The world of chess is in shock after the death of Daniel Naroditsky, a grandmaster winning of several titles and popular for his YouTube and Twitch channels, where he taught chess techniques and strategies. He was only 29.
The Charlotte Chess Center announced on Monday afternoon the unexpected death of Naroditsky, without saying the causes of his death and asking for privacy for Daniel's family. "Daniel was a talented chess player, commentator, and educator, and a cherished member of the chess community, admired and respected by fans and players around the world".
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Naroditsky, born in California from immigrant parents from the Soviet Union, learned to play chess at six years old, and won the World Youth Chess Championship in 2007, being only 11. He featured consistently in the top ranks of Chess.com and Lichess.org, and was in FIDE's top 200 of the world, including being in the top 15 in the US in Classical Chess, and world No. 18 in blitz chess.
Nicknamed Danya, Naroditsky also enjoyed teaching others chess. He wrote his first book at only 14 and wrote columns for Chess Life Magazine and The New York Times, with chess puzzles based on real matches. In 2020, he created a YouTube channel, which had 486,000 subscribers. Hist last video was published just two days ago.