Overview

The Vladimir Kramnik Killed Daniel Naroditsky Controversy, also known as Vladimir Kramnik Murdered Daniel Naroditsky Conspiracy Theory or Vladimir Kramnik Cyberbullying Daniel Naroditsky Accusations, refers to a viral controversy and conspiracy theory that Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik contributed to the death of American chess grandmaster Daniel "Danya" Naroditsky in late October 2025. The allegations and backlash against Kramnik emerged online shortly after Naroditsky's sudden death was announced, with many claiming that Kramnik's history of cheating accusations and alleged cyberbullying against Naroditsky caused him to suffer emotional and physical harm.

The cause of 29-year-old Naroditsky's death is unknown as of October 22nd, 2025, and it's unconfirmed if Kramnik had any role, despite the speculations. However, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) stated it was looking into Kramnik's actions related to Naroditsky as public pressure increased in the days following his passing.

Background

On October 20th, 2025, the Facebook^[1] page for the Charlotte Chess Center, a chess academy located in Charlotte, North Carolina (where Daniel Naroditsky served as a head coach), posted an official announcement about Naroditsky's unexpected passing, noting the statement was from the Naroditsky family. The post received over 140 reactions in two days.

Word of Daniel Naroditsky's death spread online that same day and garnered notable media coverage in the press the following day.^[2]

As the news spread on October 20th, numerous posts on social media platforms, such as Twitter / X and Reddit, of users blaming Russian chess grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik for Naroditsky's death began to emerge.

For instance, that same day, X^[3] user @Archaicmind3000 tweeted about Kramnik "making vile accusations" against Naroditsky "just days before his passing" alongside two screenshots of Kramnik's posts from previous days, receiving over 109,000 views, 1,200 likes and 19 replies in two days.

Also on October 20th, 2025, a thread about Naroditsky's passing on the /r/chess^[4] subreddit that accumulated over 12,000 upvotes and 2,000 comments in two days saw numerous comments from Redditors discussing Kramnik and his speculated role in the death of Naroditsky.

Online Reactions

Discourse, accusations and theories about grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik's feud and cheating allegations^[9] against grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky continued to spread in late October 2025 as more users and creators reacted to the news.

For example, on October 20th, 2025, X user @Anthony1Enahoro posted a clip of Naroditsky discussing Kramnik's accusations against him from a C-Squared Podcast episode in a tweet, claiming that Kramnik "championed a false narrative and caused persistent infliction on late GM Daniel Naroditsky," as well as accusing him of "cyberstalking" Danya. The tweet received over 94,800 views, 1,000 likes and 28 replies in two days.

Vladimir Kramnik championed a false narrative and caused persistent infliction on late GM Daniel Naroditsky.
Kramnik was actually cyberstalking Danya and didn't care about his mental health.pic.twitter.com/0MGRIEzsEf

— 𝑈𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖 𝐵𝑜𝑦 (@Anthony1Enahoro) October 21, 2025

That same day, X^[5] user @formermossad replied to a tweet calling Kramnik a "disgrace to the chess community," stating that Kramnik is a "criminal" and was "directly responsible for the death of Daniel Naroditsky." The tweet garnered over 14,600 views and 80 likes in two days.

Also on October 20th, a thread on the subreddit /r/LivestreamFail^[6] about fellow American chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura discussing Kramnik during a livestream following Naroditsky's passing sparked numerous comments about the theory that Kramnik contributed to his death. The thread, which accumulated over 1,800 upvotes and 180 comments in two days, received a top-voted comment from Redditor charliemccied, who explained more details about the situation:

For those who don't know the lore – kramnik was world champion from 2000-2007 and danya's former idol. he led a slanderous and frankly absurd campaign of accusing many top players of cheating, using dodgy methods including vod reviews of peoples eyes looking away for a moment during a match and ridiculous interpretations of statistics.

he focused a lot on danya, over-analyzing his play and his vods and stirring up accusations that some people carried over into danya's chat and comment sections. most top pros will say there are cheating issues in chess, but the prevailing opinion is kramnik is a crackpot.

there has been no confirmation on exactly what happened with danya's passing, and his family are asking for privacy and people should grant them that and not speculate on it.

I will say, however, over the past few years the kramnik situation had an overwhelmingly negative affect on danya's mental.

Later that day, YouTuber Critikal (penguinz0) discussed Kramnik's history with Naroditsky, who he previously collaborated with for content, in a video titled "The World Lost a Great Man Today." The video received over 2 million views, 142,000 likes and 6,600 comments, many of which made accusations against Kramnik, in two days.

In the following days, fellow grandmasters Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura also discussed the events surrounding Daniel Naroditsky and Vladimir Kramnik during livestreams.^[7][8]

On October 21st, 2025, a thread to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[10] subreddit asking, What's up with people saying Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik murdered Chess Grandmaster Daniel Narodistky?" received over 1,200 upvotes and 150 comments in a day, with the top-voted answer from Redditor 09jtherrien stating:

Answer: kramnik has a history of falsely accusing players of cheating without any evidence whatsoever. Daniel is one of kramniks latest victims and has suffered from harassment from kramnick and his followers. He posted a video like 11 months ago saying that kramnik was trying to ruin his life emotionally and physically harm him from these accusations. A lot of people believe kramnik is accusing people to try to stay relevant and make excuses since he's not winning as much. We don't know the cause of death so it's all speculation but some of Daniel's close friends have stated that the harassment has contributed to some mental health problems.

Developments

World Chess Federation (FIDE) Investigation

On October 22nd, 2025, BBC^[11] published an article titled "Chess federation looking into Vladimir Kramnik's attacks on grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky" that reported the World Chess Federation (or FIDE) would be looking into the alleged cyberbullying and attacks against Daniel Naroditsky prior to his death.

In a statement to Reuters^[12] that same day, FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky said that the organization was looking into "Kramnik's year-long campaign accusing Naroditsky of online cheating."

Daniel Naroditsky's Final Video

On October 22nd, 2025, the NY Post^[13] published an article titled "US chess superstar Daniel Naroditsky was incoherent, rambling in concerning final video before his death," which reported that Naroditsky was "incoherent, rambling, and half asleep" and "gaunt and distracted" during his final livestream on his YouTube^[14] channel on October 17th, three days before his death.

The article noted that Naroditsky discussed the cheating allegations made by Vladimir Kramnik during the stream, denying them. At one point during the livestream, the NYP stated that Naroditsky "appeared to suggest that the stream would be his final one" after reading a message from a subscriber addressing the accusations, which read, "This will not be the last time he faces criticism or trolling," to which Naroditsky replied, "Oh, it actually will be."

Search Interest

External References