[VERY] Emotional video by Anna Rudolf, “Daniel Naroditsky was so gentle, so wise, so eloquent”

In a video titled “Justice for Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky”, Anna Rudolf opens up with raw emotion in a moving video about her friend Danya. “Daniel Naroditsky was so gentle, so wise, so eloquent… He was a great player, an excellent commentator, one of the best if not the best in the world. Such an exceptional educator, he gave all his life to chess.

Anna Rudolf and her “lip balm case” was the first social case that Chessdom covered. During the 2007 Vandouvre Open, Anna Rudolf was accused of cheating. Thanks to Marie Boyarchenko and other players contacting Chessdom, the case became widely known and some (but far from enough!) justice was served. Since then Chessdom has covered countless more social cases in chess, and we will continue to do so (the latest one is the dramatic pressure Kramnik is putting on Navara)

Read: Ugly story at Vandoeuvre Open – false accusations, refusal of shaking hands, and ridiculous behavior (note: unfortunately the interview we did with Anna at the time was lost during a database problem)

Anna Rudolf says in her emotional video, “I would like to talk [about Daniel Naroditsky] from the perspective of someone who was also accused of cheating. Even though it is just a fraction of what Daniel suffered, I want to contribute to it, to give perspective, of how there is absolutely no consequence or action taken when someone innocent is falsely accused.”

Anna Rudolf continues, “The fact that Vladimir Kramnik accused so many players, including David Navara who also filed a complaint to the FIDE Ethics committee and he himself had suicidal thoughts, that was not taken seriously, and it had to come to this. It had to come to losing one of the kindest, most brilliant souls in the chess world.”

Daniel Naroditsky passes away timeline

20.10 Daniel Naroditsky passes away
20.10 2700 club players mourn the passing of Daniel Naroditsky
20.10 The chess world mourns the passing away of Daniel Naroditsky
20.10 Fellow streamers react to the passing of Daniel Naroditsky
21.10 NY Times, where Daniel Naroditsky was columnist, with a tribute for Danya
21.10 Honoring Daniel Naroditsky, a video tribute to Danya
21.10 Magnus Carlsen on Daniel Naroditsky, “It’s a great loss. It’s very sad for all of us”
22.10 Reuters, “FIDE was “looking into” Kramnik’s year-long campaign accusing Naroditsky of online cheating”
23.10 Grant Oen, “Danya Naroditsky, I know you are already up there blitzing with the legends”

Disclaimer: Unfounded cheating allegations and accusations are a powerful form of emotional manipulation that can cause lasting psychological and even physical harm. (more about it here)