GM Daniel Naroditsky (1995-2025)

Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes.

GM Daniel Naroditsky, a former World Junior Champion and longtime member of the Charlotte Chess Center community, has died, the center said on Monday. He was 29.

“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,” the center said in a statement attributed to the Naroditsky family.

The center asked for “privacy for Daniel’s family during this extremely difficult time.”

“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.”

Naroditsky played in five U.S. Championships and published a book, Mastering Positional Chess, at age 14. He won the gold medal in the Under-12 Open section of the 2007 FIDE World Youth Championships, and he won the 2013 U.S. Junior (Under-20) Championship at age 17. He was also a Chess Life columnist from 2014 until 2020.

Naroditsky was also known to many in the U.S. and around the world as an active chess streamer and teacher, something which GM Hikaru Nakamura brought up in a Kick stream Monday afternoon, placing him in the first generation of prodigious chess streamers — such as himself, IM Levy Rozman, and the Botez sisters — who changed the perception of the game.

“He loved streaming, and he loved trying to be educational,” Nakamura said. “The chess world is very grateful” for him, he added, calling Naroditsky “just someone who tried to do what he could for chess.”

“I am a bit of a mess obviously,” he added.

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk also addressed the news on Twitch Monday. “He was a very talented chess player,” Bortnyk said. “But more, he was a very good guy. Very kind guy. He was a good friend.”