US chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky dies aged 29

US chess grandmaster and popular YouTube chess commentator Daniel Naroditsky has died aged 29.

The chess player's family announced his "unexpected" death in a statement released by his club, the Charlotte Chess Center, on Monday. No cause of death was given.

"It is with great sadness that we share the unexpected passing of Daniel Naroditsky," the statement said, adding that he was 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.

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.

Naroditsky later graduated from Stanford University and worked as a chess coach in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In 2022 the New York Times hired him as a new chess columnist and asked him to contribute to a series of chess puzzles for its games section.

"Even at my level, I can still discover beautiful things about the game every single time I train, teach, play or am a commentator at a tournament," Naroditsky told the newspaper at the time.