Magnus Carlsen criticises Vladimir Kramnik after Naroditsky's death: 'He was not in a great space'

World No 1 chess player Magnus Carlsen has criticised former world champion Vladimir Kramnik for the “horrible” way in which he went after American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, who died at the age of 29 on Sunday. No cause of death has been given so far, but Carlsen has claimed that Daniel Naroditsky was not in a “great space” after facing allegations of cheating in online games by Kramnik.

Naroditsky had revealed in December last year that the cheating accusations had taken a mental toll on him as he called Kramnik “worse than dirt” for making the allegations without conclusive evidence.

Carlsen slams Kramnik after Naroditsky’s death

Reflecting on the unfortunate demise of Naroditsky, Carlsen first touched upon Kramnik’s allegations of cheating against multiple players. The 34-year-old said that at first, he felt the Russian Grandmaster was fighting the “good fight.”

“With the whole Kramnik situation not only with Naroditsky, from the beginning I would say. Obviously I have had problems with him in the past, not like big problems but generally, for all his greatness, generally, he thought that he was somebody who had a bit of a better reputation than that he deserved for many reasons. But I did feel from the very start that he when he was going through some kind of ‘crusade’ against cheating online, I did feel that, at the start, I didn’t agree with his numbers. I thought at the end of the day he is kind of fighting the good fight,” Carlsen said in video uploaded on the “Take Take Take” X account on Tuesday.

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However, Carlsen added that the whole anti-cheating campaign soon turned into a crusade as allegations were made against players who he feels did not cheat.

“But it turned on its head. First of all, he started to go after Hikaru (Nakamura) which seemed crazy. That was bad in itself but when he started going after Naroditsky so hard- first of all, I don’t think anybody thought Naroditsky was cheating. I know that coming from me, make of it what you will. Some people will say I have very little credibility on the matter but I personally in private expressed that I was sorry for what he was going through and supported him. Probably should have done that publicly as well but I think people can understand some of the reasons I was reluctant to. I thought, yeah, the way he was going after Naroditsky was horrible. Seeing how it affected him as well which was apparent now.

"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."@MagnusCarlsen on the passing of Daniel Naroditsky. pic.twitter.com/BQJ9Flbp0J

— Take Take Take (@TakeTakeTakeApp) October 21, 2025

“I don’t have any more information. I don’t know what happened two days ago so I am not going to speculate on that. But regardless, even long before that it had clearly taken him to a point where he was not in a great space. So, again, make of what you will, coming from me but that was not good. 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 added.

Meanwhile, Kramnik wrote on social media that Naroditsky might have been under the influence of drugs recently and that his death is “properly” investigated.

What exactly happened? Because I received this two days ago from a friend of mine chess fan, and at least did what I could to warn people to do something urgently in my posts. To those who prefer blaming and shaming instead of helping. Awfull tradegy, hope properly investigated pic.twitter.com/12xz9oZNx4

— Vladimir Kramnik (@VBkramnik) October 20, 2025

“What exactly happened?  Because I received this two days ago from a friend of mine chess fan, and at least did what I could to warn people to do something urgently in my posts. To those who prefer blaming and shaming instead of helping. Awfull tradegy, hope properly investigated.”