October 25, 2025 • 21 mins
A tragic story in the world of chess, as 29-year-old Chess Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky was found dead this week at his home in Charlotte. As of this recording, there is no official cause of death, but late this week police acknowledged they were investigating his death as a possible drug overdose/suicide. Meantime, much of the chess world is pointing fingers at 50-year-old former chess World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik who has viciously, repeatedly and baselessly accused Naroditsky of cheating over the years. The International Chess Federation announced it was investigating Kramnik for his public comments before and after Naroditsky’s death, but many say it’s too little, too late.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome everyone to this edition of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's Saturday, October twenty fifth, and I don't know if
you all had been following the story the way we
have this week about that American chess grand master, twenty
nine year old Daniel Noraditsky, who passed away this week.
There is now an investigation underway about whether or not
(00:26):
a Russian player's comments could have contributed to his death.
And it's something that TJ and I have talked about
so much, the impact and the weight of words. Words matter,
what you say matters.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is all. This kid was twenty nine. A lot
of people might not be familiar with him, but if
you are, and it's possible you are, it's because he
who a certain degree, is credited with making chess cool
for a lot of people. He's twenty nine years old,
young guy who was a child prodigy and became a
grand master at an early age eighteen. At eighteen years old,
he is a chest chess superstar, and just like other folks,
(01:04):
young folks coming up in I guess more traditional specialties
or expertise, he's using the Internet. He used social media
and he became a star. So when we saw the
headlines this week. They didn't say a cause of death.
But you're twenty nine years old and dead, we go,
what the hell happened?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What the hell happened? And so there is no official
cause of death as of this recording. But late this
week we did get this from police. They said the
death of American chess grandmaster Daniel Narroditsky may have been
the result of a drug overdose, and it is being
investigated as a possible suicide. They're also investigating it as
(01:42):
a sudden death at all. Possibilities are up there, but
they did make that specification, which is what a lot
of folks were already considering as a possible reason. Why,
especially given word that we're hearing from the International Chess
Federation about this investigation.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
We didn't know, We weren't familiar enough. But there are
people in the industry, in the chess world who as
soon as they heard that he had passed away the
age of twenty nine, they immediately robes speculated suicide, and
they immediately started pointing fingers at another chess grandmaster.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So the International Chess Federation announced it is officially investigating
Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik. He's fifty years old, and they
say for comments he made surrounding the death of Nroditsky,
but they really get specific here in how they described this.
So the Federation's Ethics and Disciplinary Commission is investigating. So
(02:40):
that's who is starting or at least creating this investigation.
But the Federation president said this, and I'm going to
quote him here. In recent times, public debate within the
chess world has too often moved beyond the boundaries of acceptable,
harming not only people's reputation, but they're very well. When
(03:01):
this happens, discussions can turn into harassment, bullying, and personal attacks,
a grave concern in today's environment. And he said that
they are looking into public statements made by Kramnik before
and after Naroditsky's death.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, and so the statements we're talking about. Look, we
didn't know this because we don't we're not in this
chess world. But it was well known and understood that
this guy Kramnik, who is a superstar in the world
of chess, also a grand master. But oh yeah, so
let's back up there a little bit. You got two
high levels in the world of chess, you can be
(03:38):
a world chess champion. That's the highest you can get
right under that is a chess grand master. This is
the ultimate. These are the things you achieved. Well, Kramnik
was also a grand master, but he had won a
world chess championship, had he not?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
He was the world champion from two thousand to two
thousand and seven.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Oh yeah, so he knows a.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Seven year Regin world champion.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And we heard from Naraditsky's brother who said that he
looked up to Kramnik his whole life. Coming up as
a child prodigy. He looked to Kramnik as the guy
that was his hero.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
He looked to him until he became a competitor. And
so what you're talking about here is in Robes everybody
in the community at least immediately started pointing to Kramnik
after the word of Naraditsky's death, because he had accused
Narroditsky several other players as well of cheating. And this
went beyond these are unfounded allegations. Nothing was ever proven
(04:34):
suggested or even got close to hinting that Naradinsky was
a cheater. But he did it to the point Wherebes
it wasn't just an accusation that kind of floated around,
it became something more that turned into harassment and bullying
according to folks in the community.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's right, and so what we know about so we
know that Naraditsky the last time we actually saw him
was during a Twitch broadcast and that was just I
believe the day before.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
He was found dead on his couch.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But he talked about at the end he basically would
do these live competitions and live string that I actually
was watching it, and would go on for hours, and
he would explain decisions, He would explain what he was doing,
and he had over five hundred thousand followers who were
watching him, learning from him and entertained by his commentary.
