Entire Hans Niemann vs. Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Chess.com controversy explained

Hans Niemann's reported libel lawsuit against the best chess player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, his company, GM Hikaru Nakamura, and Chess.com has to be one of the biggest controversies to grace the chess world this year. The lawsuit claims that the plaintiff's reputation and integrity have been put into question by the perpetrators, which has affected his ability to have a career in the sport.

Niemann is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for what he describes as a "smear campaign" conducted by chess legend Carlsen — with his company, Play Magnus, having a role in it — and Chess.com. Also in the mix is American Grandmaster and Twitch streamer/YouTuber Hikaru Nakamura, who is listed as being part of the alleged conspiracy.

With so many things happening over the last month, here is a comprehensive timeline explaining the events that led to the filing of a lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen and others.

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A timeline of the Hans Niemann-Magnus Carlsen controversy

Magnus Carlsen's involvement

Arguably one of the biggest cheating scandals in chess, the problem started during the 2022 Sinquefield Cup after Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the tournament following a loss to Hans in the third round. What fueled the fire of controversy was this tweet on the subsequent day, which many interpreted as a cheating allegation.

The next time the two chess players met, another unprecedented event occurred as the five-time World Chess Champion forfeited his match against Niemann after playing a single move on September 19. The decision stumped many, and the press statement Carlsen released on September 27 brought everything to a head.

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The Niemann defense

The statement posted on Twitter by Magnus Carlsen accused Hans Niemann of cheating without going into the specifics. As expected, the chess world as a whole had quite a lot to say about the issue. But it should be noted that Niemann had already denied cheating in any over-the-board competitions in an interview during the Sinquefield Cup on September 7. He had said:

"After that I have never since I was 12, I have never ever in my life cheated in an over-the-board game, in an online tournament. They were unrated games, I'm admitting this."

In the same interview, Niemann accepted that he had resorted to cheating in online unrated games in the past but claimed to have stopped doing it since he'd turned 16:

"I was a child and had no idea... this happened once in an online tournament, I was just a child. Nothing happened then. Four years later, when I was 16 years old during my streaming career, in an absolutely ridiculous mistake, in unrated games."

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The Chess.com report and alleged collusion

Amidst all the controversy that came with a veritable Chess legend accusing him of cheating, a 72-page report from Chess.com was released in early October that "presented evidence" of the fact that Hans Niemann might have cheated more often than he had led people to believe during the interviews.

Here's a relevant extract from the report:

"We present evidence in this report that Hans likely cheated online much more than his public statements suggest. However, while Hans has had a record-setting and remarkable rise in rating and strength, in our view there is a lack of concrete statistical evidence that he cheated in his game with Magnus or in any other over-the-board (“OTB”)—i.e., in-person—games."

Importantly, the report makes it clear that they have no evidence of him cheating in the game against Carlsen or any offline games.

But that's not all. BBC News reports that court filings allege that Magnus Carlsen's online company, Play Magnus, conspired with Chess.com and that the latter is in the process of buying the former. Here's what the lengthy report from Chess.com states on why the popular website banned Hans Niemann:

"We uninvited Hans from our upcoming major online event and revoked his access to our site based on our experience with him in the past, growing suspicions among top players and our team about his rapid rise of play, the strange circumstances and explanations of his win over Magnus, as well as Magnus’ unprecedented withdrawal."

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Hikaru Nakamura's take

American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura is also a prolific content creator and streamer who is included in the list of people Niemann is suing for defamation. He was one of the biggest names in chess to give his unfiltered opinions live on Twitch. Embedded below is a video collection of some of Hikaru's reactions to the controversy on the day Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup.

The streamer, while initially hesitant to talk about the case, did end up making a lot of comments about Hans Niemann and a lot of other people, including popular chess streamer Andrea Botez, who seemed to believe that Hikaru did end up propagating or insinuating a narrative that painted Niemann as a cheater.

At the 21:40 mark of a recent video uploaded to Hikaru's YouTube channel, which has been embedded above, the streamer can be seen downplaying the chances of Niemann winning any potential lawsuits.

Keeping in mind that this was uploaded a day before the lawsuit against him was filed, here is what Hikaru said when someone in the audience asked if he was afraid of being sued:

"Again, if Han sues I don't see any world where Hans is not going to uh, where Hans is going to win with with that with a 72-page report and everything that's in it. I just, I don't think so, um, but he might, he might. Aren't you afraid they will put you in court? For what? For reporting on stuff? Please, I mean, good luck with that"

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Apart from Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen, Danny Rensch, a Chess.com executive, is also being sued in the lawsuit. With Hans Niemann asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, a public trial will surely attract a lot of attention from the media and the global chess community.