The chess player's family announced his "unexpected" death in a statement released by his club, the Charlotte Chess Center, last Monday. No cause of death was given. The statement described him as a "cherished member of the chess community, admired and respected by fans and players around the world".

Naroditsky was famous for his chess YouTube channel, which featured video tutorials and livestreams against competitors, and inspired hundreds of thousands of people across the world to play the game. Naroditsky's channel had nearly 500,000 subscribers, while his Twitch stream drummed up 340,000 followers. Fans praised his insight and passion, casually referring to him as "Danya". He played a "pivotal role in popularising chess content online", the International Chess Federation said.

"This is a massive loss for the world of chess," chess world number two, Hikaru Nakamura, said in a social media post. Nakamura - a close friend of Naroditsky - told the BBC that "he inspired hundreds of thousands of people to play chess - a lot of people loved his videos". "When it came to making chess content to help beginners, his was the best," he said. "I have played more than a thousand games of chess with Daniel," Nakamura added. "Chess is a very cut-throat world and emotions run high, but Daniel was always calm." The online content creation "wasn't about money for him", Nakamura said. "He had a true passion for the game." Naroditsky first took an interest in chess at the age of six, when his older brother Alan asked him to help entertain a group of children at a birthday party. His father Vladimir and multiple coaches soon noticed his talents.

"As far as I was concerned, I was just playing games with my brother," Naroditsky told the New York Times in a 2022 interview. He gained international attention in 2007, when he won the under-12 boys' world youth championship in Antalya, Turkey. At the age of 14, he published a book called Mastering Positional Chess, about practical skills and technical manoeuvrings in the game. He earned the title of grandmaster - the international chess federation's highest-ranked chess competitor - while he was still a teenager, after winning the 2013 US Junior Championship. (BBC/AP)