Daniel Naroditsky’s death turns spotlight on negative impact of online chess boom | Chess News
Former seven-time national champion Pravin Thipsay has hailed US Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, whose sudden death this week at 29 was mourned worldwide, as “a fantastic commentator, extraordinary player and a genius who wrote a book at the age of 14.” “It is, undoubtedly, a great loss to chess,” Thipsay said. Naroditsky, 29, a Jewish American of Soviet origin, was found dead in mysterious circumstances, and though his family has requested privacy, there have been rumours that he was battling depression. Controversially, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is now being criticised for consistently raising allegations of possible cheating by Naroditsky during his online games. However, there has been no credible evidence provided for such a charge. Thipsay rued the urge to blame Kramnik for Naroditsky’s death instead of recognising his contribution to the 64-square game in his short life. Naroditsky (Elo peak of about 2650) was a former world youth champion and a top-200 player whose blitz rating was above 2725. He was a consummate professional during live broadcasts, rubbing shoulders with top commentators including Peter Leko and Judit Polgar. He mixed the insight of machine precision, human intuition, and psychology, peppering it with anecdotes about former world championship matches and world champions. He was a popular streamer, educator, and quite active in online competitions. “I don’t think that Kramnik can be held responsible for Naroditsky’s death,” said Thipsay. His view was echoed by renowned chess coach Visweswaran Kameswaran, who said, “Kramnik cannot be blamed for the invention of the Internet, commercial chess websites, gaming audiences, or the online chess boom during Covid. That phenomenon resulted in a lot of fans for chess streamers, more hype and money earned by streamers and portals, but led to a rapid decline in mental health among younger generations, who lacked a coping mechanism.” GM and Olympiad-winning team coach Abhijit Kunte said, “This is very sad. We need to think about the impact of social media on personal life. Everyone needs to be careful.” Thipsay praised Hans Niemann for playing a “strategic card” after being accused of cheating by Kramnik: “He asked for coaching from Kramnik, and Kramnik suddenly came to know about Niemann’s talent!”
