Young Chess Grandmaster Dies in Extreme Sport Fall

Yuri Eliseev, 20, was apparently practicing parkour, fell from balcony

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

Posted Nov 27, 2016 6:17 AM CST

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Young Chess Grandmaster Dies in Extreme Sport Fall — Parkour expert Tim Shieff performs a hand-stand in front of the London Eye, in this April 2016 file photo. A fellow parkour practitioner and chess grandmaster has died in an apparent fall while practicing the extreme sport. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Russian news reports say a prominent young chess grandmaster has died after falling from a Moscow balcony apparently while undertaking the extreme sport of parkour. The reports cited police as saying 20-year-old Yuri Eliseev died late Saturday after falling from the 12th story of his apartment building in Moscow, reports the AP. Eliseev was the world under-16 chess champion in 2012 and was given grandmaster status at age 17. The reports said Eliseev died while trying to reach the balcony of a neighboring apartment. He was described as a practitioner of parkour, which involves climbing, jumping to difficult perches, and acrobatic moves. (Read more extreme sports stories.)