obtained no concept whether or not what’s pled right here is viable or not – have not even learn it – however public determine defamation is concerning the hardest case to show in US legislation. https://t.co/tnNhEisZpz

— Akiva Cohen (@AkivaMCohen) October 20, 2022