Daniel Naroditsky RIP
Oct 23 2025
Grandmaster, Popular Commentator Daniel Naroditsky Tragically Passes Away At 29
Some chatters were reporting this on Nemo's Monday morning stream. In general people are quick to pass on sensational news without double checking even if that one source is reputable. Chess.com put out that release the next day after checking with more sources and it's a nice tribute.
I remember first seeing Danya as a guest on Alexandra Botez's channel, back when she was still attending Stanford and Danya was also a student there. They did some commentary stuff together and maybe some other stuff but just like Alexandra, Danya showed quite a bit of charisma.
Later on he starts his own Twitch channel doing collabs with various chess streamers including Alexandra and later BotezLive (lots of Botez Sisters vs Danya in various odds matches and he always took dodgy bets and was a graceful loser including doing dances and impressions). Danya tended to stream late in the night and played a lot of bullet chess, being one of the top players on Chess.com.
One night after a raid we saw that he was raising money to move to Charlotte. ChessBae94 and I donated about $1000 together which I think made me a VIP in his channel. And although for the most part I didn't watch his channel much he'd often greet me if he saw me in chat.
Danya became a fantastic commentator for Chess.com, traveling to different countries for big tournaments. He also was a member of the Charlotte Chess Club and helped them do events and such. I've always seen him cheerful and upbeat and not angry.
We're not sure how he died and people are speculating a bunch, perhaps with good reason but also inappropriately in my mind. For now remember he was a great person, a great content creator, and a great chess ambassador.
Some chatters were reporting this on Nemo's Monday morning stream. In general people are quick to pass on sensational news without double checking even if that one source is reputable. Chess.com put out that release the next day after checking with more sources and it's a nice tribute.
I remember first seeing Danya as a guest on Alexandra Botez's channel, back when she was still attending Stanford and Danya was also a student there. They did some commentary stuff together and maybe some other stuff but just like Alexandra, Danya showed quite a bit of charisma.
Later on he starts his own Twitch channel doing collabs with various chess streamers including Alexandra and later BotezLive (lots of Botez Sisters vs Danya in various odds matches and he always took dodgy bets and was a graceful loser including doing dances and impressions). Danya tended to stream late in the night and played a lot of bullet chess, being one of the top players on Chess.com.
One night after a raid we saw that he was raising money to move to Charlotte. ChessBae94 and I donated about $1000 together which I think made me a VIP in his channel. And although for the most part I didn't watch his channel much he'd often greet me if he saw me in chat.
Danya became a fantastic commentator for Chess.com, traveling to different countries for big tournaments. He also was a member of the Charlotte Chess Club and helped them do events and such. I've always seen him cheerful and upbeat and not angry.
We're not sure how he died and people are speculating a bunch, perhaps with good reason but also inappropriately in my mind. For now remember he was a great person, a great content creator, and a great chess ambassador.