This is shocking, I have no words. The poor guy.

This makes me so tremendously sad. Danya was one of the biggest blessings to the online chess community.

Super out of the blue. I loved his videos and he taught me a lot after I got into chess during covid.

rest in peace.

Really good teacher, helped me go from 800 to 1600 in under a year. Used to watch his speedruns a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/@DanielNaroditskyGM

I was wondering why I knew his name - he published a series of chess puzzles based on actual historic games in the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/chess-puzzles.

They were fabulous, and I especially enjoyed his commentary. May he rest in peace.

Danya was such an incredibly positive influence on the chess community, a tremendous teacher whose YouTube content I’m sure will remain popular for years to come, and my personal favorite chess commentator.

He was also only 29 years old.

I’m actually in tears right now struggling how to break this news to my son, who absolutely loved Danya and had a chance to play him OTB last year.

He was such a great teacher and player. Absolutely loved his videos. He seemed like such a wholesome positive person, this is very sad.

RIP the great RebeccaHarris :(

It's heartbreaking and sad. His video a couple of days back was literally titled "You thought I was gone! Speedrun retruns"

The comments on that video was so kind and heartwarming where people wished him well.

While we don't know the exact cause, we can all agree that he was subjected to extreme bullying and no one stood up for him - most importantly FIDE!

Several years ago he taught kids locally in the Bay Area. Very sad to see someone go that's so young.

If life could be measured in potential moves considered, he lived several lifetimes. Sad to see such a force of nature expire so soon. Condolences to the Russian chick and their kid.

Ouch. Danya was a great player (world rank 151, USA rank 17). Popular player, teacher, streamer and chess event commentator. Studied at Stanford. The NY Times' current chess columnist. About to turn 30 years old.

This is terrible news if true; so young and such a positive voice and influence.

One of the best live commentators, and among a generation of savvy chess influencers he seemed particularly sincere and without motivation beyond love of the game and communicating it's brilliance to others.

RIP GM Danya

I'm shocked, he was a great teacher and seemed like the nicest dude of all the chess streamers out there.

https://www.youtube.com/@DanielNaroditskyGM/videos

https://www.twitch.tv/gmnaroditsky

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/12/crosswords/chess-columnis...

I can't believe this. Yesterday I saw his last educational speedrun[0]. He was such a great positive dude and I really enjoyed his content.

He will be missed!

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rqPeGKVPbA&t=1834s

I would love to donate some to his family if anybody has a link to share.

Shocking to hear this news. I used to watch Danya's videos a lot... RIP

He was such a great guy. Wholesome. What a loss.

Regarding the flagged/dead comment that links to concern about Daniel Naroditsky's health a few days ago, I don't think burrying our heads in the sand is correct approach now.

It might have been wise to respect his privacy and not talk about him publicly and while he was alive and could read it, but now that posting it cannot affect his mental health, perhaps mental health awareness is important to talk about.

(A side note, I still think the privacy of those who pass away is important, but I think talking about mental health is also important.)

I've watched so many of his videos..He always seemed like a great guys, and so brilliant. He also always seemed like he had a deep sadness about him. That has always been my impression, but of course just a personal impression. I don't know the cause of his death, but, of course I wonder.

I thought nothing could shock me this year, but Danya's death has shaken me to my core.

That is heartbreaking.

He was so incredibly kind and an amazing teacher.

Apparently he did a stream where he looked pretty bad. It's too late to help Danya but if you ever see a friend in a bad place hopefully this reminds you to take action.

I think all chess fans can recall Ivanchuk's recent mortifying defeat at Naroditsky's lightning-quick hands at World Blitz. Just goes to show no matter how devastating the loss, someone, perhaps even your vanquisher, is having an even harder time.

I (like many) started playing chess online during COVID and despite being too damn old, I wanted to see how high I could climb in ratings. Soon I found Danya, then Gotham, then IMRosen. All who loved this damn game so much. Even found I liked Hikaru though as an oldster, so many of his memes went over my head.

I soon realized that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be ranked, and I was fine with that because lichess had become an outlet. An outlet from the horrors of COVID. An outlet from the shock of a brutal war in Europe. An outlet from my failing marriage. An outlet from the world turned upside down in the US. I could always find solace in a rapid game on lichess.

Danya... I plateaued around 1400 and often found it hard to follow his gameplay on his speed runs. He was thinking 4-5 moves ahead while I was trying to avoid simple blunders. But Danya was easy to listen to, humble, and he helped instill a love in me of being very honest in my game evaluation. He also seemed like an incredibly charitable player; when it was obvious someone was cheating, he always gave them the benefit of the doubt, even when stockfish made it clear what was happening. His charity and kindness was endearing.

The world is a much lesser place today.

He was my favorite chess player to watch online. It’s been a few years since I watched a lot of chess, but he was the best. RIP

A sad day for chess and chess fans around the world. I smiled when I saw this news posted here - Danya would have loved being among the nerds (I always saw him as one). I will never forget the final game, game 14 of WC2024 between Ding and Gukesh commentated by Peter Leko and Daniel. His reaction[1] at 4:18:40, when Ding blundered with Rf2 is priceless. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqA9mvyI0j4

Even my local Swedish newspaper paid him respects. It may feel a bit better knowing that somewhere half way across the world, people knew him and considered him a celebrity.

He tried to stay two steps ahead, but was taken en passant.

-deleted- might be fake news

Really devastating. He was my favorite chess streamer and such a genuine person. I remember distinctly every time his opponent was suspected of cheating he was adamant in giving them the benefit of the doubt.

No matter what we find out in the next few days, I wish authorities had taken Kramnik’s cyber bullying more seriously. It’s a stain on chess that this is allowed to continue.

To take the conversation in a more technical direction, there are pretty clear parallels with “AI detector” technology which also could be (and I’m sure has been) life ruining. For both writing and chess, there are no authenticity detectors, only circumstantial evidence.

What the fuck

Literally yesterday my toddler son came into the room, saw me watching his last video - "You thought I was gone?! Speedrun returns!" - and asked me who that is.

I told him his name is Danya and he teaches people how to play a game.

</3

I am deeply saddened by Danya's passing. I'm not a massive chess player, but I regard him as one of the top 10 most awe inspiring individuals I've had the pleasure of witnessing through his YT channel. I was genuinely awed and impressed by the guy. As deeply as I am saddened, I am also angered by the context within which he has passed. Extremely angry. So extremely angry.