Jan Gustafsson

German GM and commentator

“There’s one small but very important thing related to Anish Giri. I’m often asked: is it true that Anish allegedly interrogated Daniel Naroditsky over the cheating accusations?

For some reason, this opinion has taken hold in the public mind — I often see it on Reddit and elsewhere, and I get asked about it too. And honestly, it has somewhat stained Anish’s reputation.

This seemed strange to me because I worked with Anish and knew he had a good relationship with Naroditsky — they communicated regularly. So, I asked Giri about it directly.

He told me his side of the story and even showed me his DMs with Naroditsky. Anish always believed the cheating accusations against Naroditsky were unfounded.

When Kramnik’s video came out, they simply discussed once what was happening, but it was by no means an interrogation! Perhaps Naroditsky once said, “Even Giri asked me what was happening.” And from that, this whole narrative grew.

In my opinion, you can criticize Anish for many things, including his public statements, but in this case, it’s truly unfair because he had a good relationship with Naroditsky. Dragging him into this story in such a tragic situation, in my opinion, is wrong.”