I’ve lost all respect for Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik. His wild and baseless accusations that GM Daniel Naroditsky was cheating showed how unstable he had become. With no proof or logic behind his claims, Kramnik’s words unfairly hurt Daniel’s reputation as a player, streamer, teacher, and person.
Since cheating claims are hard to prove or disprove, many people sadly chose to believe Kramnik. Daniel was a kind, humble man who spent most of his life teaching others and sharing his love for chess. He was brilliant, both on and off the board, and one of the best bullet players in the world. I learned so much from his videos and always admired his positivity.
The accusations hit Daniel hard — it was clear during his final stream how deeply he was hurt. Chess Grandmasters don’t just play a game; they dedicate their whole lives to it. Earning the GM title is one of the toughest achievements in any field, and only a little over 2,000 people in history have done it. Sadly, the mental pressure that comes with it is enormous.
His death has affected me more than any other public figure’s. I rarely feel this kind of pain for someone I didn’t personally know, but Daniel’s passing truly breaks my heart. He was a light in the chess world, always kind and inspiring. Seeing him destroyed by false accusations is unbearable.
I don’t think Kramnik meant for things to go this far, but his actions show how words can cause real tragedy. I hope he carries deep regret for what happened.
Rest in peace, Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky.
The chess world will never be the same without you.
@Utkarsh_1729 said in #1:
> I don’t think Kramnik meant for things to go this far, but his actions show how words can cause real tragedy. I hope he carries deep regret for what happened.
Why? , so the devil and his workers ( the gods ) can collect Kramnik also? xxx
My take is that while it would be far fetched to say that Daniel Naroditsky died because of the campaign Vladimir Kramnik led against him, it is kind of obvious that it was at least partially responsible for the mental state he was in recently.
@Utkarsh_1729 said in #1:
> I don’t think Kramnik meant for things to go this far, but his actions show how words can cause real tragedy. I hope he carries deep regret for what happened.
I don't think that's going to happen. Vladimir Kramnik shows typical signs of a "Truth Bearer" who does not care how many people he harms, how many people tell him what he is doing is bad, whether he is hated or laughed upon because he believes that he has his "Truth" and that he is doing it all "for the greater good".
I am thinking he doesn't deserve to be a GM. I have never thought he was right about everyone. But seeing someone's death because of his words is unbearable. Even if I'll get accused of being a cheater, I will get really sad and mad.
My friends and I in our city have decided we will no longer refer to the 14th world champion. When we write our lists, there will be no 14th world champion. He is gone.
@madhumithran said in #7:
> Yes kramnik is googoooooooooooooooood
He will be remembered in the history pages as one of the worst figures of chess , worse than a cheater
He literally harassed daniel and even now
Life was not even worth living due to that kramnik
He thinks what he guess is ultimate proof
Kramnik deserves everything he's getting right now and more. I would quote Nemo on this, but it would probably violate the Lichess TOS to do so.
Kramnik's accusations were almost certainly false and as it turned out also dangerous.
However, he has the right to express his opinion even if wrong and even if dangerous. The freedom to express ourselves is more important than everything else.
Carlsen himself accused Hans Niemann pretty much for the same thing. More grounded, more likely to be true but still for exactly the same thing. Where is the proof for Hans? Doesn't Carlsen, also ex world Champion, have the right to express his concerns about Hans cheating?
The problem with the case of Danya was that the top Gms did not support him as much as they should (or at least could) immediately after the piece of s_ _ t aka Vladimir Kramnik, posted his ungrounded accusations. Danya felt all of a sudden alone due to the ''diplomatic'' approach most famous chess figures had back then. If a random guy said something similar, everyone would go after him but because Vladimir is ex world Champion, somehow it is different. If you wish to accuse somebody for what happened, you can safely accuse all those guys (youtubers, Top Gms etc) who now post videos about how sad and socked they are but did not support Danya and did not cancel Kramnik when they had the chance. They did not want to choose a side, the side of Danya, and fight for it because they were afraid they would lose a bunch of viewers. Yes, some of them posted some tweets but that's not the way. Every day since day 1, they should go out and speak against Kramnik until Kramnik apologized and justice was restored. Not just post one sentence and then move on with some random stream''Guess the Elo'' or ''Smurfing the 2000s'' etc.
As for FIDE, any word would be a waste...
Not reacting against injustice towards others is the same as causing it. If a lesson was learned here, it's this one.
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