Chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky’s friends were so alarmed by his disturbing, final live stream they desperately tried to pull the plug and get him to go to bed.
Peter Giannatos and grandmaster Oleksandr Bortnyk confirmed to the Daily Mail that they gave the 29-year-old chess superstar the ultimatum as he spiraled out of control in front of his Twitch viewers while playing online chess for his subscribers on Oct. 17, two days before they found him dead.
“Daniel, finish the stream,” Giannatos was heard ordering his wide-eyed pal off-camera.
Naroditsky — who discussed his anguish during the stream about unfounded accusations that he was a cheat — instead repeatedly pleaded to continue playing until his next loss, promising to hit the sack by 2 a.m.
“No, I’m going to unplug it if you don’t end it,” Giannatos warned him off-camera.
Naroditsky looked exasperated as his friend’s demand, putting his head in his hands and looking around in frustration.
“Please just let me, let me play a few more and then I’ll end the stream,” he said, as Giannatos repeatedly told his friend he needed to go to sleep.
Naroditsky defiantly continued the marathon live stream — during which he said he needed to prove himself over the unfounded lies spread by Russian former grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik.
“Ever since the Kramnik stuff, I feel like if I start doing well, people assume the worst of intentions,” Naroditsky griped to his viewers.
Naroditsky had ominously also suggested earlier in the stream that it might be his last one.
As he read a comment saying that “this will not be the last time he faces criticism or trolling,” Naroditsky replied, “Oh, it actually will be.”
Here’s the latest on the death of chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky
- American chess grandmaster dead unexpectedly at 29
- US chess superstar faced repeated, unproven accusations of cheating by Russian rival before his death at 29
- US chess superstar was incoherent, rambling in final stream just days before his death
- Ex-world chess champ investigated for unfounded attacks on grandmaster — as grieving mom says he died tormented by them
Giannatos and Bortnyk then found Naroditsky unconscious on his couch in his Charlotte suburb home Sunday night, two days after the stream.
‘We saw him on the couch from a window,’ Giannatos told the Mail. “After knocking and ringing doorbell, I then went into the home and discovered him. I then went outside and asked Bortnyk to call 911.”
Bortnyk made the call and handed the phone to Giannatos, who remained on the line with the dispatcher until police arrived. They did not elaborate on their concerns from his final stream.
The Charlotte Chess Center, founded by Giannatos, later confirmed Naroditsky’s death, which is being investigated a possible suicide or drug overdose.
Naroditsky had for months faced repeated attacks by Kramnik, accusing him of cheating in online games.
Naroditsky, a chess prodigy who became a grandmaster — the highest title in the game aside from world champion — at just 18, had consistently denied cheating, while accusing Kramnik, 50, of trying to ruin his life.
The allegations from Kramnik — the chess world champion from 2000 to 2006 — took their toll on Naroditsky’s mental health, according to his mother.
“There was nothing more important to Daniel than his dignity and his name as a chess player. And the ex-world champion was trying to say he’s a cheater,” his mother, Elena Naroditsky, told the Mail Online.
The International Chess Federation, the game’s international governing body, said it is considering disciplinary action against Kramnik for pushing unproven cheating allegations against Naroditsky.
President Arkady Dvorkovich vowed that the federation would take “appropriate action” if evidence of public harassment or bullying was uncovered.
The post Tragic chess grandmaster’s friends desperately tried to pull the plug on his alarming final stream appeared first on New York Post.