(05:24):
But towards the end of this final broadcast, you could
see people who knew him and were used to his
energy could say he looked exhausted, and he even talked
about how he needed to sleep that night, how he
needed nine hours. But they said that he looked like
you could tell the controversy, the cheating allegations were taking
(05:45):
their toll on him. They said he looked visibly distressed,
and he actually discussed it. He talked about being accused
of cheating, and he said the thing that's frustrating is
he can never shake it that even when he's doing well,
he knows he'll never get credit for it because.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
He'll be accused of cheating for years.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right, Yeah, he said he's He actually said he was
crushed at being targeted by Kramnik's attacks, and you could
just see the weight of it on his face, according
to people who knew him and loved him. And it
was the next day, yes, on October nineteenth, that he
was found unconscious in his home by the Charlotte Chess
Club's founder. They said he wasn't responding and that was
(06:25):
unusual and so certainly I can't imagine that moment when
they walked in and found him on that couch.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
No, that's something the police will naturally normally, I mean standard.
This is a death. There's no foul play suspected. There's
just a suspicious death. You don't know the circumstances. So yes,
they had to consider suicide. You mentioned Charlotte there. I
don't know. Did we mention at the top that he, yes,
this is a kid of immigrants, what was it Azerbaijan
(06:55):
and where his parents from? Morocco? Was it? Yes? So,
but he grew up in the Bay Area and then
ended up becoming a star. This kid was writing chess
help books as a teenager. Yes to people, So this
dude is a stud. But we mentioned Charlotte. He ended
up in Charlotte and he trained and taught at a
Charlotte chess club out there, and that's why he ended
(07:15):
up there. And the folks there part of that chess
club are the ones who, man, I can't imagine them
walking into his home. They had to find him.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And this was their star.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I mean, you mentioned a little bit about some of
his resume. He won the under twelve section of the
World Youth Chess Championship. That was back in two thousand
and seven. We mentioned he became a grand master at
the age of eighteen. He was consistently ranked in the
top two hundred worldwide for traditional chess, but where he
excelled was in this category called blitz chess. So he
(07:42):
was consistently in the top twenty five for blitz chess.
And that's where he got this huge following five hundred
thousand plus watching him play these fast games of chess.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
What was his championship? Was it recent? What is he
the raining? But he won the national championship in the
championship in blitz chess fairly recently, I believe, But he's
again now that's fun to watch. It's just a way,
it's just kind of a rapid fire to make those
decisions that quick. That's really impressive to watch.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
It's remarkable to watch him do it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And I think, look, I watched at least the last
fifteen minutes of his broadcast of his live stream, and
I haven't seen his other ones, so I couldn't compare
his energy to the ones before. But it just kept
striking me at just how normal and confident and just
hopeful he seemed. He was even talking about his next
match and how he promised to get back on with
(08:35):
all of his followers the following day to tell them
how he did, whether he won or lost, Like it
was somebody who was talking about the future, even in
those last few minutes. So I just felt so sickened
by watching something and someone who had so much promise
and so much life left to live at twenty nine,
just to think that someone's words could get under your
skin that much, that you would feel that depressed that
(08:57):
you would end your life. And look as far as
Vladimir Kramnit goes. Obviously, he had been accused of by
many people, including Nardisky himself, of bullying and just accusing
folks of cheating. But he even saw that last broadcast
and started mocking Nardisky on Twitter on x saying, don't
(09:23):
do drugs. Like Basically, he was noticing that Narrodisky seemed
off and was almost mocking him for it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So there is a lot to.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Say about where he is, what he said about this controversy,
and what he could be facing if this chess organization
decides to throw any type of sanctions on him based
on the death of Naradisky. We'll have all of that
when we come back. Welcome back to this edition of
(09:56):
Amy and TJ, where we are talking about the tragic
death of US Grandmaster chess champion Daniel Naroditski and police
right now are investigating this as a possible suicide. However,
there are some complicating factors to this. There is no
official cause of death, but the Chess Federation, the International
(10:17):
Chess Federation, has launched an investigation into a fifty year
old fellow grandmaster, the world champion from two thousand to
two thousand and seven in chess Vladimir Kramnik. He's fifty
years old. He retired from competitive chess in twenty nineteen,
but he has certainly been active on social media and
certainly been active in accusing other chess players of cheating.
