American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies at 29

Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster who started as a child prodigy and quickly became one of the most influential American voices in the sport, died Monday. He was 29.

Daniel Naroditsky passes away at 29

The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Daniel trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on social media, calling him “a talented chess player, educator, and beloved member of the chess community.”

“Let us remember Daniel for his passion and love for the game of chess, and for the joy and inspiration he brought to us all every day,” his family said in a statement shared by the center. The cause of death was not immediately known.

All you need to know about Daniel Naroditsky

Daniel became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from World Chess Champion, at the age of 18. Years earlier, the California-born player won the Under 12 world championship and spent his teenage years writing chess strategy books as he climbed the world rankings.

He was consistently ranked in the top 200 worldwide for traditional chess and also excelled at a fast-paced style called blitz chess, maintaining a top 25 ranking throughout his adult career. Most recently Daniel, known to many as Danya, won the US National Blitz Championship in August.

Fellow grandmasters credited Daniel with introducing the sport to a wider audience by livestreaming many of his matches and sharing live commentary on others. Thousands of people regularly tuned in on YouTube and the interactive streaming platform Twitch to watch Daniel play.

“He loved streaming, and he loved trying to be educational. The chess world is very grateful,” Hikaru Nakamura, an American grandmaster, said on a livestream Monday.

In a final video posted to his YouTube channel on Friday titled You Thought I Was Gone!? Daniel tells viewers he’s “back, better than ever” after taking a creative break from streaming. He talks viewers through his moves as he plays live chess matches on the computer from a cozy home studio.

Other elite chess players from around the globe took to social media to express their shock and sadness. Dutch chess grandmaster Benjamin Bok reflected on his lifelong friendship with Daniel, who he said he’s known since the Under 12 world championship that Daniel won in 2007.

“I still can’t believe it and don’t want to believe it,” Bok said on X. “It was always a privilege to play, train, and commentate with Danya, but above all, to call him my friend.”

Daniel was the son of Jewish immigrants to the US from Ukraine and Azerbaijan. He was born and raised in San Mateo County, California and was described by his parents as a very serious kid with an impressive attention span and memory. He went on to study history at Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2019 after taking a year off to play in chess tournaments. After college, he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he coached the area’s top junior chess players.

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