I, personally, don’t buy the chronic ischemia “diagnosis”.

First, this is usually associated with poor health later in life (arterial sclerosis and the like), though it is possible he could have had it as part of some sort of congenital abnormality.

If it were the case that he had chronic ischemia, he would most likely have known about this. Lack of blood flow to parts of the body tends to cause discomfort. For example, when your arm/leg is “asleep” it is caused by lack of blood flow to the extremity. Now, you don’t have the same concentration of pain receptors innervating your internal organs, but even a mild ischemic attack along the lines proposed by the ESPN article would most likely have similar symptoms to that of a heart attack. Additionally, such a condition would most likely manifest itself gradually over time, not suddenly (and seemingly without warning) as in this case.

I’m not sure if this is a case of mistranslation, but it seems like “chronic” ischemia would be an unlikely cause for Cherepanov’s death. As noted above (and elsewhere) it is much more likely that a congenital defect of the heart, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is the culprit.

this passing of a 19 year old is tragic beyond words.

Older people have survived their 20’s and their 30’s and middle age, and have experienced a lot of life’s joys and blows, just to reach seniority. It doesn’t matter how young you are today, tomorrow could be your last day. So live life to the fullest and know, even if you live 100 years, your time is short. I will be 67 years old on Thursday, if I live until then. Lots to be grateful for, starting with not dying, like Alexei, at 19 years of age. He will never know the ripeness and the fullness of living for many years. May everyone here be so richly blessed as to one day arrive at your maturity, as I have been blessed to do.

It’s no consolation whatsoever, but at least young Mr Cherepanov died playing the game that he loved.