The Naroditsky Memorial Rapid & Blitz 2026 was the inaugural edition of Naroditsky Memorial, held in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States in honour of the American grandmaster, author and commentator Daniel Naroditsky (1995–2025).

Javokhir Sindarov won the Rapid tournament by defeating Aravindh Chithambaram 2–0 in blitz playoffs, after they both tied for first on 6/7 in the main tournament. Sindarov also won the Blitz tournament by scoring 7½/9 in the Blitz Final, going undefeated.

Organization The event featured separate rapid and blitz tournaments, each with Masters and Challengers sections. A Creator Invitational blitz tournament featuring famous chess content creators and personalities around the world was held on 5 July.

FIDE Circuit The Masters section of both the Rapid and Blitz were part of the 2026-2027 FIDE Circuit. Sindarov was awarded 11.30 points for first place in the Rapid and 9.28 points for first place in the blitz.

Regulations The Rapid tournament had a 7-round Swiss format. Time control was 10 minutes with 5-second increment per move starting from move 1.

The Blitz tournament had an 11-round Swiss format, followed by a single round robin Blitz final including the top 10 finishers of Blitz Masters to determine the Masters champion. Time control was 3 minutes with 2-second increment per move starting from move 1.

Tiebreaks between players finishing on the same score in Challengers (also in Masters when playoffs for first place are not held) would be determined by Average rating of Opponents Cut 1, followed by Cumulative. Tiebreaks for the first place in Masters and top ten places in Blitz Masters would have been addressed as follows:2026 Naroditsky Memorial - Regulations Players would play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. If three or four players had tied, a single round-robin would be played. If more than four players had tied, a single elimination tournament of armageddon would be played. Players would be seeded according to their final rankings after tiebreaks, with the higher seeds receiving a bye if the number of players was odd. Players would receive 2-second increment, with white receiving 3 minutes and black the bid time.

The Naroditsky Rule Ties for Blitz Final qualification would require a playoff in what the regulations call "The Naroditsky Rule." Per Chief Organizer FM Peter Giannatos, Naroditsky was "distraught" over losing a spot in the 2024 World Blitz Championship knockout due to tiebreak, and therefore they included in the regulations that ties for 10th place had to "play their way in."

Prize The total prize pool was $50,000, out of which the prize pool of the Rapid tournament was $20,000, and $30,000 of the Blitz tournament.

Schedule The tournament took place from 3–5 July 2026 at the Charlotte Marriott City Center in Charlotte, North Carolina United States.

