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by j4coh 236 days ago
These are things you know? Or this is what you imagine might have happened and what he might have been thinking? For me it makes quite a big difference on how seriously to take you, if you actually know him or not (not in a parasocial way).
1 comments

This is not hypothetical. He made his views on the topic completely clear, repeatedly. The entire accusations had essentially started to become a major part of who he was and he endlessly focused on them. He also mentioned what I said about them coming from Kramnik and how that was particularly hurtful for him.
Where? I watched his videos and I never saw him say anything like what you’ve written.
On his Twitch streams this issue was constantly brought up. While the frequency of discussion was obviously highest around the time of the accusations, it was brought up in basically every single stream, all alongside the very visible decline of his overall 'wellness' over the past ~2 years.

This [1] is from his final stream, and it's clear he was already at the breaking point. I feel most awful for his friend Bortnyk (one of the two voices you hear in the background there essentially having an intervention), he's going to be beating himself up thinking he could have done more, for years to come.

Everybody could see Danya deteriorating, but somehow I think nobody really realized just how 'real' it was. Magnus, who also regularly followed Danya's streams, has mentioned that he somewhat regrets not coming out publicly in defense of him. Probably in part because his views on cheating were already somewhat tainted at this point, and probably in part because nobody wanted to be the next person Kramnik started going after.

[1] - https://youtu.be/112JImX_cWM?t=8071

Yeah I just noticed even in that final stream he bemoans what the Kramnik stuff had done to him, or at least his perception of what it had done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=112JImX_cWM&t=8862s

And another point in the video where it gets quite dark: https://youtu.be/112JImX_cWM?t=2615

Such an awful thing to see such an amazing person melt away and ultimately leave this world. Literally about a week ago I was recommending him on here to people trying to learn chess. His ability to teach was unparalleled.