Now, it's the turn of American grandmaster Hans Niemann to file a law suit against world champion Magnus Carlsen as accusations of cheating flies thick and fast.
Niemann, in the suit filed in federal court in Missouri, according to reports, is seeking $100 million in damages from Carlsen, his company Play Magnus Group, Danny Rensch of Chess.com, the world's leading online chess platform, and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura.
"Niemann accused the defendants of slander and libel and colluding to destroy his reputation and livelihood," The Associated Press reported.
Earlier, Magnus Carlsen while accusing Hans Niemann of cheating had claimed, "I believe that Niemann has cheated more - and more recently - than he has publicly admitted. His over-the-board progress has been unusual, and throughout our game, in the Sinquefield Cup, I had the impression that he was not tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do. This game contributed to changing my perspective."
Subsequently, a 72-page report, of a probe conducted by Chess.com and initially reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, stated: Our investigation has revealed that while there has been some noteworthy online play that has caught our attention as suspicious since August 2020, we are unaware of any evidence that Hans has engaged in online cheating since then. Our investigation has concluded that he did, however, cheat much more than he has publicly admitted to, including in many prize events, at least 25 streamed games, and 100+ rated games on Chess.com, as recently as when he was 17 years old.
The full investigation, which was made public recently revealed that Niemann privately confessed to the allegations, and that he was subsequently banned for a period of time from Chess.com, the world’s most popular chess platform, The Guardian had reported.