(10:41):
And a lot of folks are connecting those dots.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And nobody is suggesting that Kramnik ever came forward with
any evidence of anything. He's just been spouting this about
people who appear to be competitors or rivals of his. Look,
I guess this happens. Who know, We watched different we
watch college football, we watched NFL, we watch MBA, we
watch college basketball. There's trash talking in every sport, right.
(11:07):
Sometimes there's's banter and it gets a little nasty, but
at the end we shake hands and everybody goes away.
Sometimes it carries over a little bit off the field,
off the court, but not We're used to a certain
level of this. This is unfounded, abusive, constant accusations against
(11:28):
a guy who loved what he was doing, and his
whole life was this thing that you're now telling the
whole world he's a cheat. At that is awful. Now
I don't have to I didn't keep up, so I
don't know, but I can rely on the experts and
everybody in the field who's telling me that there's no
evidence Nardisky ever cheated.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Correct, right, correct, And in fact, it's been interesting because
the question is why would he then accuse so many
people of cheating. Well, chess dot com ceo, who knows
all the players involved and actually had some interesting things
to say because, by the way, that organization, chess dot
com that's the largest chess platform in the world online,
banned Kramnik in twenty twenty three, two years ago because
(12:13):
he was accusing multiple players of cheating. So he was
being so toxic and caustic on their site, they banned
him from this site. But here's what the CEO said
about Kramnik and why he believes he.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Decided to go that route.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
He said, Kramnik and some older players resent the newer players,
and here was his quote. We have now a new
guard of chess players who grew up online where they
play all the time and they have more experience playing online.
And then older players like Kramnik, who study high scores
of their rivals, they're too quick to conclude, oh, they
must be cheating.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, there's no way a twenty nine year old should
be as good as or know as much as I
a fifty year old grandmaster world champion should know exactly.
You kinda get that becomy ego in hubris. But it
was kind of interesting to hear these kids now sit
in a room. You don't have to go find somebody
to play with you. Maybe some of the old school
guys had to when they come up, sit in a
(13:07):
room on a computer and get as many reps in
as you want to. You can do it twenty four
to seven if you want to.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yep, And you can play against a computer that's better
probably than any other human opponent. So you get better,
you just are better. So what has Vladimir Kramnik said
about all of this, Well, he has also continued to
be vocal on X He has said what he's first
of all, denied that he's bullied this young man Narroditsky,
(13:33):
And he said what public statement after the death of
Daniel was incorrect. I demand clarification from mister president. He's
referring to the president of the Chess Club. I have
not bullied Daniel Narroditsky, nor ever made personal insults towards him.
That is a very bold statement given what so many
others have said that he was constantly accusing him. He's
(13:57):
saying I told the truth, so it wasn't disparaging. I
haven't bullied him because I only told the truth. I mean,
that's his argument.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It sounds have you seen anything he played out? Might
have seen one quote, but anith where what he expressed
condolence to see anyone any heartache, any sadness at the
loss of a life.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
He said, it was shocking, he asked, he urged the
Charlotte police to investigate the death. But it didn't ever
sound sympathetic or certainly not apologetic in any way.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Look, maybe I get that, but some of his responses
were Russian.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Right, Yes, okay, he's a Russian.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Some of the responses threw me. But I mean he
sounded like you're he sounded upset, right, He sounded angry
in some of his language.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It is defensive.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
There's a twenty nine year old guy who's dead. The
only thing to be said right now is man heart
goes out to him and his family. You don't have
to be apologetic, even but that's all you say right now,
is that thing. But to your point as well, everybody
is now coming after him, and so, yeah, you naturally
want to defend yourself and maybe you can understand that.
But now, I mean, how nasty is the stuff getting
(15:07):
going towards Kramning Now?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yes, well, so he is saying in defense of himself,
he's saying that he is now suffering from bullying, damaging
statements towards him, including murder threats he says he's getting,
and he's actually screenshotting some of the murder threats and
then putting them up online. But other chess stars have
weighed in and they have not been holding back in
any way. One chess star was pleading with the Organization
(15:33):
on AXA, the federal international organization that is investigating him.
Your actions now will be remembered from the chess world
for years to come. Do everything in your power to
make sure justice is served for Daniel Naroditsky and all
the other people who become victims of Kramnik's cyber bullying.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Cyber bullying, haven't we seen cases with people get charged
for when somebody's yes ends up suicide after being lead
or getting nasty message. Even sometimes I think it was
a case somebody direct you should kill yourself and they right.
