I tried to persuade Kramnik to be less aggressive in his comments: FIDE president

The chess world is still reeling from the tragic death of American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. Its shadow is being felt at the FIDE World Cup, which opened Resort Rio here on Saturday.

FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich said the world chess governing body was looking into the issue and Vladimir Kramnik’s comments on Naroditsky. Some players had held the former World championship from Russia responsible.

“I personally and we all at FIDE are really sorry about the tragic death of Daniel,” he said. “And he was really a personality that influenced the chess world in a positive manner, by being a player, commentator and educator.

“It is also an institutional issue. Since we all understood that he was affected by the sometimes aggressive hints related to potential cheating. And even if those were not direct accusations, he felt like those were real accusations against him and some other players, like David Navara.”

About Kramnik, Dvorkovich said: “At the moment it is in the hands of the Ethics Commission, so, I cannot preempt the findings. But I need to mention that I tried to persuade Kramnik informally that he should be less aggressive, not after what happened, but a long time before, as I felt that it was a bit too much.

“And also, I asked him to provide the full methodology that he is using to bring his hints or accusations.”

The FIDE president said the organisation would continue its vigil against cheating in chess. “We always took it very seriously,” he stressed. “The question is how the whole community feels about that, since we do need support from the whole community to deal with the issue. Online component is the most difficult one, of course, and here the collaboration with platforms is essential.”

Published on Nov 01, 2025