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St. Louis Judge Dismisses $100M Suit Over Chess Cheating Allegations | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

June 28, 2023

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click to enlarge Hans Niemann was sort of accused of cheating at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. A St. Louis judge has dismissed chess player Hans Niemann’s $100 million lawsuit that had alleged defamation and conspiracy over claims he cheated at a chess tournament here. Niemann says he was defamed by grand master Magnus Carlsen, who’d alleged Niemann cheated Carlsen in order to win the prestigious Sinquefield Cup — and then was blocked from play by Chess.com, which had recently merged with Carlsen’s eponymous online chess company, Play Magnus.U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Fleissig dismissed key claims in the suit yesterday with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled. But Niemann’s attorneys told the Wall Street Journal they would pursue the defamation claim in state court — and that means it could well be landing soon in the lap of a St. Louis Circuit Court judge.Allegations that Niemann had cheated garnered attention even outside the chess world — in part due to the salaciousness of the suggestion that Niemann had used anal beads to do it. No less than Elon Musk weighed in (in a since-deleted tweet, the Twitter CEO wrote, “Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one can see (cause it’s in ur butt)”), and even It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia memorably used the allegation as a jumping-off point for a vibrating cheating device.Judge Fleissig, for her part, did not weigh in on the merits of the anal bead theory. She wrote that her jurisdiction was limited to antitrust claims. Summarizing the case, Fleissig wrote, “Niemann alleges that his surprise victory over Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis on September 4, 2022, ‘effectively dashed Carlsen’s two remaining statistical ambitions, namely: achieving a 2900 FIDE performance rating for the first time in history; and breaking his own world-record unbeaten streak in FIDE-sanctioned events,’ both of which ‘would have solidified Carlsen as arguably the greatest chess player of all time and made his burgeoning chess empire even more valuable.’ “Niemann alleges that, as a result of this upset, Carlsen retaliated by falsely accusing Niemann of cheating during their in-person match at the Sinquefield Cup and demanding that the tournament organizers immediately disqualify Niemann, even though Carlsen had no legitimate basis to suspect Niemann of cheating. When the organizers refused to disqualify Niemann, Carlsen withdrew from the tournament.” And after that, Chess.com swiftly banned Niemann from its platform.Unfortunately for Niemann, Fleissig found that he did not have a plausible antitrust claim under federal law, noting that the law is meant to protect “competition, not competitors.” Because Niemann doesn’t operate a professional chess tournament or an online chess platform, she wrote, he can’t show the specific types of injury necessary to sustain an antitrust claim. “Niemann’s ban resulted from his alleged violation of Chess.com’s rules regarding cheating,” Fleissig wrote. “As noted above in the discussion of antitrust injury, Niemann has not plausibly alleged that Chess.com’s enforcement of its rules — whether fair or not as applied to Niemann — adversely affected competition among the professional chess tournaments and online recreational chess platforms that comprise the Competitive Chess Market.”And so ends the 19-year-old chess prodigy’s federal claim. Stay tuned to see if the anal bead theory gets more of a hearing in state court, which would likely be much more focused on defamation than claims of anti-competitive conspiracies. In the meantime, all thanks to chess enthusiast/local billionaire Rex Sinquefield for giving us the Sinquefield Cup and all of this popcorn-worthy drama. It’s not just keeping the lawyers busy; it’s keeping the rest of us mighty entertained.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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