Former world chess champion may face discipline for unproven claims about Daniel Naroditsky

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Chess’s international governing body said Wednesday it’s considering disciplinary action against a former Russian world champion who persistently leveled unproven cheating allegations at Daniel Naroditsky in the year leading up to the American grandmaster’s death.

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The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death Monday. He was 29. The cause of death has not been made public.

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Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, who held the world title for several years in the early 2000s, began accusing the California-born pro of cheating in online chess matches last October. He continued to share his suspicions on social media over the past year without providing substantial evidence.

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Naroditsky, who became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from world chess champion, at 18, had denied the cheating allegations and accused Kramnik of trying to ruin his life.

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Arkady Dvorkovich, president of the International Chess Federation, said Wednesday he has formally referred all relevant public statements made by Kramnik before and after Naroditsky’s death to the body’s Ethics and Disciplinary Commission for review. He promised the federation would take “appropriate action” in any case where public harassment or bullying is observed.

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The body requires substantial evidence to launch a cheating investigation and may sanction a player who makes unfounded accusations based on emotion or insufficient data, according to its anti-cheating laws. There were no documented reports of the federation investigating Naroditsky.

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The Associated Press reached out Wednesday to Kramnik via social media for comment.

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The investigation comes as several grandmasters, including Hikaru Nakamura and Nihal Sarin, have called out Kramnik’s conduct, saying the Russian pro had harassed Naroditsky and tried to destroy his reputation.

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Five-time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen called Kramnik’s relentless pursuit of Naroditsky “appalling.”

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During his last livestream Saturday, Naroditsky told his massive online following that Kramnik’s cheating claims had taken a toll on him.

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“Ever since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like if I start doing well, people assume the worst of intentions. The issue is just the lingering effect of it,” Naroditsky said, adding that Kramnik used to be one of his “heroes.”

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It’s not the first time Kramnik has been accused of harassment. The popular internet chess server Chess.com shut down Kramnik’s blog on the site in 2023, saying he had used it to spread baseless allegations about “many dozens of players.”

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The following year, Kramnik published a list of players on social media with the title “Cheating Tuesdays” that included Czech grandmaster David Navara. Navara later shared on his blog that Kramnik’s public accusations had pushed him to consider suicide. Kramnik responded by accusing Navara of defamation.

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In June, the federation responded to the players’ public spat, saying the way Kramnik presents his arguments “brings a lot of harm to the chess community,” and “could be ruinous 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.