Isaac's Lab

Words can’t describe how heartbreaking the passing of my coach, Daniel Naroditsky, is. Just a few days before the Grand Swiss tournament in Uzbekistan which took place a little more than a month ago, I asked him to coach and accompany me. Even though it was a last-minute request and he had to travel across the world to reach Samarkand, he booked his flight and figured everything out within hours. That’s who he was, always there, never hesitating to help. We spent an amazing half month together. I’ll always be grateful for those days and everything I learned from him. Danya was the most genuine person I have ever known. I’ll never forget our late night bullet matches over the past 10 years. he was the only person in the world who regularly beat me in those. Danya, your legacy lives on forever. I’m sure somewhere up there, you’re playing blitz and discussing history with the greats.

This is one of the most disgusting and vile things I have ever read, and that's saying a lot as a woman growing up in chess. "Where were all of you when Danya was alive and unwell?". You are the CEO of the governing body of chess and in your first real comments since the passing of one of our greatest talents, coaches, and ambassadors you decide to blame the public when you have absolutely no idea who Danya had been in contact with? Where the f*ck were you? Certainly not protecting your players from harassment because I'm sure that might have interfered with your protection of FIDE President Dvorkovich, close friends with Kramnik. You both accuse his friends knowing NOTHING about the support he received and remove any responsibility from yourself at the same time. Truly pathetic. We aren't oversimplifying anything. We know the damage Kramnik did to Danya because he told us in some of his final painful words. Trivializing the world's call for justice against Kramnik's malicious campaign of harassment isn't "virtue signaling", but I'm not at all surprised this would be your take given your morals have been bought out for many years now. But you are right about one thing. We absolutely didn't do enough while Danya was with us, we were not vocal enough about the failures of FIDE to uphold it's own bylaws, and that's what makes me the most sick. It's a mistake I won't make again. You are clearly unfit to lead FIDE. You are a disgrace to Chess and everything it should stand for. Resign immediately.