(BBC News) The world chess federation (FIDE) has said it is examining public attacks former world champion Vladimir Kramnik made against Daniel Naroditsky before the US grandmaster’s death.
FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky told the Reuters news agency it was “looking into” the Russian’s comments accusing Naroditsky, who died this week at age 29, of online cheating.
Before his death, Naroditsky denied any wrongdoing and indicated the controversy had taken its toll on him in his final Twitch broadcast.
Kramnik told Reuters he did not want to comment on Sutovsky’s statement, saying that he would “rather tell the story in whole.”
Naroditsky’s family announced his “unexpected” death in a statement released by his club, the Charlotte Chess Centre, on Monday. No cause of death was given.
Kramnik also indicated on X he was planning to take legal action against “all those falsely blaming me.” He described Naroditsky’s death as a “tragedy” that the police should investigate, adding: “I am ready to provide all information required.”
He added that he would respond if FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich were to make a statement.
Naroditsky was a popular player, teacher and commentator. He was a leading figure in online chess with hundreds of thousands of followers – who knew him as Danya – across Twitch and YouTube.
Some prominent figures in the chess community – including world number two Hikaru Nakamura, former world champion Magnus Carlsen and Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin – have condemned Kramnik’s conduct.
Kramnik, the world champion from 2000-07 and a self-declared “advocate for fair play in chess,” has accused other players of cheating, further commented on X: “Without a doubt, this recent tragedy should be investigated by police, there are too many huge financial interests involved to be sure about it being just an incident. I am ready to provide all information required.”
Former world under-12 champion Naroditsky, whose parents were Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union, finished ninth in last year’s blitz world championship.
Naroditsky’s YouTube channel had nearly 500,000 subscribers, while his Twitch stream had 340,000 followers.
