GM Naroditsky is dead

[M ANSARI]

That finally stream is beyond bizarre and totally different to any of his streams. I would like to know why on many games the opposing player would let the time run out before playing first move and letting the games auto abort!!?? Was that a chess.com glitch or was intentional? That seemed to really agitate him.

As far as I understand, the players were aware that he was not in a good state and did not want to be seen farming his rating points.

Indeed it only seemed to make him more upset. I don't know if his opponents were trying to communicate why they were aborting.

OK that makes sense! Actually a very nice gesture by the other players if so. However the few games I saw he was playing quite strong. Even though his mind was somewhere else, he was still able to beat 3000+ ELO rated players with some really good games. This is why I think Kramnik's mentioning of drugs is beyond vile! Someone on drugs will find it very difficult to keep a blitz game thread against a 3000+ ELO opponent. More likely it was someone in pain and mentally struggling and breaking down live on the stream. Really was difficult to watch that stream, especially if you have followed many of his other streams. My heart really goes out to his family also as it seems his dad was asking him to quit playing and go to bed yet he just wanted to play a few more games to keep his mind off what was really bothering him.

As for Kramnik ... he really comes out as a villain here. I mean I give him credit for dramatically improving the percentage of online cheating ... I actually notice it in online games ... definitely not as much cheating online as before. But the problem is that he put his ego in the mix and it became anyone who beats him must have done so by cheating. I have watched Kramnik play online and really if I had to put an ELO strength for him playing with time running out ... I would rate it at 1800 ELO or less !!! He totally sucks at it for someone who is probably 3200 ELO+ at slower time controls. I am guessing that for 10 people that he accused, probably 1 or 2 were cheating, while the rest are totally innocent. I remember looking at his statistics when he accused Hikaru of cheating ... he looked only at results ... not really at the games. In those games Hikaru was totally lost in many many positions, but Hikaru grew up with online blitz and his mouse skills and swindling skills have a lot to do with him winning the vast majority of his games. So looking at statistical results does not factor in other non chess strengths, such as knowing how to pre move and expecting your opponents pre move. Knowing exactly how much time there is left and playing moves that burn time to play when time is running down. I think Daniel being of Russian decent and having Kramnik as an idol as a child makes a huge difference when Kramnik is the accuser. Hikaru just brushed it off as silly and moved on, while Daniel really took it personally.

[towforce]

YouTube has served me this video from 11 months ago: makes an interesting case, using previously unseen footage, for having uncovered the actual game which triggered Kramnik's vendetta against Naroditsky:

[mclane]

[mclane]

Will kramnik, the Russian, now resign from chess and concentrate on bullying people outside chess ?
Instead of bullying American chess players with fake news as he did for 1 year until his victim committed suicide??

[towforce]

I have not followed Kramnik, and I don't have answers, but I'd like to understand what happened to him? What causes such a high achiever to turn into a thoughtless bully? All I can do right now is to come up with some possibilities:

* he was always bad - but when you're a global hero, your negative attributes get overlooked

* his status has lowered since losing the title, and he cannot come to terms with this

* he genuinely believes his judgement to be infallible, so the problem becomes that the rest of the world is not listening to him

One thing Kramnik has in common with Putin (apart from being Russian) is impunity: the longer bad behaviour goes unchallenged, the worse it gets.

For general verbal bullying, it's very difficult to make a law to protect people because it's difficult to prove. For unprovable accusations of wrongdoing (in this case, cheating in online chess), there could be a remedy:

1. A court finds that the evidence is not strong enough to support the accusation and the accuser is told to stop

2. If the accuser does it again, they will now be guilty of a criminal offence

The question that is genuinely important here: if Kramnik can turn into a malignant narcissist who destroys the lives of other people, could it happen to any of us?

[towforce]

Regarding the question "What happened to Kramnik?", this short video looks relevant: it's Jordan Peterson telling us that if we're smart, we'd better learn to be humble and grateful - or our own brains will turn against us - which is highly dangerous when that brain is smart!

[mclane]

[towforce]

If any of you ever become a victim of verbal bullying by a malignant narcissist, you will quickly discover that fighting back isn't going to help you: you were picked as a victim in the first place because your bully spotted weakness in you. Also, unless you are actually physically attacked, other people aren't going to help you: firstly, they are frightened of becoming the next victim, and secondly the abuser will be skilled and experienced in turning everything you say around on you, so for other people, working out who's right and who's wrong will take time and effort that they'd prefer to invest elsewhere.

Assuming it's not your wife doing this to you (if it is, you'll need to do things a different way), then the first way to fight back is to use the Grey Rock Method (link). The most exhausting part of fighting is not the punches you get hit by, but the punches that you throw that don't hurt your opponent. If allegations are made against you, don't answer them! In the video mclane shared earlier, Naroditsky showed everybody exactly what's on his screens and in his room. He shouldn't have done that. The MOST he should have said was that he doesn't cheat, and he follows the rules of chess.com. When you answer allegations, you give your accuser traction: grey rocks don't do that.

Also, have sympathy for your abuser: try to understand them. Yes - this is difficult to do when you'd really like to kill them - but their malignant narcissism is actually hurting them much more than they realise. Don't try to help them - that's going to be thrown back in your face VERY hard! But there are real grounds for feeling very sorry for them:

1. They have underachieved very badly in comparison with what they were capable of doing

2. They genuinely don't understand why a world of inferior people is not bowing down to them

3. Once a person has become deeply narcissistic, it's very difficult for them to get out of that hole

So yes: sympathy for the abuser is very appropriate. The motto of the paras is "knowledge dispels fear".

[mclane]

So we have an ex world chess champion and a 2647 on board player who is young and plays much blitz and bullet and has won online tournament with a rating of 2732 ELO in August 2025.
And for 1 year K. says or campaigns: DN is cheating.
This goes on several online formats. Several videos and chats. Twitter etc.

In the end the 29 year old DN is dead. And Kramnik claims he (Kramnik) is a victim.

!!!!

I guess kramnik knows a shitstorm is rising and maybe severe law suites will come.
And so before these things grow, he calls himself a victim.

He was not in charge. He only said the truth. And by chance DN is dead.

Wow.

I know why i left human chess.

And concentrated on computerchess.