Daniel Naroditsky, chess grandmaster, cause of death revealed
Daniel Naroditsky during his Round 11 rapid game against R Praggnanandhaa at the FIDE World Rapid Championship 2024 on December 28, 2024 in New York, NY. (Photo by Lennart Ootes/Getty Images)
A toxicology report released this week indicates that American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, 29, had multiple drugs in his system when he died at his North Carolina home in October, according to FOX News.
Naroditsky was found dead on Oct. 19 at his residence in Charlotte. Family members previously said he had been accused of using computer-based "chess engines" to cheat.
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The chess prodigy, who earned the grandmaster title at age 18, was found on a couch by fellow grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk, the Daily Mail reported.
Dig deeper:
According to a toxicology report obtained by NBC News from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Naroditsky had methamphetamine, amphetamine, 7-hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine in his system at the time of his death.
The medical examiner has not yet released Naroditsky’s official manner of death.
About a year before his death, Naroditsky was accused of cheating in online chess by Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik, who repeatedly raised the allegations on social media without presenting evidence.
Naroditsky denied the allegations.
The backstory:
Naroditsky became a grandmaster, the highest title in chess aside from World Chess Champion, at the age of 18.
Years earlier, the California-born player won the Under 12 world championship and spent his teenage years writing chess strategy books as he climbed the world rankings.
He was consistently ranked in the top 200 worldwide for traditional chess and also excelled at a fast-paced style called blitz chess, maintaining a top 25 ranking throughout his adult career. Most recently Naroditsky, known to many as Danya, won the U.S. National Blitz Championship.
Fellow grandmasters credited Naroditsky with introducing the sport to a wider audience by livestreaming many of his matches and sharing live commentary on others. Thousands of people regularly tuned in on YouTube and the interactive streaming platform Twitch to watch Naroditsky play.
Naroditsky was the son of Jewish immigrants to the U.S. from Ukraine and Azerbaijan. He was born and raised in San Mateo County, California, and was described by his parents as a very serious kid with an impressive attention span and memory. He went on to study history at Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2019 after taking a year off to play in chess tournaments.
After college, he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where he coached the area’s top junior chess players.
The Source: The Associated Press contributed to this report. The information in this story comes from multiple reporting and official sources, including a toxicology report provided to NBC News by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, reporting by FOX News on the findings, and details from the Daily Mail regarding the discovery of Naroditsky’s body. This story was reported from Los Angeles.