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Vladimir Kramnik repeatedly accused chap chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky of cheating successful the twelvemonth earlier his death.
Published On 23 Oct 2025
Chess’s governing assemblage has said it is considering disciplinary enactment against Russian erstwhile satellite champion Vladimir Kramnik implicit unproven cheating allegations helium repeatedly levelled against chap subordinate Daniel Naroditsky successful the year starring up to the latter’s death.
International Chess Federation (FIDE) president, Arkady Dvorkovich, said connected Wednesday that the game’s governing assemblage was investigating nationalist statements and societal media posts made by Kramnik accusing Naroditsky, a 29-year-old American grandmaster, of cheating.
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Dvorkovich said helium had referred each applicable posts by Kramnik to the body’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission for review, adding that the federation would instrumentality “appropriate action” successful cases of nationalist harassment oregon bullying.
On Monday, Naroditsky’s chess club, the Charlotte Chess Center successful North Carolina, released a connection announcing his abrupt death. A chess prodigy, Naroditsky’s passing has shocked the game’s followers and players. No origin of decease has been made public.
California-born Naroditsky became a grandmaster — the highest rubric successful chess speech from satellite chess champion — astatine the property of 18. The lad of Soviet immigrants to the US, Naroditsky was consistently ranked successful the satellite apical 200 for accepted chess and the apical 25 for blitz chess, a high-speed version. In August, helium won the US National Blitz Championship.
Naroditsky had erstwhile said that Kramnik utilized to beryllium 1 of his “heroes”.
But past October, Kramnik, who held the chess satellite crown for respective years successful the aboriginal 2000s, began accusing Dvorkovich of cheating successful online chess.
The Russian grandmaster has reiterated those accusations successful respective societal media posts implicit the past year. He has not provided important grounds for his claims.
Naroditsky accused Kramnik of trying to ruin his life, admitting during a 2024 Twitch watercourse that the “constant online negativity” was causing him to endure from bouts of burnout and anxiety.
During his last livestream connected Saturday, Naroditsky told his monolithic online pursuing that, “ever since the Kramnik stuff, I consciousness similar if I commencement doing well, radical presume the worst of intentions. The contented is conscionable the lingering effect of it”.
— Vladimir Kramnik (@VBkramnik) October 18, 2025
There are nary documented reports of the federation investigating Naroditsky. According to the chess governing body’s anti-cheating laws, it whitethorn authorisation a subordinate who makes unfounded accusations based connected emotion oregon insufficient data.
In the days pursuing Naroditsky’s death, Kramnik has taken to X to support himself against suggestions helium is culpable, saying successful 1 station that “all those falsely blaming maine volition beryllium legally responsible”.
In different post, helium posted an representation with the caption “don’t bash drugs”, portion besides referencing a “strange caller stream” by Naroditsky.
Many of the biggest names successful modern chess person travel retired to condemn Kramnik’s pursuit of Naroditsky.
Five-time satellite chess champion Magnus Carlsen called his harassment run “appalling”, portion Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin condemned the “relentless, baseless accusations and nationalist interrogations”.
“This has to stop. When respected figures dispersed unfounded allegations without accountability, existent lives are destroyed,” Sarin wrote connected X.
Naroditsky was not the archetypal subordinate Kramnik has accused of cheating.
The erstwhile satellite champion’s anti-cheating allegations erupted archetypal during the COVID-19 pandemic, erstwhile galore elite players went online to proceed playing done lockdown. In the integer arena, hard-to-prove cheating allegations person grown rampant.
In 2023, Kramnik’s blog connected fashionable net chess server Chess.com was unopen down, with administrators accusing him of spreading baseless allegations astir “many dozens of players”.
Czech grandmaster David Navara, who besides faced accusations of cheating from Kramnik, said helium had been pushed to see suicide. Kramnik responded by accusing Navara of defamation.
English (US) ·