I'm trying to remember all the cases, but there have
been some.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We shall see if I mean, that's all I'm sure
on the table because we're still awaiting the official cause
of death and the investigation that's going on right now
in North Carolina. But in the meantime, the International Chess Federation,
here's what could happen to Kramnik if they determined that
he is responsible in some way. Depending on the circumstances
and the findings, there is a broad array of possible sanctions.
(16:31):
This is from the spokesperson from the board, from financial
penalties to a ban. The decision lies entirely with the
Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, which is independent of the President
and the Board. So they are going to determine if
there will be any sanctions, but it looks like it
will be a financial one or just a ban in
any sort of like he can't compete in any way,
(16:51):
shape or form.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They were aware. That's just bullshit. I mean that because
somebody had to die.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That should have happened before what.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
All this was out there. This has been going on
for a year. That's that's tough. Fine, look into it,
but don't come on, don't now we need to act
because he killed himself. And now we okay again, I
know they're investigating robes. We don't know how this young
man died. But to take the stance now that now
(17:20):
we have to take action, Why do we do it
after the fact. Why can't we do it beforehand? What
would have been meant to this young man to see
that this guy bullying him at somebody else out hearing
him or listening to him or seeing his pain? You
think about now women were just doing these stories with
women and sexual abuse allegations, not being heard, not being
(17:40):
listened to. This is the no, no, not the same,
but you get what I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Virginia or Duffrey.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I mean she ended up dying by suicide because for
so long she wasn't believed.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Why aren't we supporting and listening ahead of time? This
federation just needs to shut the fuck up right now
because that statement. Look, I was kind of sitting back
in my chair until you read that statement. I'm not
looking at the note. But that's painful and hurtful and
offensive to think now we take action because somebody is dead.
Don't do that? Take action? Okay? With that? To come on,
(18:13):
where was the failure there, Why do you take action before?
He's all I'm saying, why does somebody have to die
with that?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
And that's such a question that needs to be that's
asked and then answered, and then there needs to be
changes based on that answer, because certainly we're at a
place now in twenty twenty five where we recognize that
words matter, that words are just as sharp as weapons sometimes,
and we all need to be careful and mindful of
what we put out in the world and how we
treat other people.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We say that, and we have been there, and look, yes,
we talked about this and we were shocked, and we
were debating about doing this story for several days, and
then this other thing came up about this guy harassing him,
And yes, we have. You and I have been in
position to where we have had suicidal thoughts and taken
not quite suicidal actions, but to the point that it scared.
(19:01):
We've scared each other, yes, in our behavior, and it
had everything to do with someone telling a lie about
you that you think the public beliefs. We've been in
this position in our lives to where people think that
we are together and in a relationship because we cheated
on our spousees, we got caught in some affair and
(19:22):
then this is what happened. People still think that and
it's wrong. That story is one hundred percent wrong, and
we can't shake it. And you damn right. I've considered
killing myself over this idea that there are people out
there I can't convince of the truth, the truth, right.
I could sleep a lot easier if, like, ah, they
(19:44):
caught me. That's what happened, and this is what we
got to do. No, it's tough and it's painful, and
it sucks, and we still deal with it on moments.
We're better about it now. But words, these are words
that are printed and believed and you can't do anything
about it. And this guy's life from almost birth has
been chess, and he is one of the best in
(20:06):
the world at it, and nobody now believes. Possibly some
do plenty do right, it's most to do. It's not
as bad as he thought his head. He thinks the
entire world anytime he wins a match thinks he cheated. Yep,
I'm sure that's what he thought.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
That had to be where his head was for him
to do what he did.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
That Wait, sucks, man, I hated for this kid and
his family and everything, and now this federally I swear
I was. I was, literally, folks, I was leaning back
in my chair until you read that statement from the Federation,
and that just is infuriating. Fuck. Okay, what what is this?
This is Saturday?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Okay, I can say fuck on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
No, But I do think that it's important and I
don't think people understand until it happens to you. And
that feeling of being misunderstood, not believed, and not given
just your do when like I love what you said,
that was his whole life. It makes sense when you
think about that was his value, that was his worth
and it was robbed. He was robbed of it from
(21:05):
this one man who he gave too much power to.
