FIDE CEO slams Kramnik for 'appalling, shameful' response, questions where Naroditsky’s well-wishers were before death

FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky joined the chorus against Vladimir Kramnik after the Russian chess icon was accused of playing an indirect role in the death of American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, who passed away at the age of 29 on Sunday.

Kramnik has been making headlines recently for what he describes as a crusade against cheating in chess, with the former world champion accusing multiple players of cheating without providing evidence for his claims. The Russian GM had been targeting Naroditsky, known affectionately as 'Danya' in the chess community, for over a year, with the latter admitting that the unproven allegations had affected him mentally.

FIDE CEO responds to Kramnik controversy

Speaking to Reuters, Israeli GM Sutovsky said that the Lausanne-based governing body for the sport is currently "looking into" Kramnik's public attacks against Naroditsky, who was considered a prodigy as a child and was later among the top blitz players in the world.

And in a post on X, Sutovsky said that while the outpouring of love for Naroditsky was "unprecedented" and certainly welcome, he questioned where his friends and well-wishers were when 'Danya' was alive and unwell.

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"Amount of love given to Danya post-mortem is unprecedented. I can't recall anything of the kind. But here is the problem - where all of you were when Danya was alive and unwell?" Sutovsky wrote in a lengthy post on X.

The 48-year-old also described Kramnik's approach to combating cheating in chess as unacceptable, while slamming him for his "appalling and shameful" response to Naroditsky's death.

"One thing is clear: the way Kramnik approaches it, simply can't be accepted. And his reaction on Danya's passing is appalling and outright shameful. FIDE is not a court of justice, but we will act within our jurisdiction," he added in the post.

Naroditsky, who had studied history at the prestigious Stanford University, appeared visibly distressed in his final live stream on Twitch on Saturday, falling asleep while playing rapid games online and even making mention of the cheating controversy and how it had taken a toll on him.

Kramnik, who had defeated the legendary Garry Kasparov to be crowned PCA Classical World Champion in 2000, has been facing flak from some of the biggest names in the world of chess, including Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura – currently ranked first and second respectively in the FIDE classical ratings.

Indian GM Nihal Sarin, who was the last player Naroditsky had faced on popular chess platform Chess.com, went to the extent of claiming that Kramnik had "literally taken a life".

Kramnik sidesteps Sutovsky's statement

Kramnik, meanwhile, has remained defensive despite facing a barrage of criticism for leveling cheating accusations against several players. In an controversial post on Tuesday, he had hinted at Naroditsky being influenced by "some serious drugs" and being targeted by the "chess mafia".

As for the FIDE CEO's statement, Kramnik chose to ignore it for now, adding that that he will only react if president Arkady Dvorkovich says something similar.

"I'd rather tell the story in whole, no wish commenting on Emil Sutovsky statement, but will comment on FIDE president (Arkady Dvorkovich) statement, if it will appear," the 50-year-old told Reuters in response.