Daniel Naroditsky, the popular streamer and commentator who died on October 19 aged 29, has received many generous tributes, and the American grandmaster’s legacy also lives on in his games.
In 2021, one of his best competitive years, Naroditsky defeated the current world No 3 Fabiano Caruana, who has just won the US crown at St Louis for the fourth year in a row. In the same year, Naroditsky beat the then world champion, Magnus Carlsen, as Black with a queen sacrifice in only 21 moves.
Naroditsky’s final stream on October 17, with its bright start and confused finish at 2am, was not, as has been widely and mistakenly claimed, his final appearance at a chessboard. He continued to play three-minute blitz and one-minute bullet games until 5am and later began play in the Comet Open, a knockout for internationally titled players with a $45,000 first prize sponsored by Perplexity to promote its AI-powered Comet browser.
The event was staged under the double elimination system where competitors are only eliminated after losing two matches, and the $45,000 was won by the world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura, who defeated Denis Lazavik 2.5-1.5 in the final.
Naroditsky knew his first-round Comet Open opponent in advance, and mentioned him several times in his final broadcast. It was Matthias Bluebaum, the German who a few weeks earlier had sensationally qualified as a world championship candidate at the Fide Grand Swiss played at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the ancient Silk Road.