Rapid tournament results Masters Notation: "1 (W)" indicates a win (1 point) with white pieces (W). "U" indicates that the round was unplayed. Name1234567Total1 25841 (W)1 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)62 Javokhir Sindarov27181 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)63 Andy Woodward25211 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (B)5.54 Ruslan Ponomariov26481 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (B)5.55 Ray Robson26371 (W)1 (B)1 (W)1 (W)5.56 Andrew Hong25461 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (W)1 (B)5.57 Aydin Suleymanli25611 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)58 Steven Zierk25001 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)59 Grigoriy Oparin26061 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)510 Leinier Domínguez26661 (B)1 (W)1 (W)511 Boris Gelfand26231 (B)1 (W)1 (W)512 Wesley So27191 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)513 Olexandr Bortnyk26081 (B)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)514 Robert Hess26211 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (W)515 Andrew Tang24401 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)516 Samuel Sevian26661 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (W)4.517 Semen Khanin25011 (W)1 (W)1 (W)0 (B)4.518 Dariusz Świercz26541 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (W)4.519 Fabiano Caruana27161 (B)1 (W)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)4.520 Emilio Córdova26101 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (B)4.521 Ashwin Jayaram25131 (W)1 (W)0 (W)0 (B)1 (B)1 (W)4.522 Nico Chasin24481 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (B)4.523 Awonder Liang25560 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)4.524 Robby Kevlishvili25231 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (W)4.525 Arturs Neikšāns25221 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)4.526 Eric Liu00 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (W)1 (W)4.527 Teemu Virtanen00 (W)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)4.528 Vasyl Ivanchuk26361 (W)1 (B)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)429 Zachary Tanenbaum21470 (B)1 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)430 Kayden Troff24801 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (W)431 Ethan Sheehan01 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (W)432 Andrew Jiang22980 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)433 Eric Rosen23481 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (B)0 (W)434 Naveen Prabhu00 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)435 Islombek Sindarov19410 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)436 Sagar Shah22811 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)437 Brian Ramírez24001 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)438 Gauri Shankar01 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)439 Aarav Dengla22230 (B)1 (W)1 (W)440 Kostya Kavutskiy24141 (B)0 (B)1 (W)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)3.541 Kiren Nasta19910 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)3.542 Vasif Durarbayli25601 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)3.543 Benjamin Moon00 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (W)3.544 Mark Heimann24361 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)3.545 Alexander Jasinski18960 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (B)3.546 Irene Sukandar23550 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)3.547 Julien Song22780 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)3.548 Zubin Baliga19870 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (B)3.549 Levy Rozman23271 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (W)3.550 Dalton Perrine22170 (B)1 (B)0 (B)1 (W)0 (W)1 (B)3.551 Raja Panjwani23851 (B)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)3.552 Dina Belenkaya21680 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (W)3.553 Ron Henley23850 (W)0 (B)1 (B)1 (B)3.554 Matthew O'Brien01 (W)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)355 Isaac Spence21180 (W)1 (B)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)356 Atulya Vaidya01 (B)0 (W)1 (W)0 (B)0 (B)357 Mukhiddin Madaminov25011 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)358 Stuart Rachels01 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)359 Graham Horobetz00 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (W)360 Emmanuel Carter20650 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)361 Alexander Crump20900 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (W)1 (B)362 Artemii Khanbutaev00 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)363 Nitish Nathan00 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (B)364 Donald Johnson22240 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)365 Samuel Copeland01 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)1 (B)366 Daniel Rensch23991 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)367 Shelev Oberoi22280 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (B)0 (B)368 Ryan Amburgy00 (B)0 (W)1 (W)369 Prateek Mishra00 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)370 Thomas Bauer20660 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (W)1 (B)1 (B)1 (W)371 John Bartholomew24430 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (B)0 (W)372 Varun Krishnan00 (B)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)373 Robby Adamson22411 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)0 (W)2.574 Charles Troutman19250 (B)Bye1 (W)0 (B)0 (B)0 (W)2.575 Roman Gavrilin21360 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)2.576 Nick Matta22880 (W)1 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)2.577 Tushar Anand19950 (W)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)2.578 Dominique Myers19871 (B)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)279 Paul Iinuma20991 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)280 Mark Hyland1904Bye0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)0 (W)281 Aaron Marian17111 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)282 Mark Biernacki19990 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (W)283 Robert Ramírez20870 (B)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)1 (W)0 (B)0 (B)284 Alex Chu20030 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (B)285 Doug Eckert22020 (B)0 (B)0 (W)0 (W)1 (B)286 Justin Feng00 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)287 Uthra Pakkirisamy19830 (W)0 (B)Bye0 (W)0 (B)1 (B)0 (W)288 Magesh Panchanathan24410 (W)0 (W)0 (W)0 (B)1 (W)289 Carter Peatman20790 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1 (W)0 (B)0 (W)1.590 Mike Sailer21450 (B)0 (W)1 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)191 Jonathan Pagan00 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (W)0 (B)0.592 Jason Cigan20810 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (B)0 (W)0 (W)0.593 John Langreck20010 (B)0 (W)0 (B)UUUU0

First place play-off

The top two finishers of the Swiss stage with same points advanced to the blitz play-off for first place. NameBlitzrating12Total Javokhir Sindarov 268011 2 Aravindh Chithambaram 256900 0

Challengers Notation: "" indicates a win (1 point) with white pieces (W). "U" indicates that the round was unplayed. The first tiebreak (labeled AROC-1) is the average rating of opponents "cut 1" (viz. excluding the lowest-rated opponent). The second tiebreak (labeled PS) is the Cummulative or Progressive.

Name1234567TotalAROC-11 Andrew Fletcher21061 (B)1 (B)1 (B)6.5205927.52 Andrew Wu22941 (B)1 (B)1 (B)1 (B)6.52044253 Lukas Lebakken21531 (B)1 (B)62052254 Ashwin Kumar21750 (B)1 (B)1 (B)61969225 Idan Eshkol20181 (B)1 (B)61861226 Sanjay Kumar20911 (B)0 (B)1 (B)5.5199423.57 Ruben Quintans20811 (B)1 (B)0 (B)5.5198023.58 Alisa Melekhina22020 (B)1 (B)5.51965219 21131 (B)1 (B)1 (B)5.5196022.510 Varun Venkat20231 (B)1 (B)0 (B)5.5194822.5 Total entries: 213 players

Blitz tournament results The blitz tournament was played from 4 to 5 July. Day 1 – Swiss-system tournament Masters Notation: "0.5 (W)" indicates a draw (½ point) with white pieces (W). "U" indicates that the round was unplayed. : Advanced to Blitz Final : Advanced to Top ten places playoffs