Daniel Naroditsky, a chess grandmaster who built a global following through his accessible teaching style and blitz chess mastery, died unexpectedly at 29, his family announced Monday. The California-born player, who posted his first YouTube video after a nine-month absence last Friday, was found unconscious on a couch at his Charlotte, N.C., home on Sunday by club founder Peter Giannatos and grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Since his death, many in the chess community, including leadership in the International Chess Federation (FIDE), have pointed fingers at a prolonged conflict between Naroditsky and Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who spent more than a year publicly accusing Naroditsky of cheating at online chess without providing substantial evidence. In an October 2024 interview with the C-Squared podcast, Naroditsky called Kramnik’s campaign “a sustained, evil, and absolutely unhinged attempt to destroy my life.” He added: “He is trying to ruin my life; he’s trying to inflict emotional harm, physical harm on me. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
