 "Why Vladimir Kramnik's posts on American GM Daniel Naroditsky's death has snowballed into a massive controversy")
The chess community was left stunned by the news of American Grandmaster and popular commentator Daniel Naroditsky's sudden demise at the age of 29. Icons of the game including Viswanathan Anand, Judit Polgar and Hikaru Nakamura took to social media to offer their condolences after a family statement shared by the Charlotte Chess Club on Monday confirmed that Naroditsky had passed away the previous day.
While several members of the chess community including legends of the game as well as current stars have expressed their sorrow over the untimely demise of the young GM, known popularly by his nickname ‘Danya’, Russian chess icon Vladimir Kramnik finds himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Kramnik hints at ‘drugs’ and ‘chess mafia’ being linked to Naroditsky’s death
Kramnik, after all, took social media by storm with a series of explosive posts after he was linked to Naroditsky’s tragic demise. The 50-year-old shared screenshots he claimed to have received from a “friend and chess” fan which suggested that the late American GM, who had a massive following on YouTube and Twitch, was not in the right state of mind during his final stream.
“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,” Kramnik wrote in a post on X which carried a screenshot that suggested that Naroditsky was on “some serious drugs” and was being targeted by the “chess mafia”.
“To those who prefer blaming and shaming instead of helping. Awfull tradegy, hope properly investigated," he added.
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
It’s worth noting, however, that the cause for Naroditsky’s death has not been revealed to the public so far.
For context, former world champion Kramnik had previously accused Naroditsky, who had achieved his Grandmaster title at the age of 18 in 2013, of cheating in October last year by consulting a chess engine via a second screen to gain an unfair advantage over his opponents.
Naroditsky had replied to the cheating allegation by labelling Kramnik “worse than dirt” on the Take Take Take podcast.
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