But still, we'll see how this all shakes out and
shakes down. We will follow this story and we appreciate
you listening to us. We hope you learn something about
it too, and certainly we can all remember to be kinder.
And with that, everyone, thank you for listening. I'm Amy
Robot alongside TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
We'll talk to you soon.
Welcome everyone to this edition of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's Saturday, October twenty fifth, and I don't know if
you all had been following the story the way we
have this week about that American chess grand master, twenty
nine year old Daniel Noraditsky, who passed away this week.
There is now an investigation underway about whether or not
(00:26):
a Russian player's comments could have contributed to his death.
And it's something that TJ and I have talked about
so much, the impact and the weight of words. Words matter,
what you say matters.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
This is all. This kid was twenty nine. A lot
of people might not be familiar with him, but if
you are, and it's possible you are, it's because he
who a certain degree, is credited with making chess cool
for a lot of people. He's twenty nine years old,
young guy who was a child prodigy and became a
grand master at an early age eighteen. At eighteen years old,
he is a chest chess superstar, and just like other folks,
(01:04):
young folks coming up in I guess more traditional specialties
or expertise, he's using the Internet. He used social media
and he became a star. So when we saw the
headlines this week. They didn't say a cause of death.
But you're twenty nine years old and dead, we go,
what the hell happened?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
What the hell happened? And so there is no official
cause of death as of this recording. But late this
week we did get this from police. They said the
death of American chess grandmaster Daniel Narroditsky may have been
the result of a drug overdose, and it is being
investigated as a possible suicide. They're also investigating it as
(01:42):
a sudden death at all. Possibilities are up there, but
they did make that specification, which is what a lot
of folks were already considering as a possible reason. Why,
especially given word that we're hearing from the International Chess
Federation about this investigation.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
We didn't know, We weren't familiar enough. But there are
people in the industry, in the chess world who as
soon as they heard that he had passed away the
age of twenty nine, they immediately robes speculated suicide, and
they immediately started pointing fingers at another chess grandmaster.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
So the International Chess Federation announced it is officially investigating
Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik. He's fifty years old, and they
say for comments he made surrounding the death of Nroditsky,
but they really get specific here in how they described this.
So the Federation's Ethics and Disciplinary Commission is investigating. So
(02:40):
that's who is starting or at least creating this investigation.
But the Federation president said this, and I'm going to
quote him here. In recent times, public debate within the
chess world has too often moved beyond the boundaries of acceptable,
harming not only people's reputation, but they're very well. When
(03:01):
this happens, discussions can turn into harassment, bullying, and personal attacks,
a grave concern in today's environment. And he said that
they are looking into public statements made by Kramnik before
and after Naroditsky's death.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, and so the statements we're talking about. Look, we
didn't know this because we don't we're not in this
chess world. But it was well known and understood that
this guy Kramnik, who is a superstar in the world
of chess, also a grand master. But oh yeah, so
let's back up there a little bit. You got two
high levels in the world of chess, you can be
(03:38):
a world chess champion. That's the highest you can get
right under that is a chess grand master. This is
the ultimate. These are the things you achieved. Well, Kramnik
was also a grand master, but he had won a
world chess championship, had he not?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
He was the world champion from two thousand to two
thousand and seven.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Oh yeah, so he knows a.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Seven year Regin world champion.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And we heard from Naraditsky's brother who said that he
looked up to Kramnik his whole life. Coming up as
a child prodigy. He looked to Kramnik as the guy
that was his hero.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
He looked to him until he became a competitor. And
so what you're talking about here is in Robes everybody
in the community at least immediately started pointing to Kramnik
after the word of Naraditsky's death, because he had accused
Narroditsky several other players as well of cheating. And this
went beyond these are unfounded allegations. Nothing was ever proven
(04:34):
suggested or even got close to hinting that Naradinsky was
a cheater. But he did it to the point Wherebes
it wasn't just an accusation that kind of floated around,
it became something more that turned into harassment and bullying
according to folks in the community.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That's right, and so what we know about so we
know that Naraditsky the last time we actually saw him
was during a Twitch broadcast and that was just I
believe the day before.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
He was found dead on his couch.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But he talked about at the end he basically would
do these live competitions and live string that I actually
was watching it, and would go on for hours, and
he would explain decisions, He would explain what he was doing,
and he had over five hundred thousand followers who were
watching him, learning from him and entertained by his commentary.
