The world chess federation FIDE has officially filed a complaint with the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) as part of its investigation against former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. The move is related to the tragic death of Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky.
As FIDE announced on Tuesday, an official complaint about the behavior of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik has been submitted to the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC). The written complaint accuses Kramnik of serious misconduct over a period of around two years.
As part of its investigation, FIDE compiled numerous statements and other material from the 50-year-old that suggested a violation of the code of conduct. The EDC should now determine whether Kramnik insulted Naroditsky’s dignity and harassed the late grandmaster beyond his borders.
The complaint also contains statements from people close to Naroditsky and Grandmaster David Navara.
If the EDC finds that Kramnik has misbehaved, the former world champion will face further consequences. What exactly these might look like can only be speculated. Among other things, prominent figures in the sport have already called for his world championship title to be revoked.
Kramnik wants to expose chess cheaters
A few years ago, Kramnik made it his personal mission to make the sport of chess “cleaner” and expose cheaters. In the course of this, he published numerous videos and countless posts on social media in which, in his opinion, suspicious games could be seen. He presented numerous statistics, some of which had serious flaws and were quickly refuted or explained. However, he rigorously brushed these objections aside.
The Russian, who lives in Switzerland, always confirmed that he had not directly accused anyone of fraud. However, his statements, videos and posts left little room for other interpretations. In addition to Naroditsky and Navara, his best-known recipients included US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, who publicly defended himself against Kramnik with clear words.
“What’s the point of ruining someone’s life?”
Unlike Nakamura, Kramnik’s statements greatly concerned Naroditsky. He made this clear again in his last live stream a few hours before his death on October 19th. In many previous interviews, Naroditsky also emphasized how hard Kramnik’s statements and suspicions affected him.
A broad front against Kramnik has long been formed in the professional chess scene. Many top players blame him for Naroditsky’s death.
These included Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin, who told the Indian Express: “Kramnik’s method is apparently to burn down an entire city to catch a few fraudsters. You kill thousands of innocent people to get one or two guys. I don’t understand what he gets out of it. What’s in it for him to ruin someone’s life? And now he’s almost directly responsible for taking one.”
Kramnik needs “professional help”
GM Levon Aronian also publicly accused Kramnik. The Armenian had initially tried to reach out to Kramnik and bring him to his senses. But the Russian didn’t respond and continued on his misguided hunt for fraudsters.
“He’s in a place where he needs professional help. I don’t think he’s ready to change his mind,” Aronian said of Kramnik, who repeatedly railed against the “chess mafia” in his statements and claimed that FIDE and major online platforms like “chess.com” were not interested in catching cheaters.