Many specialists describe Tata Steel as the “Roland Garros of chess”. It has been played since 1938 (except in 1945 because of the war). Many of the best in history have played in it, including world champions such as: Max Euwe, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spaski, Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Anatoli Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik, Gari Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, and of course the last champion, Magnus Carlsen.

The 2023 edition of this tournament will be characterized by including many young talents, such as Gukesh, 16; Praggnanandhaa, 17, Vincent Keymer and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 18; and Arjun Erigaisi, 19. 5 of the 14 contestants are players under the age of 20, which makes Niemann’s absence all the more surprising.

Niemann out the 2023 Tata Steel tournament

Another young talent who will also not be at this tournament is Alireza Firouzja, who fell out with the event organizers after a controversial finale to the 2021 tournament. Niemann’s case, however, has been much worse, as it is a problem that started. at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, in which Magnus Carlsen accused the American of cheating.

Since then, other GMs have shown their distrust of Niemann, the most notable being Hikaru Nakamura. In addition, the Chess.com website published a report on alleged cheating in online games by the young American, who in turn filed a defamation lawsuit.

According to the Chess24.com website: “Hans Niemann claimed in his $100 million lawsuit (which he brought against Carlsen, Nakamura, and Chess.com, among others) that negotiations with the organizers stopped after the events in St. Louis.”

Hans Niemann has been on the lips of the entire chess world due to the controversy he aroused at the beginning of September when, at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, United States, the world champion Magnus Carlsen withdrew before the end of the tournament due to alleged cheating committed by the american against him.

Although Carlsen did not directly accuse Niemann of cheating, with his withdrawal from the tournament (something not very common to see in the world champion) plus other statements, they hinted that he was indirectly accusing the young talent of cheating. As a result of this, Niemann began to be on the lips of the entire chess world.

The story adds new chapters

One of those who spoke about what happened, although trying to be prudent and without attacking Niemann directly, was the famous streamer and chess player Hikaru Nakamura, who somehow agreed with Magnus Carlsen by joining the accusations against his compatriot for doing cheating in the Sinquefield Cup.

The controversy continued in online chess, more precisely in the sixth round of the Julius Baer Generation Cup tournament, where Carlsen was supposed to play Niemann, but gave up after making just one move, and again generating criticism for and against the young chess player.

And what started as a feud within the chess world turned massive when the famous platform chess.com published a report showing that Niemann had cheated in more than 100 games on the website, later published in the Washington Post. Hans Moke admitted to having cheated in online games in his youth, although not in that amount and never in face-to-face games.

The lawsuit

Although many point out that this was beneficial for Niemann since he went from being a complete unknown to one of the most recognizable faces in chess, the truth is that his reputation was damaged and that has affected him professionally. It was expected that he would be invited to the prestigious Tata Steel tournament, but as a result of this trouble it seems that the organizers have given up doing so.

For this reason, Niemann started a lawsuit not only against Magnus Carlsen but also against the Norwegian’s online chess platform, Play Magnus; Chess.com executive Danny Rensch and American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. The document with the demand of Hans Moke consists of 44 pages.

According to the website chess.com (one of the entities involved in this case): “against all five entities, Niemann is claiming slander, libel, unlawful group boycott under the Sherman Act, tortious interference with contract and business expectancies, and civil conspiracy. For each cause of action, at least $100 million is claimed”.