(05:24):
But towards the end of this final broadcast, you could
see people who knew him and were used to his
energy could say he looked exhausted, and he even talked
about how he needed to sleep that night, how he
needed nine hours. But they said that he looked like
you could tell the controversy, the cheating allegations were taking
(05:45):
their toll on him. They said he looked visibly distressed,
and he actually discussed it. He talked about being accused
of cheating, and he said the thing that's frustrating is
he can never shake it that even when he's doing well,
he knows he'll never get credit for it because.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
He'll be accused of cheating for years.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Right, Yeah, he said he's He actually said he was
crushed at being targeted by Kramnik's attacks, and you could
just see the weight of it on his face, according
to people who knew him and loved him. And it
was the next day, yes, on October nineteenth, that he
was found unconscious in his home by the Charlotte Chess
Club's founder. They said he wasn't responding and that was
(06:25):
unusual and so certainly I can't imagine that moment when
they walked in and found him on that couch.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
No, that's something the police will naturally normally, I mean standard.
This is a death. There's no foul play suspected. There's
just a suspicious death. You don't know the circumstances. So yes,
they had to consider suicide. You mentioned Charlotte there. I
don't know. Did we mention at the top that he, yes,
this is a kid of immigrants, what was it Azerbaijan
(06:55):
and where his parents from? Morocco? Was it? Yes? So,
but he grew up in the Bay Area and then
ended up becoming a star. This kid was writing chess
help books as a teenager. Yes to people, So this
dude is a stud. But we mentioned Charlotte. He ended
up in Charlotte and he trained and taught at a
Charlotte chess club out there, and that's why he ended
(07:15):
up there. And the folks there part of that chess
club are the ones who, man, I can't imagine them
walking into his home. They had to find him.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
And this was their star.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I mean, you mentioned a little bit about some of
his resume. He won the under twelve section of the
World Youth Chess Championship. That was back in two thousand
and seven. We mentioned he became a grand master at
the age of eighteen. He was consistently ranked in the
top two hundred worldwide for traditional chess, but where he
excelled was in this category called blitz chess. So he
(07:42):
was consistently in the top twenty five for blitz chess.
And that's where he got this huge following five hundred
thousand plus watching him play these fast games of chess.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
What was his championship? Was it recent? What is he
the raining? But he won the national championship in the
championship in blitz chess fairly recently, I believe, But he's
again now that's fun to watch. It's just a way,
it's just kind of a rapid fire to make those
decisions that quick. That's really impressive to watch.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
It's remarkable to watch him do it.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
And I think, look, I watched at least the last
fifteen minutes of his broadcast of his live stream, and
I haven't seen his other ones, so I couldn't compare
his energy to the ones before. But it just kept
striking me at just how normal and confident and just
hopeful he seemed. He was even talking about his next
match and how he promised to get back on with
(08:35):
all of his followers the following day to tell them
how he did, whether he won or lost, Like it
was somebody who was talking about the future, even in
those last few minutes. So I just felt so sickened
by watching something and someone who had so much promise
and so much life left to live at twenty nine,
just to think that someone's words could get under your
skin that much, that you would feel that depressed that
(08:57):
you would end your life. And look as far as
Vladimir Kramnit goes. Obviously, he had been accused of by
many people, including Nardisky himself, of bullying and just accusing
folks of cheating. But he even saw that last broadcast
and started mocking Nardisky on Twitter on x saying, don't
(09:23):
do drugs. Like Basically, he was noticing that Narrodisky seemed
off and was almost mocking him for it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So there is a lot to.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Say about where he is, what he said about this controversy,
and what he could be facing if this chess organization
decides to throw any type of sanctions on him based
on the death of Naradisky. We'll have all of that
when we come back. Welcome back to this edition of
(09:56):
Amy and TJ, where we are talking about the tragic
death of US Grandmaster chess champion Daniel Naroditski and police
right now are investigating this as a possible suicide. However,
there are some complicating factors to this. There is no
official cause of death, but the Chess Federation, the International
(10:17):
Chess Federation, has launched an investigation into a fifty year
old fellow grandmaster, the world champion from two thousand to
two thousand and seven in chess Vladimir Kramnik. He's fifty
years old. He retired from competitive chess in twenty nineteen,
but he has certainly been active on social media and
certainly been active in accusing other chess players of cheating.
