By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) -Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik has asked Swiss authorities to investigate threatening messages posted online since the sudden death of U.S. grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, according to a copy of the filing seen by Reuters on Sunday.
Kramnik, who raised questions about possible cheating by Naroditsky and other players last year, is facing disciplinary proceedings over public attacks on the American, a popular streamer and commentator who died earlier this month aged 29. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.
In a nine-page complaint submitted to the Geneva public prosecutor on October 25, Kramnik said he and his family had received “hundreds of terrifying private messages and public comments” on social media, many of them calling for his death or urging him to take his own life.
He also received death threats via email, which were also seen by Reuters.
The filing by the Russian-born grandmaster, who has lived in Switzerland for several years, called for an investigation to be opened into the threatening messages and also asked for police protection.
The filing does not name any suspects but cites numerous threatening and abusive messages posted on X since October 19, the day Naroditsky was found dead in North Carolina.
CHESS FEDERATION LAUNCHES ETHICS REVIEW
Naroditsky’s death prompted an outpouring of grief and an ethics review by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) into Kramnik’s months-long online campaign hinting at cheating by top players, including Naroditsky, during internet events.
Naroditsky’s name appeared on a list published by Kramnik last year of players showing unusually low blunder rates in the final seconds of online games.
Kramnik has denied accusing Naroditsky personally of cheating, saying his remarks were “reasoned questions” based on statistical analysis.
The data he cited came from the Titled Tuesday competition hosted on the chess.com platform last year – a biweekly online event reserved for titled players – which Kramnik mockingly labelled “Cheating Tuesday”.
In his final stream on Twitch on October 17, Naroditsky, who finished ninth in the over-the-board blitz world championship, spoke about the “lingering effect” of Kramnik’s allegations. Naroditsky denied any wrongdoing.
In his complaint to prosecutors, Kramnik said press headlines linking him to Naroditsky’s death were “deeply damaging to my honor”.
FIDE declined to comment on Kramnik’s filing when contacted by Reuters on Sunday.
Top players including world number one Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have publicly condemned Kramnik’s repeated insinuations against fellow competitors.
Kramnik, world champion from 2000 to 2007, said he continues to support “ethical and fair” chess and denounced the online campaign against him as “unprecedented in its violence”.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot;Editing by Helen Popper)
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