Between this, the antisemitism of Bobby Fischer, and the guy cheating with the power of teledildonics, I have to wonder what the hell is up with chess players.
Isolated weird place, scary Russians, Russian stereotypes of intellectual game + tremendous violence.
Gee, it almost sounds like this is a too convenient racist lie. Any proof? The oldest reference just says 'it totally happened' and cites something I can't access on Google books. It's 20 years after the fact and not a primary source.
Hell hath no fury like a competitive nerd being put on a pedestal.
I think this happens a lot anytime someone who perceives themselves as being shunned by society gets too much positive feedback and an iota of power over people.
I think its the same reason why every nerdy twitch streamer ends up being outed as an abusive child predator.