(10:41):
And a lot of folks are connecting those dots.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And nobody is suggesting that Kramnik ever came forward with
any evidence of anything. He's just been spouting this about
people who appear to be competitors or rivals of his. Look,
I guess this happens. Who know, We watched different we
watch college football, we watched NFL, we watch MBA, we
watch college basketball. There's trash talking in every sport, right.
(11:07):
Sometimes there's's banter and it gets a little nasty, but
at the end we shake hands and everybody goes away.
Sometimes it carries over a little bit off the field,
off the court, but not We're used to a certain
level of this. This is unfounded, abusive, constant accusations against
(11:28):
a guy who loved what he was doing, and his
whole life was this thing that you're now telling the
whole world he's a cheat. At that is awful. Now
I don't have to I didn't keep up, so I
don't know, but I can rely on the experts and
everybody in the field who's telling me that there's no
evidence Nardisky ever cheated.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Correct, right, correct, And in fact, it's been interesting because
the question is why would he then accuse so many
people of cheating. Well, chess dot com ceo, who knows
all the players involved and actually had some interesting things
to say because, by the way, that organization, chess dot
com that's the largest chess platform in the world online,
banned Kramnik in twenty twenty three, two years ago because
(12:13):
he was accusing multiple players of cheating. So he was
being so toxic and caustic on their site, they banned
him from this site. But here's what the CEO said
about Kramnik and why he believes he.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Decided to go that route.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
He said, Kramnik and some older players resent the newer players,
and here was his quote. We have now a new
guard of chess players who grew up online where they
play all the time and they have more experience playing online.
And then older players like Kramnik, who study high scores
of their rivals, they're too quick to conclude, oh, they
must be cheating.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Yeah, there's no way a twenty nine year old should
be as good as or know as much as I
a fifty year old grandmaster world champion should know exactly.
You kinda get that becomy ego in hubris. But it
was kind of interesting to hear these kids now sit
in a room. You don't have to go find somebody
to play with you. Maybe some of the old school
guys had to when they come up, sit in a
(13:07):
room on a computer and get as many reps in
as you want to. You can do it twenty four
to seven if you want to.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yep, And you can play against a computer that's better
probably than any other human opponent. So you get better,
you just are better. So what has Vladimir Kramnik said
about all of this, Well, he has also continued to
be vocal on X He has said what he's first
of all, denied that he's bullied this young man Narroditsky,
(13:33):
And he said what public statement after the death of
Daniel was incorrect. I demand clarification from mister president. He's
referring to the president of the Chess Club. I have
not bullied Daniel Narroditsky, nor ever made personal insults towards him.
That is a very bold statement given what so many
others have said that he was constantly accusing him. He's
(13:57):
saying I told the truth, so it wasn't disparaging. I
haven't bullied him because I only told the truth. I mean,
that's his argument.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
It sounds have you seen anything he played out? Might
have seen one quote, but anith where what he expressed
condolence to see anyone any heartache, any sadness at the
loss of a life.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
He said, it was shocking, he asked, he urged the
Charlotte police to investigate the death. But it didn't ever
sound sympathetic or certainly not apologetic in any way.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Look, maybe I get that, but some of his responses
were Russian.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Right, Yes, okay, he's a Russian.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Some of the responses threw me. But I mean he
sounded like you're he sounded upset, right, He sounded angry
in some of his language.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It is defensive.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
There's a twenty nine year old guy who's dead. The
only thing to be said right now is man heart
goes out to him and his family. You don't have
to be apologetic, even but that's all you say right now,
is that thing. But to your point as well, everybody
is now coming after him, and so, yeah, you naturally
want to defend yourself and maybe you can understand that.
But now, I mean, how nasty is the stuff getting
(15:07):
going towards Kramning Now?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yes, well, so he is saying in defense of himself,
he's saying that he is now suffering from bullying, damaging
statements towards him, including murder threats he says he's getting,
and he's actually screenshotting some of the murder threats and
then putting them up online. But other chess stars have
weighed in and they have not been holding back in
any way. One chess star was pleading with the Organization
(15:33):
on AXA, the federal international organization that is investigating him.
Your actions now will be remembered from the chess world
for years to come. Do everything in your power to
make sure justice is served for Daniel Naroditsky and all
the other people who become victims of Kramnik's cyber bullying.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Cyber bullying, haven't we seen cases with people get charged
for when somebody's yes ends up suicide after being lead
or getting nasty message. Even sometimes I think it was
a case somebody direct you should kill yourself and they right.
