YouTube chess superstar Daniel Naroditsky, 29, has died | Wyoming Public Media

Published October 21, 2025 at 3:21 PM MDT MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: American chess grandmaster and YouTube sensation Daniel Naroditsky died this week at 29 years old. His peers and his rivals remember him as an incredibly skilled and deeply humble player. NPR’s Alana Wise reports. ALANA WISE, BYLINE: Naroditsky’s club, the Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, announced his death on social media. It shocked the chess community, where he made a mark as both a talented player and ambassador of the sport. SAM SHANKLAND: So Daniel wore many hats for me over the course of his life. WISE: That was fellow grandmaster Sam Shankland. He described Naroditsky as a little brother to him. They first met when Shankland was 12 and Naroditsky was 7. SHANKLAND: I remember playing with him when his father had to bring a booster seat ’cause he was too small to see over the board. And then, as he grew up, we became rivals, as we were the two best players in California pretty quickly. WISE: Naroditsky grew up in the Bay Area and made a name for himself as a child prodigy in the chess world. He achieved the title of grandmaster at just
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