In 2019, former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik trained 14 young Indian chess talents including Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh.
photo from ESPN
Fast forward to today, three of those are now Hyper GM and representing India in the Chess Olympiad. Gukesh is also the Fide World Chess Championship challenger for Ding Liren's crown. In the Chess Olympiad, India is on the verge of capturing the title with one round to go after beating the USA 2.5 - 1.5. Only China has a slim chance of taking the crown if India loses against Slovenia and China wins against the USA in the last round.
Ironically, Kramnik who is now helping Uzbekistan complained against Chessbase India's cellphone recordings during the game.
This is yet another controversy from the former World Champion who previously hinted at cheating and reported several players in online matches in chess.com website.
The day before, Chessbase India posted the following tweet to commemorate Kramnik's contribution to Indian chess.
There is no doubt that Kramnik contributed a lot to the development of Indian chess especially to the likes of Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa and World Championship Challenger, Gukesh. However this latest controversy is a poor showing from the former World Champion. While he didn't accuse the team of cheating directly, he hinted at it in his tweet. Take note that he only complained of cellphone recordings and random guests against the India vs Uzbekistan match.
