Chess' international governing body said on Wednesday it was considering disciplinary action against a former Russian world champion who persistently made unproven allegations of cheating against Daniel Naroditsky in the year leading up to the American grandmaster's death.
The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on Monday. He was 29. The cause of death has not been made public.
Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, who held the world title for several years in the early 2000s, began accusing the California-born professional of cheating during online chess matches last October. Over the past year, he continued to share his suspicions on social media without providing substantial evidence.
Naroditsky, who became a grandmaster at the age of 18, the highest title in chess apart from world chess champion, had denied the allegations of cheating and accused Kramnik of ruining his life.
Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the International Chess Federation, said on Wednesday that he had formally referred all relevant public statements made by Kramnik before and after Naroditsky's death to the body's Ethics and Disciplinary Committee for review. He promised that the federation would take “appropriate action” in any case where public intimidation or bullying is observed.
The agency requires substantial evidence to initiate a cheating investigation and can impose sanctions on a player who makes unsubstantiated accusations based on emotion or insufficient data, according to anti-cheating laws. There were no documented reports from the federation investigating Naroditsky.
The Associated Press reached out to Kramnik via social media for comment on Wednesday.
The investigation comes as several grandmasters, including Hikaru Nakamura and Nihal Sarin, have criticized Kramnik's behavior, saying the Russian pro had harassed Naroditsky and tried to destroy his reputation.
Five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen called Kramnik's relentless pursuit of Naroditsky “terrible.”
During his last live stream on Saturday, Naroditsky told a massive online crowd that Kramnik's fraud claims had taken his toll.
“Since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like when I'm doing well, people assume the worst intentions. The problem is just the lingering effect of it,” Naroditsky said, adding that Kramnik was one of his “heroes.”
It is not the first time that Kramnik has been accused of harassment. Popular Internet chess server Chess.com shut down Kramnik's blog on the site in 2023, saying he had used it to spread baseless accusations about “many dozens of players.”
The following year, Kramnik published a list of players on social media entitled 'Cheating Tuesdays', which included Czech grandmaster David Navara. Navara later shared on his blog that Kramnik's public accusations had led him to consider suicide. Kramnik responded by accusing Navara of defamation.
In June, the federation responded to the players' public row by saying that the way Kramnik presents his arguments “does a lot of damage to the chess community” and “could be disastrous for the careers and well-being of certain players.” The group invited Kramnik to present the details of his approach and statistical data for official evaluation.
Kramnik's crusade against cheating exploded when the game was moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many elite players traded the physical chessboard for a keyboard to continue playing through the lockdown, skyrocketing the popularity of streaming content and fast-paced online games where Naroditsky excelled.
Players of the brain sport are known to value respectful behavior at the board. But in the digital arena, a new level of toxicity has developed, with accusations of cheating becoming more common and much harder to prove. Players now have advanced computer systems at their fingertips that can give them an unfair advantage, and new ways to capitalize on their success online.
In blitz and bullet chess, where players have just minutes to complete intense matches, experts say top talent often moves with speed and precision comparable to that of a computer. Naroditsky was one of the top 25 blitz players in the world and won the US National Blitz Championship in August.
“In recent times, public debate in the chess world has too often gone beyond the bounds of what is acceptable, damaging not only people's reputations but also their well-being,” Dvorkovich acknowledged on Wednesday. “When this happens, discussions can devolve into intimidation, bullying and personal attacks – a particularly serious concern in today's times.”
Dvorkovich said the federation will establish a prize in memory of Naroditsky.
Kramnik continued posting about Naroditsky on the day his death was announced, calling it a tragedy and speculating about the cause. Kramink also wrote on the social platform X that the “tragedy must be investigated by the police.” He wrote on Wednesday that he received threats after he “revealed public information about the 'dark side' of modern chess.”
