Chess’ ‘anal beads cheater’ Hans Niemann accuses rival of organising abusive heckling

On Jan 13, 2023

Chess star Hans Niemann has accused world champion Magnus Carlsen of paying another grandmaster to heckle him during a tournament.

The pair became embroiled in a cheating scandal in September after Niemann beat Carlsen in an over-the-board match at the Sinquefield Cup. The shock result led to the world No1 accusing his opponent of cheating, with one unproven theory spurred on by Elon Musk suggesting Niemann used vibrating anal beads to aid his decision-making.

But the American has now accused Carlsen of going to even further lengths to discredit him by paying a fellow player €300 (£266) to shout “Cheater Hans” from a public balcony during one of his matches.

Niemann alleges in a federal lawsuit that Carlsen, chess.com and others have colluded to destroy his career. The 19-year-old is seeking $100million (£82m) in damages from the Norwegian for defamation and slander which he claims have resulted in him being banned from tournaments.

The lawsuit submission to the district court of Missouri states: “To ensure that he inflicted the maximum possible damage to Niemann and his career, Carlsen, in the days and weeks that followed the Sinquefield Cup, deployed a more covert defamatory campaign against Niemann, designed to bolster Carlsen’s more high-profile defamatory accusations within the chess community.

Magnus Carlsen [pictured] was defeated by the American last year
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

“In Carlsen’s malicious defamatory campaign against Niemann, Carlsen went as far as paying Aryan Tari €300 (£266) to scream ‘Ukse [sic] Hans’, Norwegian for ‘Cheater Hans’, from the stands at the closing ceremony of the European Club Cup on October 9, 2022, which was attended by many of the world’s most prominent chess players and heard by many of its fans.”

It continued: “Shortly thereafter, the entire Norwegian chess team, including Carlsen, were observed publicly chanting ‘Ukse [sic] Hans’ in bars and the streets of the Austrian town where the European Club Cup was held.

Hans Niemann faced unproven claims that he used vibrating anal beads to beat his opponent
(Image: Saint Louis Chess Club)

AI anal beads are at the centre of chess controversy
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“Any reasonable listener of these statements would interpret them as reiterating Carlsen’s false accusation that Niemann cheated when he defeated Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup.”

Niemann previously admitted to cheating when playing online chess aged 12 and 16, but denied having cheated since and during any in-person matches. Yet Carlsen accused Niemann of “cheating more – and more recently – than he has publicly admitted.”

Chess.com also claimed last autumn that Niemann had cheated in more online matches than he had confessed to. They filed a motion in December to dismiss Niemann’s lawsuit, while Carlsen has not publicly responded to the American’s heckling accusation.

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