Daniel Naroditsky Family: All About His Parents Who Immigrated to US From Soviet Union

American Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky died at the age of 29 on Monday. Naroditsky was among the top-ranked players in the world in blitz chess, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Naroditsky has authored two books: Mastering Positional Chess at the age of 14 in 2010, and Mastering Complex Endgames in 2012. He was well known for his online presence, teaching and streaming chess on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. Daniel Naroditsky’s Early Life and Family Daniel Naroditsky was born on November 9, 1995, in San Mateo, California, to Jewish immigrant parents from the former Soviet Union. His father, Vladimir, is a mathematician from Ukraine, and his mother, Lena, is a pianist from Azerbaijan. He learned to play chess from his father at the age of six and quickly excelled in school chess tournaments. Naroditsky won the US School Chess Championships in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, he won the US Team Championship with the San Francisco Mechanics in the United States Chess League. He became the U12 World Champion in 2007.Also Read: Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky Dies at 39 – What We Know About the Cause of Death At 14, he became the youngest chess author in history, publishing Mastering Positional Chess in 2010, followed by Mastering Complex Endgames in 2012. Between 2011 and 2013, he competed in the US Youth Championships, qualifying for the 2014 US Championships by winning in 2013. After graduating from Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California, Naroditsky studied at Stanford University until 2019. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2013 at the age of 18. In 2014, he received the Samford Chess Scholarship, and in 2015, he was selected for the US national team for the World Team Championship, achieving an Elo performance rating of 2701 with 4 points from 7 rounds. He qualified for the US Championships again in 2015, 2017, and 2021. In 2017, he reached his peak Elo rating of 2647 in classical chess and was ranked among the world’s top 200 players. In blitz chess, Naroditsky went past the 2700 Elo mark in 2024. He finished ninth in the 2024 Blitz World Championship, narrowly missing out the knockout stage. By August 2025, his blitz rating had peaked to 2732, earning him a spot in the Top 20 blitz players in the world.