Chess’s governing body says it may discipline a former Russian world champion who kept leveling unproven cheating allegations at Daniel Naroditsky in the year before the American grandmaster died.
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.
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.
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 last October. He continued to share his suspicions on social media over the past year without providing substantial evidence.
Naroditsky, who at 18 became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from world chess champion, had denied the cheating allegations and accused Kramnik of trying to ruin his life.
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.
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.
The Associated Press reached out Wednesday to Kramnik via social media for comment.Naroditsky’s accuser severely criticized
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.
