Chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies aged 29 as family issue emotional statement

Chess grandmaster and commentator Daniel Naroditsky has tragically passed away at the age of 29, it has been confirmed. "Let us remember Daniel for his passion and love for the game of chess," the Naroditsky family expressed in a heartfelt post on X, "and for the joy and inspiration he brought to us all every day."

The popular player's family added, via the Charlotte Chess Centre: "It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected passing of Daniel Naroditsky. 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 US and International chess federations are among those to have paid tribute to Naroditsky, alongside American world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who said that he was "devastated" to hear the news.

Naroditsky, one of America's most recognisable players and former world youth champion, had written and published a book on chess when he was only 14 - before going on to educate his followers on Twitch and YouTube alongside being a columnist for the New York Times.

He was working as a head coach for the Charlotte Chess Centre in North Carolina before his death, the cause of which has not been publicly disclosed.

He was consistently in the top 200 across the world for traditional chess and also excelled at a blitz version of the game.

Tributes have poured in from the chess community, including from fellow grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk, who said: "He was a very talented chess player. But more, he was a very good guy. Very kind guy. He was a good friend."

Close friend and a fellow grandmaster Benjamin Bok wrote on X: "I still can't believe it and don't want to believe it. It was always a privilege to play, train, and commentate with Danya, but above all, to call him my friend."

Known by many as 'Danya', Naroditsky learned chess from his brother Alan and became a grandmaster at the age of 18.

"It wasn't love at first sight," he told the New York Times in 2022. "It was a gradual process. A lot of my best memories are just doing stuff with my brother.

"As far as I was concerned, I was just playing games with my brother."

In 2022, he penned his thoughts on chess' influence in his life, writing: "Even at my level, I can still discover beautiful things about the game every single time I train, teach, play or am a commentator at a tournament."