The chess fraternity hasn’t yet recovered from Daniel Naroditsky’s sudden death. The American GM was less than a month short of his 30th birthday and died on 19 October. He was reportedly found unconscious at his residence in North Carolina’s Mecklenburg County before being pronounced dead.
Naroditsky was found by his friends, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk and Charlotte Chess Center founder Peter Giannatos.
What happened after Daniel Naroditsky was found?
According to the Daily Mail, which reportedly obtained the 911 phone call, Giannatos could be heard sobbing to emergency services after discovering Naroditsky on his couch. He was heard saying urgently, “Medic, medic, medic!”
The 911 operator instructed the pair, “Listen carefully, we’re going to try and get him to lie flatly on his back on the floor and remove anything under his head, okay?”
“Okay,” Giannatos could be heard saying, while in tears. The call was made from Naroditsky’s townhouse shortly after 7 pm, less than two days after he had last live stream, where he also addressed Vladimir Kramnik’s cheating allegations and looked distressed.
When emergency services asked Giannatos to explain what had happened, he said, “He wasn’t responding to us, and I went and did a wellness check, and he’s passed out on the couch. But he’s not responsive.”
When the operator asked him to step inside and check if Naroditsky was still breathing, he replied, “I don’t think so.”
The operator informed him, “Okay, I’m sending the paramedics now to help you. Stay on the line. I’m going to tell you what to do next, okay?”
Giannatos also informed that he hadn’t seen Naroditsky since Saturday and that he didn’t have a defibrillator. The phone was put on speaker and then the operator said, “Listen carefully, we’re going to try and get him to lie flatly on his back on the floor and remove anything under his head, okay?”
Giannatos replied, “Okay.”
The operator asked, “Were you able to get him on the floor?”
“Um, I’m doing that now,” he said, adding that a police officer had arrived. Then he was informed that Fire and EMS were on their way too.
Since Naroditsky’s death, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik has been facing heavy backlash. Since October 2024, he has repeatedly accused Naroditsky, for over a year, of cheating in online chess. The American GM rejected the allegations and also revealed that the accusations took a tremendous toll on his mental health.
