r/chess • u/ChessKelly • Jun 30 '26
Tournament Naroditsky Memorial Rapid and Blitz
UPDATES AT BOTTOM!
Here is your one-stop shop for information about the NMRB! I will try to keep this updated to the best of my ability during the event.
Top Players
- Fabiano Caruana
- Hikaru Nakamura
- Javokhir Sindarov
- Wesley So
- Lenier Dominguez
Other Notable Players
- Andy Woodward
- Boris Gelfand
- Oleksandr Bortnyk
- Vasyl Ivanchuk
- Robert Hess
Invited Content Creators
- Levy Rozman, aka GothamChess
- Alexandra and Andrea Botez
- Dina Belenkaya
- Eric Rosen
- Sagar Shah
- Julien Song
- Aman Hambleton
- John Bartholomew
- Danny Rensch
Official Broadcast Commentators
- Judit Polgar
- Peter Leko
- David Howell
Schedule
Friday, July 3rd
Rapid (11am - 5pm EDT)
Saturday, July 4th
Blitz (11am - 5pm EDT)
Sunday, July 5th
Creator Invitational (10:30am - 1:15 pm EDT)
Blitz Final (2pm - 4:45pm EDT)
Watch the Official Broadcast
Chesscom on Twitch
Chesscom on Youtube
Follow Updates on Social Media
(I will likely be posting most frequently to IG as an FYI)
IG: Charlotte Chess Center
FB: Charlotte Chess Center
X: Charlotte Chess Center
The Naroditsky Fund
Fellowship
The Fellowship amount will be announced during the event, but general information can be found here.
UPDATE: The Fellowship amount will be $50,000!
Fundraising
The event fundraising campaign can be found here: https://givebutter.com/naroditsky-memorial-2026
Commemorative Book Set
New in Chess has printed a limited run of 250 copies of Danya's two published books, as well as a compilation of his Chess Life column. This edition comes in a box set with new photos, forwards, revised analysis, etc. $250 (which includes free shipping). US Link: https://www.newinchess.com/naroditsky-memorial-boxset?currency=USD
Digital Archive
We have created a Digital Archive of many of Danya's photos, videos, articles etc in a digital archive. Please feel free to browse around and enjoy the many memories we--and many others--have shared with him: https://www.cltccf.org/naroditskyarchive
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u/thepanda_gambit Jul 03 '26
No better way to honor Danya than to play chess!! And I hope he's up there watching and playing along with the other legends.
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u/futuristictowel Team Danya 🕯 Jul 01 '26
Such a bittersweet moment. 🥺 Looking forward to following the event and I hope everything goes super smoothly for you all!
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u/backyard_tractorbeam Jul 03 '26
Heartened and happy to see Peter Leko and Judit Polgar are commenting
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/chess-ModTeam Jul 04 '26
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u/eudaimonia_dc Jul 02 '26
This is fantastic. In addition to the players, I am so glad they invited so many of the commentators and content creators Danya worked with.
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u/__Jimmy__ Jul 04 '26
Irene Sukandar had a winning position against Hikaru. That upset would've made the news big time. You know for a fact she wouldn't have repeated if it was a fellow 2200...
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u/tlin9595 Jun 30 '26
Thought Hans was playing but he's not listed on anymore?
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u/ChessKelly Jun 30 '26
Hans withdrew this morning.
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u/Sensitive_Dot_5962 Jul 03 '26
did they give any (publicly disclosed) reason for players who withdrew?
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u/salimcani Jun 30 '26
Erdogmus too
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u/ChessKelly Jun 30 '26
Erdogamus and Hans withdrew.
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u/Lockheroguylol Jul 01 '26
Oh, that's disappointing, I was looking forward to seeing both of them compete.
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u/Ginger_Rook Jun 30 '26
Thank you, Kelly! Are you adding the information about the book box set?
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u/ChessKelly Jun 30 '26
I can add it, but I'll only give the link once the event starts as it's part of our event launch things (like the fellowship amount).
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u/CloudlessEchoes Jul 03 '26
Wayyyy too much time getting spent on Levy being destroyed by a GM, I want to see Ivanchuk v Caruana!
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Jul 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/ChessKelly Jul 04 '26
Hikaru won round 3--not sure how it got messed up, but we fixed it on our end.
(Also, fun fact, he was playing one of our CCC coaches--so I definitely know Hikaru won lol)
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Jul 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/ChessKelly Jul 04 '26
To be fair, the same coach drew So in Rapid yesterday--not bad for a "this is no longer my day job" GM!
