One Final Game

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There was a moment during Daniel Naroditsky’s final Twitch stream on October 17 when concern turned to alarm. Off-camera, a friend begged him to stop playing and go to bed. Naroditsky, visibly sleep-deprived but insistent, pleaded for one last streak. When his friend threatened to cut the internet connection, the 29-year-old American grandmaster buried his face in his hands, exhaling in frustration.

“Please, just let me play a few more and then I’ll end the stream,” he said.

He didn’t. For hours, Naroditsky continued his marathon broadcast, determined to prove himself against the “lies” spread by Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik—false cheating accusations that had haunted him for a year. At one point, his tone darkened. Responding to a viewer who said this wouldn’t be the last time he faced criticism, Naroditsky gave a chilling reply: “Oh, it actually will be.”

Two days later, his friends—the same ones who had urged him to stop—found him dead in his Charlotte, North Carolina home.

Naroditsky, 29, was a talented grandmaster and a gifted chess streamer, educator, and commentator with more than 800,000 followers on his Twitch and YouTube channels. As one of the most influential and beloved American ambassadors for the sport, Naroditsky’s death sparked an unprecedented wave of tributes. There are more than a thousand comments on the chess.com memorial article honouring his legacy, while dozens of the world’s top players have shared their condolences and heartfelt sadness about his passing.

His passing was also covered widely by global media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, especially given the widespread discussion about whether Kramnik’s relentless (and baseless) anti-cheating crusade against Naroditsky contributed to his untimely death. Notable players like GM Nihal Sarin and FM Nemo Zhou have publicly urged the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to take disciplinary action against Kramnik for what they described as “relentless, baseless accusations.”

“When