After American Chess Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky's death aged 29, an old video has surfaced of the late player when he had accused Vladimir Kramnik of ruining his life. With Kramnik hinting at a potential substance abuse after Naroditsky's death, the latter had alleged the Russian of inflicting emotional and physical harm on him.
On Monday, hours after Naroditsky's demise, Kramnik shared a cryptic post on the social media platform of X that read 'Don't do drugs'. One of the leading chess players in the world on a professional level, Kramnik had accused the American of cheating in 2024, alleging that he took assistance from the computer while playing online games. Although no reason has been disclosed behind Naroditsky's death, media reports claim that those close to him ignored signs of distress and drug use.
Speaking in a video now surfaced on social media, the late chess player said:
"This is a sustained, evil and an absolutely unhinged attempt to destroy my life and I'm tired of mincing words at this point. He's trying to ruin my life, inflict emotional harm and physical harm on me. He knows exactly what he's doing. This is one of the most wicked people I've dealt with. I'm not trying to seek attention with this."
"I have had problems with him in the past" - Magnus Carlsen on Vladimir Kramnik
In a video surfaced on X, Norwegian Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen underlined that Kramnik had accused several players of cheating, elaborating:
"With the whole Kramnik situation not only with Naroditsky, from the beginning I would say. Obviously I have had problems with him in the past, not like big problems but generally, for all his greatness, generally, he thought that he was somebody who had a bit of a better reputation than that he deserved for many reasons. But I did feel from the very start that he when he was going through some kind of ‘crusade’ against cheating online, I did feel that, at the start, I didn’t agree with his numbers. I thought at the end of the day he is kind of fighting the good fight."
According to reports, the late chess player's net worth amounts to between $500,000 and $1 million.
