Volodar Murzin On Surviving His Father’s Abuse: 'He Could Slam My Head Against The Wall'

GM Volodar Murzin, the newly crowned World Rapid Chess Champion, has shared the harrowing story about how he and his family escaped the violent grip of his abusive father.

The 18-year-old grandmaster sensationally became the second-youngest rapid world champion in history when he won the 2024 World Rapid Chess Championship in New York with an undefeated score ahead of compatriots GM Alexander Grischuk and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. He cashed in $90,000 for the title in rapid and $20,000 for reaching the quarterfinal in the blitz.

Behind the remarkable feat lies a shocking story. The 18-year-old has for the first time opened up about his childhood trauma in an emotional interview with the Russian sports website Championat.

'Assault Was The Norm'

Murzin recounted how his mother Ekaterina took him and his four sisters 1,100 miles away from their hometown of Nizhny Tagil to escape his father's abuse.

"He started beating me constantly when I was seven. He hit my older sister with a shovel when she and my middle sister came to visit him," Murzin said. He doesn't remember the relationship with him ever being normal. "Assault on everyone in the household was the norm."

He started beating me constantly when I was seven. He hit my older sister with a shovel when she and my middle sister came to visit him.

—Volodar Murzin

Volodar was 11 years old when the family fled to the capital. By that time, he had just won the European Youth Under 12 Championship, and his mother grabbed the opportunity to escape when he received an offer from a chess club for young promising players.

The grandmaster talks about how they moved into an empty apartment without any beds and bought mattresses so they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor. "It was very difficult; sometimes we didn’t even have anything to eat."

Controlled With Travel Ban

The difficulties didn't end there, he says. His father continued to control his life by placing a travel ban on him when he was trying to achieve his final grandmaster norm. In the end they had to go to court to have the ban lifted. Murzin achieved his GM title in 2022.

The abusive father also had a complicated stance on chess, according to Murzin. "He used to say that chess was the 'devil’s game'. But he made me play until I was exhausted. Like, until four in the morning. My eyes were closing, I couldn’t think straight, I had to get ready for school in three hours, but he wouldn’t let me," he said, before sharing more horrific details:

"He insisted that you should only wash your hair with raw eggs. He would take an egg and smash it on my head and on my sisters’ heads. If I objected, he would slam my head against the wall."

He insisted that you should only wash your hair with raw eggs. He would take an egg and smash it on my head and on my sisters’ heads. If I objected, he would slam my head against the wall.

—Volodar Murzin

Future Plans And Dispute

The family of six now lives in a 50-square-meter two-bedroom apartment in Khimki outside Moscow. Volodar has cut all ties with his father. "He is definitely a thing of the past. I am sure that for all of us, too. It is difficult to forgive and forget everything that happened."

Together with GM Andrey Esipenko, ranked world number-31, Murzin is among the few hopes of Russia, a once-great chess nation that has struggled producing new stars in the last decade. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has also led to a number of the country's top players leaving the country, changing federations, and openly protesting the war.

Two-time world championship contender Nepomniachtchi is currently the only player ranked among the world's top-25 players.

Murzin has been in a long dispute with the Russian Chess Federation, and unlike Esipenko has refused to sign a long contract with them. He is currently sponsored by a bank and plays under the neutral FIDE flag. 

[Editorial note: Chess.com has been in contact with Volodar's mother who confirmed the story and approved the use of the pictures.]