“We demand examination” - Vladimir Kramnik starts petition against GMHikaru amid feud, calls latter’s results “abnormal”

The ongoing dispute involving former Chess World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru "GMHikaru," a Grandmaster and Twitch streamer, has presented a fresh challenge for Chess.com. In a recent blog update, Kramnik shared a link to a Change.org petition urging Chess.com to properly investigate Hikaru's games.

Kramnik has been quite vocal about Hikaru's recent series of victories, with the latter achieving two winning streaks of over 40 games each in the past week or so. Kramnik's so-called plea was labeled as:

"We demand examination"

Kramnik shares petition against GMHIkaru (Image via Change.org)

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"Publish the detailed report" - Vladimir Kramnik demands Chess.com's investigation on GMHikaru

Vladimir Kramnik expressed strong criticism of Hikaru Nakamura's recent performance in online chess. The streamer and Grandmaster achieved an impressive win record of 45.5 out of 46 matches, followed by another winning streak of 43 consecutive matches.

However, this has raised suspicion for Kramnik, who believes these numbers are abnormal. In his petition, he wrote:

"We, the chess.com players, ask the administration of the platform to perform a detailed examination of GM Hikaru Nakamura due to his recent numerous streaks of 40+ games on the platform where he showed performances much above his rating, and publish the detailed report afterwards."

Kramnik, however, added that the petition was initiated not to undermine or pursue a vendetta against GMHikaru but rather to ensure the integrity of the system. He said:

"This statement is not an accusation nor anything personal against the above-mentioned chess player, but, rather, an attempt to improve the situation and a request that the efforts in this field be greater."

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Kramnik shares data comparing Hikaru's performance with Carlsen

Kramnik has been a focal point of discussion within the chess world over the past couple of months, first by accusing another streamer and Grandmaster, Hans Niemann, of cheating, and now, turning attention towards GMHikaru.

Kramnik used his blog to share a statistical comparison of Hikaru with two other GMs, Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja. In his post, Kramnik pointed out that despite both Carlsen and Firouzja having higher ratings than Hikaru, they only achieved winning streaks of 32 and 17 games, respectively, while Hikaru's stands at an impressive 79 games.

(Note: Hikaru has, however, played nearly twice the amount of matches as Carlsen and almost four times that of Firouja)

Kramnik shares data comparing the three GMs (Image via Chess.com/Vladimir Kramnik)

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It seems that Vladimir Kramnik's petition is on track to reach its intended goal of garnering 1.5K signatures. However, whether this will be sufficient for Chess.com to initiate an examination remains to be seen.