An American chess grandmaster is dead at 29. Last year, he said an ‘evil’ Russian player was trying ‘to destroy my life’

Since his death, many in the chess community, including FIDE leadership, have pointed the finger at a long-running feud between Narodetsky and former Russian world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who spent more than a year publicly accusing Narodetsky of cheating at online chess without providing substantive evidence. In an October 2024 interview with C-squared In a podcast, Naroditsky described Kramnik’s campaign as a “continuous, vicious and utterly deranged attempt to destroy my life.” He added: “He is trying to destroy my life. He is trying to cause me emotional and physical harm. He knows exactly what he is doing.”

It seemed that these accusations weighed heavily on Naroditsky. In his final live broadcast on Saturday, he discussed the lasting impact of Kramnik’s allegations. “Since the Kramnik case, I feel like if you start doing well, people assume the worst intentions,” he said. “The problem is just the residual effect of it.”

said Indian grandmaster Nihal Sarin, who played recent matches against Narodetsky on Chess.com Indian Express Naroditsky had said that he was “under tremendous pressure due to many baseless accusations, most notably Kramnik, of course.” Sarin said that Kramnik “literally ended his life” and called for sanctions to be imposed on the Russian player

Naroditsky was awarded the title of Grand Master in 2013 when he was only 18 years old. He won the World Under-12 Chess Championship in 2007, has been consistently ranked in the world’s top 200 in classical chess, and has maintained a top 25 ranking in blitz chess throughout his career. In August, he won the US National Blitz Championship with a score of 14-0. His estimated net worth ranged between $500,000 and $1 million at the time of his death.

While he has more than $108,000 in documented prize money from more than 150 tournaments — including $17,920 from one 2021 online event — his competitive winnings represent only a small portion of his total income. His real financial success came from diversifying into the booming chess content economy.

With over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube and 340,000 followers on Twitch, Narodetsky generates plenty of additional revenue for himself through subscriptions, donations, advertising, and sponsorships. Industry data for 2024 estimated his monthly earnings on Twitch at between $10,000 and $30,000. He has also written two educational books –Positional chess masterypublished when he was only 14 years old, and Master complex endgames– which continues to generate royalties. As head coach at Charlotte Chess Center and a regular columnist for New York Times and Chess life Magazine, his career has exemplified the transformation of competitive chess into a viable digital business model, capitalizing on a global online chess market valued at $1.2 billion in 2024 and expected to reach $3.6 billion by 2033.

Narodetsky has been widely praised for his ability to explain complex chess concepts clearly. “Daniel was a wonderful teacher and explainer of chess, concepts and ideas,” said Daniel Weisbarth, co-owner of Silver Knights Chess Academy in Virginia. AP.​

Kramnik, who became world champion in 2000, has accused several players of cheating online in recent years. Czech grandmaster David Navarra revealed that Kramnik’s allegations made him feel suicidal and wrote to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) requesting sanctions, but no action was taken. Chess.com suspended Kramnik from awards events in 2023 after he made accusations against several players, leading Kramnik to claim that the platform was trying to “silence me.”

After Naroditsky’s death, Kramnik posted on the social media platform He claimed that Narodetsky’s friends were “hiding” troubling behavior and erasing evidence by removing recent Twitch videos. These comments sparked widespread condemnation from the chess community

World number two Hikaru Nakamura said he was “shocked” by the news and hurled insults at Kramnik on his live broadcast. World champion Magnus Carlsen said he supported Narodetsky in secret, but “maybe he should have done so publicly as well,” describing Kramnik’s prosecution of Narodetsky as “appalling.”

Emil Sotowski, CEO of the International Chess Federation, said Reuters The organization was “researching” Kramnik’s year-long campaign against Narodetsky. FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich said the federation would create a prize in memory of Naroditsky, describing him as “not only a wonderful master, but also a tireless ambassador of chess, and above all – a kind, compassionate and truly good person.”

Naroditsky’s family requested privacy and asked that he be remembered “for his passion and love for the game of chess and for the joy and inspiration he brought to all of us every day.”

You can watch Narodetsky’s latest YouTube video below:

​For this story, luck Use generative AI to help with the rough draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publication.