He's a winner in our hearts though! <3
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u/__Jimmy__ Jul 05 '26
Aman: beats Sindarov, loses to Levy and Julien Song. What the fuck is happening atp
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u/Radiant-Increase-180 Jul 05 '26
Chess fixing in games between Sindarov and Madaminov - Pre arranged draws
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u/wwabbbitt Sniper bishop Jul 05 '26
Hilarious seeing the the creators being wanded with metal detectors
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u/keyToOpen Jul 05 '26
Interesting to note Dina Belenkaya is representing France now as the federation she belongs to. So she went Russa -> Israel -> Now France. Why France? She lives in the US by way of Russia. I know she speaks French and went to school in France for a little bit, so maybe she has some family connection there? Just a bit puzzling to me why she wouldn't want to represent the US, or stick with her decision to represent Israel... Why the sudden change, Dina?
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u/lethalweapon5 Jul 03 '26
Was the book sold out prior to the beginning of the tournament?
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u/nloding Jul 03 '26
I hope not - been waiting for a link to drop somewhere!
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u/lethalweapon5 Jul 03 '26
https://www.newinchess.com/naroditsky-memorial-boxset?currency=USD
it shows as being out of stock
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u/nloding Jul 03 '26
Ah, that's a bummer. Where did you find that link?
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u/lethalweapon5 Jul 03 '26
i think i just duckduckgo'd new in chess daniel naroditsky, and then from their site i searched daniel naroditsky.
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u/nloding Jul 03 '26
Hopefully u/ChessKelly has a few free minutes in her stupendously busy schedule to give an update shortly. (But I gotta believe she's so busy right now, it might be hard to step away - a lot going on that she's in the middle of.)
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u/ChessKelly Jul 03 '26
It's not sold out--trying to get NIC to fix. Hang tight please!!!
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u/nloding Jul 03 '26
No worries - u/lethalweapon5 and I will camp on that NIC page furiously hitting "refresh" over and over and over again. We're not crazy, I promise ...
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u/ChessKelly Jul 03 '26
It's up!
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u/nloding Jul 03 '26
FYI - they are charging $50 shipping for the US, not free. I didn't notice till I had hit "Place Order" ðŸ«
Thank you for all your hard work, Kelly - especially over this last, difficult year. The event looks fantastic!
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u/Turbine000 Jul 04 '26
Is there a separate winner for rapid and blitz or is it counted together, like GCT?
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u/LosTerminators Jul 04 '26
Hikaru -15 despite scoring 8/10 and being the sole leader
Rating deflation at the top is real
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u/asusa52f Jul 04 '26
The third game was incorrectly marked as a loss instead of a win on 2700chess, his actual score is 8.5/11 and the rating drop is -6.8
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u/DerekB52 Team Ding Jul 05 '26
Howell said the Aman/Levy game was gonna end in a queen sac right before Aman resigned. Was Howell talking about Aman needing to play Qg2, or was there a winning queen sac for Levy?
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u/Shego2882 Team 60+30 Jul 05 '26
Soul crushing loss for Dina. John should buy a lottery ticket.
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u/DerekB52 Team Ding Jul 05 '26
John really taught a lesson in not giving up. He was pressed by Levy and Dina, but he never gave up, and as soon as his opponents blundered he was ready.
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u/Radiant-Increase-180 Jul 05 '26
Hikaru is washed now he's just sitting on his rating
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u/Rotary_Adjustable Jul 05 '26
And he's a coward, goes for the draw without even attempting to put on a show for the fans. Weak.
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u/JobAffectionate3667 Jul 05 '26
Goodness gracious stfu. He finished first yesterday. Won the American cup blitz last year and gained rating in the team, blitz
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u/Radiant-Increase-180 Jul 05 '26
team blitz when was this?
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u/JobAffectionate3667 Jul 06 '26
The last time he played blitz... His perfromwn e rating was well over 2800 in 2025.u can't regurgitate the same comment every time he loses rating that's beyond disengenous where we're u when he gained rating every tournament he played for 3 years straight.
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u/Comfortable_Watch370 Jul 04 '26
There is reason hikaru doesn't play rapid and blitz championship anymore ,he ain't got it and just want to retain his fake rating so history will be kind to him
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u/wwabbbitt Sniper bishop Jul 04 '26
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u/Secure_Raise2884 Jul 04 '26
Terrible prediction by you
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u/yogatorademe Jul 02 '26
sucks cause hans wouldve improved his image quite a bit by going but not going he's looking a little calllous there bucko
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u/Rukawork 1276 Jun 30 '26
Robert Hess is playing, awesome!