American chess champion Daniel Naroditsky dies at the age of 29

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

The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Naroditsky trained and worked as a coach, announced his death on social media, praying for him. "A talented chess player, teacher, 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 brings to all of us every day," His family said in a joint statement to the center.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Narodetsky became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess except world chess champion, at the age of 18.

Years earlier, the California-born player had won the under-12 world championship and spent his teenage years writing chess strategy books while climbing the world rankings.

Consistently ranked in the top 200 players in the world in traditional chess, he also excelled in a fast-paced style called blitz chess, maintaining a top 25 ranking throughout his adult career. Most recently, Naroditsky, known to many as Dania, won the US National Blitz Championship in August.

His senior teammates credited Naroditsky with introducing the sport to a wider audience by live streaming many of his matches and sharing live commentary on others. Thousands of people regularly tune in to YouTube and the interactive streaming platform Twitch to watch Narodetsky play.

"He loved live streaming, and he loved it to be educational. The chess world is very grateful," Hikaru Nakamura, the American grandmaster, said in a live broadcast on Monday.

In a recent video clip he posted on his YouTube channel on Friday, entitled: "Did you think I was gone!?" Naroditsky tells viewers that it is "Once again, better than ever" After taking a creative break from broadcasting. He talks viewers through his moves while playing live chess matches on the computer from the comfort of his home studio.

Other elite chess players from around the world took to social media to express their shock and sadness.

Dutch chess champion Benjamin Bock spoke about his long friendship with Narodetsky, whom he said he has known since the U12 World Championship which Narodetsky won in 2007.

"I still can’t believe it and I don’t want to believe it" Puck said on the X. "It has always been a pleasure to play, coach and commentate with Dania, but above all, to call him my friend."

Naroditsky was the son of Jewish immigrants to the United States from Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Born and raised in San Mateo County, California, his parents described him as a very serious child with an impressive attention span and memory. He went on to study history at Stanford University, earning his 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 trained the best junior chess players in the area.

Copyright 2025, NPR