Chess Grandmaster sparks cheating allegations after quitting game in one move

Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik has sparked up cheating allegations by quitting a game after only making one move. 

Cheating allegations in Chess are far and wide as even some of the game’s biggest names like Hikaru Nakamura have been embroiled in their own allegation sagas. 

In particular, Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik has too been embroiled in his own scandals, however, on the side as the accuser when he levied a series of allegations against Hikaru that were eventually shut down by Chess.com. 

Now, Kramnik has once again been put into the spotlight as he is refusing to play against certain players with questionable statistics. 

During his match against GM Jose “Jospem” Martinez in Chess.com’s Tilted Tuesday tournament, Kramnik resigned from the match after making only one move, right after Jospem had taken his second move. 

He would later talk about it on his live stream, explaining that he is choosing not to play against certain players with statistics he found questionable until Chess.com looks into it. “I might not play, just resigning, against people whose statistics are very unusual,” Kramnik said. 

He stressed that it isn’t a direct accusation of the players, but rather a protest against Chess.com for not explaining the unusual numbers. “And I just want to make it sure that it’s not an accusation, it’s not because of them even so, but it’s my kind of protest,” he said. 

“That’s why please don’t take it wrong, I mean, it’s not an accusation, but since I publish a lot of statistics and you all see that there are a lot of questions and there’s complete silence from Chess.com on it.” 

He went on to explain that until Chess.com releases a report on the statistics, he will continue to not play with the players. Chess.com has yet to respond to Kramnik’s allegations.