 "Viswanathan Anand had defeated Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 to defend his world championship crown. Image: Reuters")
Chess great Viswanathan Anand slammed Vladimir Kramnik on Tuesday for his crusade against cheating amid criticism that, despite being the FIDE deputy president, the Indian legend has stayed away from calling out the Russian Grandmaster’s unfounded cheating allegations.
Kramnik had been in the eye of the storm since the death of American grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky last month. Naroditsky was accused of cheating during online games by Kramnik in 2024, but the allegations were never proved.
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Naroditsky had repeatedly spoken about the allegations taking a mental toll on him before he was found dead at his house on 19 October .
Many top players, including world No 1 Magnus Carlsen and Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, have held Kramnik responsible for Naroditsky’s death , while a few chess fans also criticised Anand for staying quiet on the issue despite holding a senior position in the International Chess Federation, FIDE.
Anand criticises Kramnik over anti-cheating accusations
Breaking his silence, five-time world champion Anand said he was “disappointed” in the way Kramnik has turned his anti-cheating mission into a crusade against a few players. He added that FIDE would take necessary steps to avoid any such unfortunate episode in the future.
“To be honest, most of us are quite disappointed with how Kramnik has behaved in this matter, and we will take steps to take care of this. I don’t think there is any cause for unfounded allegations, and we will continue working on that,” Anand said.
“But I don’t want to comment too much on what we are specifically going to do, because it is a matter which is going to the FIDE Ethics Commission.”
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For the unversed, Anand and Kramnik had some very intense battles on the chessboard during the peak of their careers. The Indian had beaten Kramnik in the 2008 World Chess Championship to successfully defend his crown in Germany.