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Former chess champion Kramnik banned over cheating remarks

Parul Gupta
News imageAFP via Getty Images Vladimir Kramnik at a chess tournament in London in August 2024. He sits facing his opponent and is wearing a white shirt and glasses.AFP via Getty Images
Kramnik has said he will appeal the decision

The World Chess Federation (Fide) has banned former world champion Kramnik for at least a year over verbal attacks he made on other players, including the late Daniel Naroditsky.

The body said it had found Kramnik "responsible for multiple violations" of its ethics and disciplinary code after the Russian accused other players of cheating.

US grandmaster Naroditsky died last October at the age of 29. Before his death, he had denied any wrongdoing and indicated the controversy had taken its toll on him in his final Twitch broadcast.

Kramnik wrote on X that he will appeal his suspension.

Another 12 months of the ban have been suspended for a probationary period of three years, Fide said. It means the active suspension is one year provided no further breaches occur during probation.

Naroditsky was a popular player, teacher and commentator. He was a leading figure in online chess with hundreds of thousands of followers - who knew him as Danya - across Twitch and YouTube.

A toxicology report released in 2026 said he had had multiple drugs in his system at the time and was killed by an abnormal heartbeat caused by an accidental overdose.

Some prominent figures in the chess community - including world number two Hikaru Nakamura, former world champion Magnus Carlsen and Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin - have previously condemned Kramnik's conduct.

News imageGetty Images Naroditsky sits in front of a chess board with his arms crossed. He is wearing a navy shirt and a blue jumper.Getty Images
Naroditsky had hundreds of thousands of followers across YouTube and Twitch.

Fide said its findings were not intended to determine the validity of Kramnik's remarks, but were concerned with the manner in which the allegations were communicated publicly.

The chess body said combating cheating remained one of its highest priorities, but it stressed that such allegations must be handled through its established procedures.

Kramnik was the world champion from 2000-07 and is a self-declared "advocate for fair play in chess".

Naroditsky earned the title of grandmaster - the international chess federation's highest-ranked chess competitor - while he was still a teenager, after winning the 2013 US Junior Championship.