Exclusive | Chess player who made cheating accusations against Daniel Naroditsky now painting himself as a victim

A former world chess champion who made baseless accusations of cheating against US chess superstar Daniel Naroditsky has painted himself as the victim as he described receiving dozens of threats to his life in the wake of the American’s death.

Russian national Vladimir Kramnik, 50, told The Post he would be willing to talk to police in Charlotte, North Carolina, but warned that he will bring legal action against others in the game who have blamed his campaign against Naroditsky — the son of a Ukrainian-born Jewish father — for leading to the 29-year-old’s death, which was announced on Monday.

Kramnik, speaking from his home in Switzerland, also hit out at the chess world authorities, who have launched a probe into his possible harassment or bullying of the US chess ace.

Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik says he has received dozens of threats to his life in the wake of the American player Daniel Naroditsky’s death. Getty Images for World Chess

People have accused Kramnik of playing a role in Naroditsky’s death. Here he is with a 12-year-old Naroditsky. @SuchtiRMA/X

Describing the death as “tragic,” he warned there would be “legal consequences for everyone” who says he is responsible for it.

“What is happening now is, unfortunately, a continuation of a very, very dirty PR campaign, which I started to be a target for already two years,” he told The Post.

“I had much more severe attacks, death threats for my family as well, on top of permanent, continuous defamation publications, and, well, just insults,” he said. “I have received, over the last two days, dozens of direct death threats.”

Kramnik said he was planning to go to the police in Switzerland to “start a criminal case” against those in the world of chess who have blamed him for Naroditsky’s death.

The former world champ has been suspended multiple times from the world’s largest online chess platform, Chess.com, for pushing what a spokesperson called “baseless conspiracy theories about other players.”

Kramnik accused Naroditsky — who became America’s greatest ambassador in the sport — of cheating in online games. AP

GoFundMe site fundraising for FAIR PLAY IN CHESS by Vladimir Kramnik. GoFundMe

“I had much more severe attacks, death threats for my family as well, on top of permanent, continuous defamation publications, and, well, just insults,” Kramnik said. AP

For the past few years, Kramnik has accused Naroditsky — who became America’s greatest ambassador in the sport — as well as others of cheating in online games using sophisticated computer programs that can tabulate millions of possible moves at a time to guarantee victory.

Following Monday’s tragic news, many figures in the game — where players compete for serious money online — hit out at Kramnik, among them, Indian Grandmaster Nihal Sarin, who said Kramnik has “kind of literally taken a life.”

Despite that, Kramnik insisted that he is the victim in the story, and said he was “the only one” trying to help Naroditsky.

“I was the only one who, once I saw his shape, one day before his death, I was shouting, publicly, ‘Please help him.’ It’s very obvious that he had big issues,” he said.

“I was the only one who, once I saw his shape, one day before his death, I was shouting, publicly, ‘Please help him.’ It’s very obvious that he had big issues,” Kramnik said. Getty Images for World Chess

“Maybe he is under some substances, but something was clearly wrong with him, very very wrong. And nobody did anything, and now they are blaming me, who was the only one trying to tell police, friends, people who are close, ‘Come and do something about it,’” Kramnik added.

No official cause of death has yet been given for Kramnik, who was found unconscious on his couch at his Charlotte apartment by senior figures in his chess club on Sunday.

The investigation into his death remains active, with cops investigating it as a possible suicide or overdose, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Incident Report seen by The Post.

Here’s the latest on the death of chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky

And Kramnik insists his legal team has reached out to police in Charlotte already, and that he wants to help with what he described as “really strange” happenings.

“I really would like that the investigation to take place [is a] very serious police investigation, and that we all know what happened,” he said.

“Some things [that] were really strange were happening. The fact that all his videos on his Twitch channel were erased like a few hours before his death,” he went on.

Naroditsky appeared incoherent and rambling in his final Twitch stream before his death. David Naroditsky/YouTube

“I spoke with my lawyers already, they will try to contact the police department in Charlotte, to try to ask them for an investigation,” Kramnik added.

“I will do everything in my power to get a real investigation into what happened that day, the day before, why his shape was deteriorating so rapidly, what was happening in these days,” he said.

Naroditsky appeared incoherent and rambling in his final Twitch stream before his death, in which he explicitly discussed the baseless claims made by Kramnik.

“Ever since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like if I start doing well, people assume the worst of intentions,” Naroditsky said in the video made in the early hours of Oct. 17.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department did not respond immediately to requests for comment.