Chess player Hans Niemann's $100m lawsuit over cheating claims dismissed

Hans Niemann has denied allegations that he cheated during competitive chess games

A court in the US state of Missouri has dismissed a $100m (£78m) lawsuit filed by top chess player Hans Niemann over cheating allegations.

Niemann alleged he had been falsely accused of cheating after a row between him and another top chess player broke out during a tournament last year.

A federal judge dismissed his suit, ruling that the claim of defamation was outside her jurisdiction.

She also rejected claims he was illegally blacklisted from tournaments.

The American grandmaster's lawyers said they intended to pursue the defamation claims in another state court.

• The cheating row that's blowing up the chess world

The cheating scandal involving Niemann rocked the chess world when the claims first emerged last year.

It all started when five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen - considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time - lost his 53-game winning streak to Niemann in an in-person game last September.

The 32-year-old Norwegian accused Niemann, 20, of cheating, in over-the-board (in person) play and suggested his rise to prominence in the chess world had been too rapid to be believable.

A Chess.com report claimed that Niemann probably did cheat in more than 100 online games. But concrete evidence has never been provided that Niemann cheated over the board.

In his court filing last October, Niemann accused Carlsen of launching a smear campaign against him in collaboration with Carlsen's online chess company, Play Magnus, and Chess.com. Chess.com subsequently bought Play Magnus in December.

Niemann sought compensation "to recover from the devastating damages that defendants have inflicted upon his reputation, career, and life by egregiously defaming him and unlawfully colluding to blacklist him from the profession to which he has dedicated his life", the lawsuit said.

Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura was also included in the suit. He was accused of repeating the cheating accusations while streaming video content on Chess.com.

Niemann argued in his lawsuit that Carlsen and others effectively created a monopoly across chess competitions, violating antitrust laws - which prohibit anti-competitive practices.

But on Tuesday, US District Court Judge Audrey Fleissig said the link between the alleged violations of antitrust law governing fair competition and Niemann's "asserted injury" were "tenuous at best" and "insufficient to state an antitrust claim".

The antitrust claims were dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought again.

Ms Fleissig also stated she did not have the necessary jurisdiction to rule in Niemann's other claims regarding breach of contract and defamation.

The BBC has approached Niemann for comment.

Carlsen's lawyer, Craig Reiser, said "we are pleased the Court has rejected Hans Niemann's attempt to recover an undeserved windfall in Missouri federal court". Lawyers for Chess.com have also said they are pleased with Tuesday's outcome.

"It feels like it's a step in the right direction," said Nakamura in a video posted online.