Last updated on July 1st, 2023 at 11:34 am
A US judge dismissed Hans Niemann’s chess cheating scandal lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen and others. Judge Audrey Fleissig rejected Niemann’s allegations that Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Chess.com defamed him. Also, he claimed that the parties conspired to block him from playing chess.
In addition, Niemann filed a lawsuit for slander and libel. However, Fleissig dismissed the case without prejudice. That means Niemann can refile another lawsuit based on those claims. Bookie pay per head sources contacted Niemann to find out if he would file another suit. However, he has not responded at the time of this posting.
The judge also rejected accusations of antitrust violation with prejudice. Thus, Niemann cannot file another antitrust suit against the defendants.
Chess Cheating Scandal Lawsuit
According to betting software development experts, Niemann filed the lawsuit in October of last year after an alleged cheating scandal that rocked the sporting world. Also, the complaint claims that the incident started in September 2022. Carlsen, the world’s top player, accused Niemann of cheating at the Sinquefield Cup. It is a chess tournament with a prize pool of $350,000 held in St. Louis, Missouri.
Over-the-board chess is not played digitally but rather in person. Also, Carlsen did not elaborate on his claims against Niemann from their encounter in September of 2022.
According to pay per head sportsbook sources, Niemann later claimed he had never cheated in an over-the-board game during an interview with the St. Louis Chess Club.
A 72-page analysis published by Chess.com, a major portal for the game, later said Niemann “possibly cheated” in more than a hundred online encounters between July 2015 and August 2020. Also, it included numerous events with prize money involved.
According to the article, Chess.com banned Niemann in 2020 after he confidentially admitted to cheating to its senior chess officer. However, Niemann claimed he was not banned on Chess.com for cheating. Thus, the claim is false.
According to the article, Chess.com terminated Niemann’s account in September 2022 because of his history of cheating, suspicions regarding his recent performance, and worries regarding his rapid and unpredictable increase in ranking. At the time of this writing, American is ranked 36th globally.
