What happened to Daniel Naroditsky? Chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer dies aged 29

The chess world lost a respected figure on October 20, 2025, with the passing of Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. Daniel, known as "GMNaroditsky" on Twitch, had over 340,000 followers on the platform, and fans worldwide tuned in to watch him play. He has nearly 5,500 hours of chess gameplay on his channel and was last seen playing the game just two days before his death.

The Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina, where Daniel Naroditsky worked as head coach, shared a formal statement following his demise, mentioning him to be "a talented chess player, educator, and cherished member of the chess community":

"It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected passing of Daniel Naroditsky. Daniel was a talented chess player, educator, and cherished member of the chess community. He was also a loving son, brother, and loyal friend. We ask for privacy for Daniel’s family during this extremely difficult time. Let us honor Daniel by remembering his passion for chess and the inspiration he brought to us all."

Daniel, who was 29 years old when he passed, started his chess journey at the age of six, and in an interview with The New York Times, he mentioned how he did not have an instant affinity for chess, but rather the sport grew on him:

"I think a lot of people want to imagine that it was love at first sight and that my brother couldn’t pull me away from the chessboard. It was more of a gradual process, where chess slowly entered the battery of stuff we did to pass the time. A lot of my best memories are just doing stuff with my brother."

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"Daniel was such a bright light": Streamers react to Daniel Naroditsky's death

Streamer and YouTuber Charlie "MoistCr1TiKaL" recounted his experiences with Daniel, who used to be his chess coach, in a video titled, The World Lost a Great Man Today.

Here, he mentioned that Daniel was a "bright light" in the chess world:

"Daniel was such a bright light in the chess community and just such a f**king amazing guy."

Further, he went on to attribute his win against Felix "xQc" in the 2020 Twitch Pog Champs tournament to Daniel, calling him a "prophet":

"Daniel Naroditsky is a prophet. He said immediately that xQc will likely go with the Scotch Open, and he did. So, I had the counterplay, and he immediately blundered."

Fellow chess grandmaster and streamer, Hikaru Nakamura, had an emotional reaction to Daniel's death on stream, fighting back tears as her said:

"Danya is gone. Obviously, very, very sad. Having heard that news, I wasn't intending to stream today... I'd rather stream [and] have the opportunity to try and at least talk about Dan, all the great things that he did for chess during a short life."

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In other news, at the Checkmate: USA vs India event, Hikaru defeated Gukesh in the final game, picked up the latter’s king piece from the board, and threw it into the crowd.