 "Daniel Naroditsky tragedy exposes dark underbelly of chess world and Vladimir Kramnik’s controversial cheating crusade")
The trend of one player being accused of cheating by another isn’t exactly a recent phenomenon in chess, although they have resulted in some of the biggest scandals in the history of the sport. The impact that such allegations can have on the well-being of a player perhaps wasn’t fully understood all these years. Until the tragic demise of American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky at the age of 29 on Sunday.
The untimely demise of Naroditsky, known more popularly as ‘Danya’ who also gained a worldwide following as a commentator and streamer, has shook the chess world over the past couple of days. Tributes have poured in from across the world with legends of the game including Viswanathan Anand and Judit Polgar offering their condolences.
Naroditsky’s death puts spotlight on Kramnik and his cheating accusations
At the same time, Naroditsky’s death has also brought the attention of the chess community, from former and current players to fans, to Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik and his comments attacking the American. Former world champion Kramnik, after all, had been accusing Naroditsky of cheating in online games for well over a year, suggesting that the latter was consulting a chess engine on a second screen.
Kramnik did not provide any evidence to support his wild claims on Naroditsky, who later labelled the Russian "worse than dirt" while revealing how the allegations had affected him mentally. The fact that Naroditsky was not in the right state of mind could be ascertained from his final stream on Twitch last Saturday, in which he fell asleep while playing online chess and frequently discussed the cheating allegations.
Kramnik’s reply to the live stream didn’t help either. “Typical nowadays (in the) world of chess, the only thing everyone cares about is ‘looking great’ and pretending there are no issues. Even if it’s about long-term major problems. Stop this double-faced hypocrisy for once and try to help solve them. Image isn’t everything,” the 50-year-old wrote on X.
And after learning of Naroditsky’s death, Kramnik suggested on Tuesday that the American was under the influence of "some serious drugs" and was also being targeted by the "chess mafia".
Other players targeted by Kramnik and his unverified accusations
This isn’t the first time Kramnik’s tried to target a player with cheating accusations; he has previously targeted Peruvian-Mexican GM José Martínez Alcántara, which led to a showdown between the two in Madrid that Alcántara ended up winning.
Also Read | Kramnik hits back at critics, defends anti-cheating measures following Naroditsky’s death
The Russian had also targeted Czech GM David Navara, the 40-year-old a widely respected and admired figure in the chess world. Navara would later reveal that he had considered suicide after his name was tarnished by Kramnik and his allegations.
Indian GM Nihal Sarin recently revealed that Kramnik had also tried to target him, and described the Russian as someone who has “literally taken a life”.
“Fortunately for me, my friends, coaches, they immediately defended me. I had quite a bit of a support system. Unfortunately, Naroditsky was not having that… I was aware that I had some really good results. I was kind of waiting for it. I knew Kramnik would come after me someday,” Sarin told The Indian Express following Naroditsky’s death.
Chess and its history with cheating
Kramnik isn’t the first chess icon to make unverified cheating allegations against another player either. Current world No 1 Magnus Carlsen, who slammed Kramnik over Naroditsky's death, had also leveled such allegations without proof against an American GM – Hans Niemann in his case.
The incident, which took place after Niemann defeated Carlsen in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, ended up snowballing into one of the biggest controversies in the history of chess which even led to Niemann filing a $100 million lawsuit. And while the two have had an out-of-court settlement since then, Carlsen and Niemann continue to trade barbs with one another off the board, and have also had a couple of dramatic battles on it.
There are, however, some cases of cheating where the player is punished severely after his/her guilt has been established without doubt through tangible evidence.
This turned out to be the case with Ukrainian-Romanian player Kiril Shevchenko, whose Grandmaster title has been revoked by FIDE and who has been slapped with a three-year ban with one year suspended after he was caught using a mobile phone hidden in a toilet during a tournament in Spain.
The Kramnik-Naroditsky case however, stands out from the other instances by highlighting just how serious such allegations can be for a player’s well-being. And it will force leading players such as Carlsen, world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura and others as well as governing body FIDE to try and come up with a plan to tackle the issue head-on.
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