Magnus Carlsen endorses $4 million fundraiser to honour late GM Daniel Naroditsky

Magnus Carlsen has endorsed an online fundraiser in honour of the late Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky who passed away last month at the age of just 29. The Norwegian chess maestro shared the fundraising link for the establishment of Naroditsky Memorial & Fellowship Endowment.

Charlotte Chess Center (CCC), the club of Naroitsky, is aiming to raise $4,000,000 to set up the memorial.

“To honor his legacy, the Naroditsky Family, in partnership with the Charlotte Chess Center and Charlotte Chess Center Foundation, has established the Naroditsky Memorial and Fellowship Fund, a lasting endowment that will celebrate Daniel’s life, his love for teaching, and his impact on the global chess community for generations to come,” posted CCC.

Carlsen had called Naroditsky’s demise ‘great loss’

Carlsen regarded Naroditsky as a tough opponent and said that his presence was a big resource was for the chess community.

“It’s a great loss. It’s very sad for all of us that somebody who was such a resource to the chess community and also had a universally high approval rating from everybody he met was led to the place that he was,” Carlsen had said on Naroditsky’s death.

“He was able to drum up attacks out of nothing. And he would quite often actually checkmate me. Like that’s often how he won games (against me). And so for me that clash of style was was was extremely interesting,” Carlsen said in a later interview.

FIDE opened probe after Naroditsky’s death

Naroditsky’s sudden demise had come amid a series of cheating allegations labelled against him from former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik.

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) recently lodged a formal complaint with its Ethics & Disciplinary Commission (EDC) against Kramnik for his repeated public allegations of cheating against Naroditsky.

After Naroditsky’s death, Kramnik in a social media post had also alluded that the player might have also indulged in substance abuse.