The Russian ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik's repeated cheating allegations against Daniel Naroditsky will now be examined by the International Chess Federation (Fide). Was Naroditsky exposed to harassment and bullying?
It's good, but it should have happened earlier, thinks Håkan Jalling. No evidence of cheating has ever been presented.
It has been spread for a long time from Kramnik's side, not just against Naroditsky but against some others as well.
"Real lives are being ruined"
It was Naroditsky's family who delivered the death notice – without going into how and why the 29-year-old suddenly passed away. But many link his apparently poor well-being before his death to the fierce cheating allegations.
The Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin means that Naroditsky was exposed to enormous pressure and pain – and everyone could see how he was affected.
"When respected people spread unfounded accusations without accountability, real lives are being ruined", writes Nihal Sarin on X.
The Norwegian former world champion Magnus Carlsen has expressed regret that he did not publicly come out and support Naroditsky.
I expressed privately that I felt with him in what he was going through. Maybe I should also have expressed it publicly, he says on
.
Strong development
Håkan Jalling thinks that what has happened can be seen in the light of chess's very strong development after the pandemic:
It's much connected to online games and that a lot happens on computers where you follow players live, listen to commentators live and also streamers who have come in and had a fine development. This is, in that context, something that is extremely serious – a serious side of something that is fundamentally positive.
Naroditsky was known for his chess channel on Youtube with tutorials and live broadcasts and many felt that they had a relationship with him, thinks Jalling, who points to all the love and sorrow that has been expressed after the death.
I think it shows a big, lovely chess family, where there are flaws that you have to deal with.
