Honouring a great speed chess player
A new speed-chess festival will make its debut in the United States with the staging of the inaugural Naroditsky Memorial Rapid & Blitz. The event is scheduled for 3–5 July 2026 at the Marriott City Center in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, and will feature both an open competition and elite-level showcase contests across three days of play.
The festival is organised in memory of grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, whose contribution to competitive chess, coaching and online content helped shape a broad international audience for the game. Financial backing for the tournament has been provided by the Naroditsky Memorial Fellowship Fund, which has raised more than one million dollars to support initiatives connected with his legacy.
This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas.
Looking for an opening that gets your opponents thinking on move one? Grandmaster Andy Woodward has relied on 1.b3 for years in blitz and bullet, using it to defeat strong masters and grandmasters who underestimated its hidden venom. While many players dismiss the opening as harmless, they often find themselves caught in unfamiliar positions, tactical traps, and uncomfortable middlegames. This compact course is designed specifically for practical play. Instead of overwhelming you with endless theory, it focuses on the critical lines, typical plans, and recurring tactical ideas that matter most when the clock is ticking.
Free video sample: Introduction
Free video sample: King's Indian Setup
The tournament will award points towards both the FIDE Circuit and the US Chess Grand Prix standings. Participation is open to players of all levels, from titled professionals to amateurs, although entry for the first edition has been capped at 300 competitors.
The programme combines competitive tournaments with community-focused activities.
- Friday will be devoted to a 7-round rapid competition, divided into Masters and Challengers sections.
- On Saturday, participants will contest an 11-round blitz event, again split into the same two sections.
- Sunday's schedule includes a Creator Invitational featuring prominent online personalities, followed by the Blitz Finals, in which the top ten finishers from the Masters blitz section will compete for overall honours.
Find more details of each event's format below.
The top seeds for the event are US stars Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura, alongside World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan. They head a field which already includes a number of leading specialists in faster time controls: among others, Wesley So, Hans Niemann, Vasyl Ivanchuk and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. See here the full list of players.
The festival will also bring together well-known figures from the online chess scene. The participants of the Creator Invitational are Levy Rozman, Andrea Botez, Alexandra Botez, Dina Belenkaya, Eric Rosen, Aman Hambleton, Sagar Shah, Julien Song, John Bartholomew and Danny Rensch.
Formats
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities!
Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career.
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section
Rapid Championship (Friday)
- 7 Rounds
- Time Control: G/10 minutes + 5-second increment
- US Chess and FIDE Rated
- 200 US Chess Grand Prix Points (enhanced); FIDE Circuit Event
Blitz Championship (Saturday)
- 11 Rounds
- Time Control: G/3 minutes + 2-second increment
- US Chess and FIDE Rated
- Top 10 players qualify to Sunday Blitz Final. 150 US Chess Grand Prix Points; FIDE Circuit Event
Blitz Final (Sunday)
- 9 Rounds
- Time Control: G/3 minutes; + 2-second increment
- US Chess and FIDE Rated
- Single Round Robin
- 200 US Chess Grand Prix Points (Enhanced); FIDE Circuit Event
- Players: Top 10 players from Saturday in the Masters section only. Players TBD - Based on Saturday blitz results
- Blitz Final Page Here
Creator Invitational (Sunday)
- 9 Rounds
- Time Control: G/3 minutes + 2-second increment
- US Chess and FIDE Rated
- Single Round Robin
- Players: IM Levy Rozman, WFM Alexandra Botez, IM Sagar Shah, WGM Dina Belenkaya, Andrea Botez, IM Eric Rosen, IM Julien Song, GM Aman Hambleton, IM John Bartholomew, IM Danny Rensch
- Creator Invitational Page Here
Links