I'm trying to remember all the cases, but there have
been some.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We shall see if I mean, that's all I'm sure
on the table because we're still awaiting the official cause
of death and the investigation that's going on right now
in North Carolina. But in the meantime, the International Chess Federation,
here's what could happen to Kramnik if they determined that
he is responsible in some way. Depending on the circumstances
and the findings, there is a broad array of possible sanctions.
(16:31):
This is from the spokesperson from the board, from financial
penalties to a ban. The decision lies entirely with the
Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, which is independent of the President
and the Board. So they are going to determine if
there will be any sanctions, but it looks like it
will be a financial one or just a ban in
any sort of like he can't compete in any way,
(16:51):
shape or form.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
They were aware. That's just bullshit. I mean that because
somebody had to die.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
That should have happened before what.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
All this was out there. This has been going on
for a year. That's that's tough. Fine, look into it,
but don't come on, don't now we need to act
because he killed himself. And now we okay again, I
know they're investigating robes. We don't know how this young
man died. But to take the stance now that now
(17:20):
we have to take action, Why do we do it
after the fact. Why can't we do it beforehand? What
would have been meant to this young man to see
that this guy bullying him at somebody else out hearing
him or listening to him or seeing his pain? You
think about now women were just doing these stories with
women and sexual abuse allegations, not being heard, not being
(17:40):
listened to. This is the no, no, not the same,
but you get what I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Virginia or Duffrey.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I mean she ended up dying by suicide because for
so long she wasn't believed.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Why aren't we supporting and listening ahead of time? This
federation just needs to shut the fuck up right now
because that statement. Look, I was kind of sitting back
in my chair until you read that statement. I'm not
looking at the note. But that's painful and hurtful and
offensive to think now we take action because somebody is dead.
Don't do that? Take action? Okay? With that? To come on,
(18:13):
where was the failure there, Why do you take action before?
He's all I'm saying, why does somebody have to die
with that?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
And that's such a question that needs to be that's
asked and then answered, and then there needs to be
changes based on that answer, because certainly we're at a
place now in twenty twenty five where we recognize that
words matter, that words are just as sharp as weapons sometimes,
and we all need to be careful and mindful of
what we put out in the world and how we
treat other people.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We say that, and we have been there, and look, yes,
we talked about this and we were shocked, and we
were debating about doing this story for several days, and
then this other thing came up about this guy harassing him,
And yes, we have. You and I have been in
position to where we have had suicidal thoughts and taken
not quite suicidal actions, but to the point that it scared.
(19:01):
We've scared each other, yes, in our behavior, and it
had everything to do with someone telling a lie about
you that you think the public beliefs. We've been in
this position in our lives to where people think that
we are together and in a relationship because we cheated
on our spousees, we got caught in some affair and
(19:22):
then this is what happened. People still think that and
it's wrong. That story is one hundred percent wrong, and
we can't shake it. And you damn right. I've considered
killing myself over this idea that there are people out
there I can't convince of the truth, the truth, right.
I could sleep a lot easier if, like, ah, they
(19:44):
caught me. That's what happened, and this is what we
got to do. No, it's tough and it's painful, and
it sucks, and we still deal with it on moments.
We're better about it now. But words, these are words
that are printed and believed and you can't do anything
about it. And this guy's life from almost birth has
been chess, and he is one of the best in
(20:06):
the world at it, and nobody now believes. Possibly some
do plenty do right, it's most to do. It's not
as bad as he thought his head. He thinks the
entire world anytime he wins a match thinks he cheated. Yep,
I'm sure that's what he thought.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
That had to be where his head was for him
to do what he did.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
That Wait, sucks, man, I hated for this kid and
his family and everything, and now this federally I swear
I was. I was, literally, folks, I was leaning back
in my chair until you read that statement from the Federation,
and that just is infuriating. Fuck. Okay, what what is this?
This is Saturday?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Okay, I can say fuck on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
No, But I do think that it's important and I
don't think people understand until it happens to you. And
that feeling of being misunderstood, not believed, and not given
just your do when like I love what you said,
that was his whole life. It makes sense when you
think about that was his value, that was his worth
and it was robbed. He was robbed of it from
(21:05):
this one man who he gave too much power to.
But still, we'll see how this all shakes out and
shakes down. We will follow this story and we appreciate
you listening to us. We hope you learn something about
it too, and certainly we can all remember to be kinder.
And with that, everyone, thank you for listening. I'm Amy
Robot alongside TJ. Holmes.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
We'll talk to you soon.
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