“I want to play Chess, not cybersports” - Vladimir Kramnik makes his streaming debut, loses to a 2300-Elo player before rage quitting

Chess Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik (2753) ventured into the world of streaming for the first time on January 16. However, things did not unfold as expected, as he found himself losing to a FIDE Master (2300 rated) and essentially rage quitting. He then made some accusations against Chess.com's Titled Tuesday tournament during the stream and later on X.com.

The former World Champion took to his X account to express his views on Chess.com. In doing so, he furthered his accusations against the platform, amplifying his claims of cheating. He wrote:

"I don't make pre-moves by principle, not because don't know how. Simply violates rules and spirit of CHESS, and I want to play chess, not cybersports."

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Vladimir Kramnik loses against an FM, before logging out of Chess.com's Titled Tuesday

Kramnik goes off against Chess.com's Titled Tuesdays (Image via X/VBKramnik)

Titled Tuesday is an 11-round online chess tournament hosted by Chess.com every Tuesday. The competition takes place on the website, and participants can win a top prize of $1000 for securing the highest ranking.

Despite stating he wouldn't participate again, Kramnik re-entered Titled Tuesday. Unfortunately, he faced a setback in the fifth round, losing to a lower-rated player, prompting his renewed criticism of Chess.com.

Kramnik's defeat came at the hands of FM Dmitry Tatarinov, a younger player with swift mouse skills who utilized pre-moves - something Kramnik criticized as going against the "spirit of chess."

After losing, he went on to state:

"You see everything, yeah? I'll finish (quit) the tournament and let's just answer some of your questions. So you see everything. If you are not too naive, you understand the scale of the problem. I mean it's massive."

(Timestamp: 01:03:29)

He then proceeded to log out of the Chess.com website, literally quitting the tournament at the mid-way point:

"You cannot play anymore if you're not somebody untouchable. I will now just leave the tournament. Settings, log out."

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What did the fans say?

Vladimir Kramnik's latest rant on X.com has naturally sparked several comments from the Chess and online communities. Here are some of the notable ones:

Fans react to Kramnik's latest rant (Image via X/VBKramnik)

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Vladimir Kramnik's discontent with Chess.com has become a prominent controversy in recent months. His criticism has been so intense that the platform took the unusual step of locking his blog on their site.