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Chess’s international governing body said Wednesday it is considering disciplinary action against a former Russian world champion who last year repeatedly accused Daniel Naroditsky of unproven cheating. American Death of the Grandmaster.
at the Charlotte Chess Center North CarolinaWhere Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on Monday. He was 29 years old. The cause of death has not been made public.
Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, who held the world title for several years in the early 2000s, began accusing the California-born professional of cheating in online chess matches last October. He continued to share his suspicions on social media over the past year without providing concrete evidence.
Naroditsky, who became world chess champion at the age of 18 and a grandmaster, the highest title in chess, had denied the cheating allegations and accused Kramnik of trying to ruin his life.
International Chess Federation President Arkady Dvorkovich said on Wednesday that he had formally referred all relevant public statements made by Kramnik before and after Naroditsky’s death to the body’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission for review. He promised that the federation would take “appropriate action” in any case where public harassment or bullying is observed.
The organization requires sufficient evidence to initiate a fraud investigation and, as per its anti-fraud laws, players who make baseless allegations based on emotion or insufficient data may be sanctioned. There was no documented report of the federation investigating Naroditsky.
associated Press Kramnik was contacted via social media on Wednesday for comment.
The investigation comes at a time when several grandmasters, including Hikaru Nakamura and Nihal Sarin, have criticized Kramnik’s conduct, saying the Russian supporter had harassed Naroditsky and tried to destroy his reputation.
Five-time World Chess Champion magnus carlsen Kramnik’s relentless pursuit of Naroditsky was described as “appalling”.
During his last livestream on Saturday, Naroditsky told his massive online following that Kramnik’s fraud claims had taken a toll on him.
“Since the Kramnik thing, I feel like if I start doing good, people assume the worst intentions. The issue is just the long-term impact of it,” Naroditsky said, adding that Kramnik used to be one of his “heroes.”
This is not the first time Kramnik has been accused of harassment. The popular Internet chess server Chess.com shut down Kramnik’s blog on the site in 2023, saying he had used it to spread unfounded allegations about “several dozens of players”.
The following year, Kramnik published a list of players on social media titled “Cheating Tuesdays” which included Czech Grandmaster David Navara. Navara later shared on his blog that Kramnik’s public accusations had led him to contemplate suicide. Kramnik responded by accusing Navarra of defamation.
In June, the federation responded to the players’ public feud, saying that the way Kramnik presents his arguments “does great harm to the chess community,” and “could be devastating to the careers and well-being of some players.” The group invited Kramnik to submit details of his approach and statistical data for official evaluation.
Kramnik’s anti-cheating campaign came to a halt as sport moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many elite players replaced physical chess boards with keyboards to continue playing during the lockdown, leading to the rise in popularity of streaming content and fast-paced online games, at which Naroditsky excelled.
Players of cerebral games are known to place importance on respectful conduct on the board. But in the digital sphere, a new level of toxicity has evolved, with allegations of fraud growing rampant and becoming very difficult to prove. Players now have sophisticated computer schemes at their fingertips that can give them unfair advantages, and there are new ways to profit from their success online.
In blitz and bullet chess, where players have only a few minutes to finish intense matches, experts say the top talents often move with speed and accuracy on par with computers. Naroditsky was ranked among the top 25 blitz players in the world and won the US National Blitz Championship in August.
“In recent times, public debate within the chess world has often gone beyond acceptable boundaries, damaging not only people’s reputations but their well-being,” Dvorkovich acknowledged on Wednesday. “When this happens, discussions can devolve into harassment, bullying and personal attacks – which is a particularly serious concern in today’s climate.”
Dvorkovich said the federation would establish an award in Naroditsky’s memory.
On the day his death was announced, Kramnik continued to post about Naroditsky, calling it a tragedy and speculating about the cause. Krammink also wrote on the social platform X that “the tragic incident should be investigated by the police.” He wrote on Wednesday that he “received threats after revealing to the public information about the ‘dark side’ of modern chess.”