U.S. chess prodigy Hans Niemann's $100 million lawsuit against Chess Grand Master Magnus Carlsen and the global online chess website- Chess.com has been dropped by a Missouri federal court. Niemann had decided to sue Carlsen and Chess.com for accusing him of cheating and defaming his character. The 19-year-old had also accused Carlsen and Chess.com of colluding to keep him from major chess tournaments.
Hans Niemann had defeated Magnus Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup, in St. Louis Missouri, which shocked the chess world. Since then many have weary of Niemann as he was previously also caught on cheating during an online chess event. After this loss, Carlsen decided to withdraw from that tournament and accuse Niemann of cheating.
Then Chess.com also joined the few members of the chess community against Niemann and released a statement of the 19-year-old cheating over 100 times online. After these accusations, Niemann made a shocking claim of playing chess naked when the International Chess Federation started an investigation against him.
Coming back to the recent lawsuit, Magnus Carlsen’s lawyers’ released a statement stating that his clients will now be able to get their focus back on chess. "We are very pleased with the courts order dismissing Hans Niemann's claims. Our clients are happy to see an end to this saga, and are pleased that all parties can now focus on growing the game of chess."
"We are pleased the court has rejected Hans Niemann’s attempt to recover an undeserved windfall in Missouri federal court, and that Niemann’s attempt to chill speech through strategic litigation in that forum has failed," said Craig Reiser, a partner at Axinn and an attorney for Carlsen.
Niemann's attorneys, Terrence and Darren Oved, also released a statement that only part of the lawsuit was dismissed "with prejudice," meaning certain claims cannot be re-filed at a later time. “This decision has absolutely no impact on Niemann’s ability to continue pursuing his primary claims of defamation and numerous other state law claims."
