Atreyo Mukhopadhyay in Goa
The FIDE World Cup is here in India and it’s a massive competition. Lots of aspirants and accomplished players have descended in Goa and most of them are chasing one goal — to do as well as they can and go for the three slots that this event offers as far as the Candidates 2026 is concerned. The winner of that eight-player elite meet will secure the right to challenge D Gukesh for the World Championship crown next year.
That, however, is not the only talking point in chess at this moment. The death of American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky has caused enough consternation in the fraternity and the reasons of that unfortunate incident are still unknown.
Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik’s comments about the player have caused a stir, to the extent of the FIDE initiating a probe into what the Russian has said. Arkady Dvorkovic, the president of FIDE, said on Saturday that the world governing body of the game will ask Kramnik to provide evidence of what he has tried to substantiate.
“We all understand that he was affected by hints, sometimes aggressive hints, related to potential cheating. And even if those were not direct accusations, he felt like those were real accusations against him and some other persons. So at the moment it’s in the hands of the investigation and ethics commission,” said the chief of the world governing body of chess.
“So I cannot name the findings. I cannot say that we didn’t find something negative. We have other signals, we have evidence that was provided to us and we passed it to the people who investigated and discussed it. I’m not accusing anyone at this point. I need to mention that I tried to persuade Vladimir to inform me that it should be less aggressive reform. I did not inform him. I felt that it’s a bit too much. I also asked him to provide full methodology that he is ready to bring his hints for accusations.”
This is a raging topic in this game these days. A player accused of cheating by a former world champion in online games is rare. The strange point is that no evidence has been furnished. Can Kramnik prove his point or will the death of a 29-year-old known the world over for his activities promoting chess supersede it? The FIDE president said the probe is on. Who knows what lies ahead!
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Chess World Cup begins along the pristine beaches of Goa. It’s a top event featuring a number of highly-rated players. For the next few weeks, this is where attention would be as far as global chess is concerned.
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— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) November 1, 2025