A federal judge of Missouri yesterday dismissed the lawsuit filed by the great teacher Hans Niemannwhom the former world champion Magnus Carlsen he had accused of cheating, first in a veiled way and later in a direct way. The young star claimed 100 million dollars not only from the Norwegian star. She also denounced her compatriot Hikaru Nakamurato the Chess.com platform, to the company Play Magnus Group and the international master Daniel Renschfor conspiring to place him on some kind of blacklist, which has allegedly caused him “devastating damage.”
Total, Niemann asked about 500 million dollarsbut the judge Audrey G. Fleissig has dismissed with prejudice at least the two antitrust lawsuits. This means that the American will not be able to file complaints for this reason again. The remaining charges, centered on the defamation allegations, were dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and “without prejudice.” The court dismissed the federal claims and declared itself incompetent to try the state ones, leaving the door open for the case to be resubmitted in a state court.
In parallel, a commission of the International Chess Federation investigate the matter and could sanction Carlsenbecause he never succeeded in proving that Niemann I would have cheated in live games. The president of the FIDE He assured this newspaper a few days ago that it was most probable that the independent commission would wait for the judicial decision before taking any steps. Now it seems more unlikely that they will punish the former champion.
The reactions of the winning party have not been long in coming. Craig Reiserlawyer of Carlsendeclared to ‘The Washington Post’ They are pleased with the judge’s decision. “The attempt to Niemann of silencing freedom of expression through strategic litigation has failed,” the lawyer said.
“We are very satisfied with the court decision. Our clients are happy to see the end of this story and that all parties can now focus on growing the game of chess,” they commented for their part. Nima H. Mohebbi y Jamie Wineof Latham and Watkinsthe law firm that represented Chess.com, Play Magnus y Daniel Rensch. The representatives of Niemann They are silent for the moment.