Fide to investigate Kramnik over attacks on Naroditsky as chess reels from player’s death

<ul><li><p>Chess world mourns 29-year-old streaming pioneer</p></li><li><p>Kramnik criticized for reckless cheating accusations</p></li><li><p>Fide CEO’s statement prompts calls for resignation</p></li></ul><p>The International Chess Federation (Fide) said on Wednesday it is examining former world champion Vladimir Kramnik’s public attacks on Daniel Naroditsky, the American grandmaster <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/20/daniel-naroditsky-dies-chess-grandmaster">whose sudden death at 29</a> has stunned the chess world and laid bare fissures in the sport’s digital age.</p><p>Naroditsky, among the most visible faces of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/14/the-guardian-view-on-the-chess-boom-how-rooks-and-knights-captured-the-world">chess’s pandemic-era renaissance</a>, was one of the most popular players and teachers of his generation, a Stanford-educated prodigy who won the Under-12 world championship, became a grandmaster at 18 and went on to amass more than 800,000 followers across Twitch and YouTube. Known by his nickname Danya, the California-born Naroditsky’s mix of patience, humor, generosity and gift for communication made him a standard-bearer of chess’s online boom, helping to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jan/11/chess-crazy-tv-shows-schools-clubs-and-fashion-all-grab-a-piece-of-the-game">bring vast new audiences</a> to a centuries-old pastime.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/oct/22/naroditsky-kramnik-fide-investigation-online-chess-death">Continue reading...</a>