"Kramnik took up a very important cause. But he didn't execute it perfectly..." — Alexander Grischuk

Alexander Grischuk

Russian GM

“In a recent interview, I spoke about the harassment that was organized against Kramnik. Regarding this, of course, that is true.

I’m not saying it was specifically organized. But it was certainly widespread. It was everywhere. In both English-language and Russian-language media. People simply started blaming Kramnik for the death. Is it correct to use the word ‘harassment’ when referring to a person who was ‘organizing’ the harassment? Well, I understand the word ‘harassment’ a little differently.

In my understanding, harassment is done collectively. I checked the dictionary on this matter, and the dictionary disagrees with me. But in my understanding, if one person oppresses or bullies another, that is one thing. But harassment, in my understanding, is something collective. And Kramnik, as far as I know, did not attract anyone to his, let’s say, attacks.

How do I generally feel about Kramnik’s activities? My attitude toward this is complex. On the one hand, he took up a very important and very useful cause. But, in my opinion, he didn’t execute it perfectly. It’s like one singer once said: ‘I adore the band AC/DC. Their songs are complete crap, but the way they perform them is divine.’

Well, with Kramnik it is a little the opposite. That is, the cause is excellent, but the execution… Well, it just didn’t work out. You can just see it in people’s reactions. It was too much. It turned too many people against it.

And now it has become difficult to talk about this topic at all…”