Naroditsky and other elite players traded a physical chess board for a keyboard to keep playing through lockdown.
Daniel Naroditsky, a standard-bearer in the world of competitive chess that flourished in the COVID-19 pandemic, died Monday at the age of 29, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greats of the game who helped usher in its digital era.
The American grandmaster won several championships and amassed hundreds of thousands of subscribers on YouTube, Twitch and other platforms, where he would livestream matches and explain strategy in real time. But he also struggled with the cyberspace he helped build.
High-speed games became wildly popular online during the pandemic, creating a chess community that was soon rife with cheating allegations as players gained access to sophisticated computer programs that could give them an unfair advantage.
Naroditsky’s untimely death has shined a spotlight on the dark underbelly of the game that fellow pros say brought undue criticism and hostility upon the chess star in his final months.
His cause of death has not been released.
Naroditsky had been dogged by unsubstantiated claims of cheating from Russian grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, whom Naroditsky had called one of the “heroes” he looked up to as a young player.
The California-born pro had denied the claims as he excelled at blitz and bullet chess, where players have mere minutes to finish intense matches. He was vocal about how the allegations took a toll on him.
“Ever since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like if I start doing well, people assume the worst of intentions,” Naroditsky said Saturday in the last livestream he filmed before his death. “The issue is just the lingering effect of it.”
He ruminated about his legacy and hoped other top players would trust that he played with integrity.
