Vladimir Kramnik denied all accusations thrown at him recently after Daniel Naroditsky’s sudden death, in an official statement on Saturday. Naroditsky died on 19 October (Sunday), less than a month short of his 30th birthday. Since his death, fans and players have taken to social media to express their condolences, but have also put Kramnik in the spotlight for his tirade against the American GM, which affected his mental health.
Since October 2024, Kramnik repeatedly attacked Naroditsky for over a year, accusing him of cheating in online chess without substantial evidence. In a podcast with Fabiano Caruana and Christian Chirila in 2024, Naroditsky also revealed that the accusations took a tremendous toll on his mental health. Fast forward to his last stream in October 2017, he appeared distressed and stated that he needed to prove himself over the baseless accusations spread by Kramnik.
The likes of Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin have taken to social media to slam Kramnik for his behaviour towards Naroditsky. Meanwhile, So also revealed that he never believed the accusations.
‘Cynical and unlawful campaign’
In his official statement, Kramnik attacked his critics, stating that “this tragic event has become an opportunity for some to exploit for their own interests and to launch an unprecedentedly cynical and unlawful campaign of harassment against me and my family.”
Bizarre explanation
Furthermore, he stated that he “never made any personal attack or insult” towards Naroditsky. He also revealed that he was the only person who noticed Naroditsky’s “obvious health issues a day before his death” and that he “publicly called for him to receive help”.
By that, Kramnik means his distasteful remarks on X after Naroditsky’s last stream. First, he tweeted, “Typical nowadays [in the] world of chess, the only thing everyone cares about is ‘looking great’ and pretending there are no issues. Even if it’s about long-term major problems. Stop this double-faced hypocrisy for once and try to help solve them. Image isn’t everything.”
“Got the stream episodes. Not a doctor but looks like something ‘very else’ than sleeping pills. Hope, if any, real friends of him will care”, he tweeted again, following the distasteful and sarcastic template of his previous tweet.
Then, after Naroditsky’s sudden death, he decided that it was time to attack the American GMs’ “friends”, rather than pass his condolences. He wrote, “Too high price paid, but if I was the only person shouting about obvious long term problems of Danya [Naroditsky’s nickname] becoming alarming, requiring urgent measures from people, while ‘friends’ only cared about hiding it and erase evidence [referring to the removal of videos on Twitch], its rotten to the core.”
Accuses Daniel Naroditsky of cheating once again
Then once again, he restarted his tirade against the American GM, stating that his “private and public requests, made a year ago, for a review” of Naroditsky’s “compliance with fair play rules were ignored, despite a significant amount of evidence”.
It doesn’t just end there, and then the 50-year-old once again decided to respond to his critics, also welcoming the ongoing “criminal investigation in the United States into the circumstances” of Naroditsky’s death.
Here is Vladimir Kramnik’s full official statement in response to backlash after Daniel Naroditsky’s death:
Accusing others of cheating is not something new for Kramnik. In May 2024, he published a list of players on X, under the title “Cheating Tuesdays” and it included the name of David Navara too.
