The ongoing controversy involving 19-year-old GM Hans Niemann gained a peculiar twist on Tuesday. Niemann amended his lawsuit with a further 13 pages, notably accusing world champion GM Magnus Carlsen of paying fellow Norwegian grandmaster, Aryan Tari, €300 to yell “Cheater Hans” on the closing ceremony of a prestigious match:

“In Carlsen’s malicious defamatory campaign against Niemann, Carlsen went as far as paying Aryan Tari €300 to scream “Ukse Hans,” Norwegian for “Cheater Hans,” from the stands on the closing ceremony of the European Club Cup on October 9, 2022, which was attended by most of the world’s most outstanding chess gamers and heard by lots of its followers. 

Shortly thereafter, the whole Norwegian chess crew, together with Carlsen, have been noticed publicly chanting “Ukse Hans” in bars and the streets of the Austrian city the place the European Club Cup was held.’ Any affordable listener of those statements would interpret them as reiterating Carlsen’s false accusation that Niemann cheated when he defeated Carlsen on the Sinquefield Cup.”

Journalist Tarjei Svensen and Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou, Secretary General of the European Chess Union, have referred to as into query the validity of the accusation.

Aftenposten reviews on this at this time, no feedback from the accused, however ECU’s @teotsorb says he has been in contact with three current arbiters/officers who obtained no reviews about it, and he says he thinks it didn’t occur. https://t.co/TLaOnKchoF

— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) January 11, 2023

Incidentally, “ukse” isn’t a phrase in Norwegian. The letter “j” appears to have been dropped as the proper spelling of “cheater” in Norwegian is “jukse.”

Another notable change in Niemann’s total criticism is that Chess.com is talked about 228 occasions in comparison with 141 within the authentic, notably including a piece claiming a breach of contract with Niemann regarding the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship.

Carlsen continues to be talked about probably the most of any of the defendants, 232 occasions. A curious, smaller change is the removing of adverbs akin to “cowardly” and “gutlessly” from Niemann’s descriptions of Carlsen. The full amended criticism is out there right here. 

On October 20, 2022, Niemann filed a defamation lawsuit towards Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura, Chess.com, the Play Magnus Group, and IM Danny Rensch, searching for not less than $100 million in damages. On December 2, 2022, Chess.com formally requested to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that it “might have been introduced solely as a public relations stunt.” 

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