The global governing body for the game of chess said on Tuesday that it had filed an ethics complaint against a Russian grandmaster and former world champion who was accused of bullying Daniel Naroditsky, a popular American grandmaster, before Mr. Naroditsky died last month at age 29.
The organization, the International Chess Federation, filed the complaint after many in the chess world expressed anger that the former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, had repeatedly insinuated, in videos, comments and posts, that Mr. Naroditsky had cheated when he played chess online.
In a statement last month on social media, Mr. Kramnik wrote that he had “never made any personal attack or insult toward” Mr. Naroditsky, and that efforts to link him to the death “cross all boundaries of basic human morality.”
It was not clear how Mr. Naroditsky, who had built a devoted online following as a player, prodigious chess commentator and teacher known for his humor and humility, died. He was found unresponsive at his home in Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 19, and the death was being investigated as a suicide, an overdose or from natural causes, according to the police.
Mr. Naroditsky grew up in California idolizing Mr. Kramnik, 50, who was world champion from 2000 to 2007. Widely considered one of the game’s greatest players, Mr. Kramnik retired in 2019 and began a campaign to expose online cheating. He describes himself on social media as an “advocate for fair play in chess.”
Two days before his death, Mr. Naroditsky spoke about the accusations made against him by Mr. Kramnik, while playing chess on a livestream during which he seemed disoriented and exhausted, his head sometimes falling into his hands.
“There’s nothing I’d rather wish for than for this to never have happened,” Mr. Naroditsky said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the International Chess Federation, known as FIDE, said it had submitted a complaint against Mr. Kramnik to its ethics and disciplinary commission that outlined a “pattern of conduct over roughly two years” that could involve “potential violations related to harassment and the insulting of an individual’s dignity.”
Mr. Kramnik, asked on Wednesday for his response to the complaint, pointed to a post on social media in which he told another reporter that he did not know the exact claims that were being made against him and would therefore be unable to comment.
The federation said the complaint drew on testimony and information provided by people close to Mr. Naroditsky as well as information supplied by another elite player, David Navara, a Czech grandmaster. Mr. Navara and Mr. Naroditsky’s family did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
In May, Mr. Navara wrote a blog post on Chess.com in which he said he had experienced suicidal thoughts and had complained to FIDE after Mr. Kramnik mentioned him in a social media post that he believed may have led people to suspect him of cheating.
“I was completely shocked by being put in connection with cheating in such a way,” Mr. Navara wrote.
Yolander Persaud, the chairwoman of FIDE’s ethics and disciplinary commission, said in a statement that if she deemed the complaint admissible, Mr. Kramnik would have three weeks to respond. The panel may then collect more statements before it issues a decision, she said.
Players who violate the federation’s code of ethics can receive warnings, be stripped of their titles or be banned from taking part in officially sanctioned chess competitions, the code says.
Mr. Kramnik, in his online statement last month, expressed condolences to Mr. Naroditsky’s family, calling him a “remarkable chess player and person.” At the same time, Mr. Kramnik wrote that he was ready to provide “evidence” questioning whether Mr. Naroditsky had followed the game’s rules of “fair play.”
Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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