Late grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky memorialized in new Charlotte chess tournament
Editor's Note: This story makes mention of death by suicide.
Nine months after the death of chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky, his close friend Peter Giannatos, who serves as founder and executive director of the Charlotte Chess Center, is working to ensure that his death wasn’t “in vain.”
From July 2–5, the Charlotte Chess Center and the Charlotte Chess Center Foundation will host the inaugural Daniel Naroditsky Memorial Rapid and Blitz tournament, created alongside the Naroditsky family to honor his life and legacy. The event will bring amateur players and some of the world’s top chess talent to Charlotte.
Naroditsky, recognized early for his talent, became a grandmaster — the highest title in chess — at 18, shortly before moving to Charlotte. His recognition grew in North Carolina as he provided commentary for tournament broadcasts and built a large following through chess content on YouTube and Twitch.
On Oct. 19, 2025, Giannatos found Naroditsky dead in his Ballantyne town home. He was 29.
“We want his memory to live on positively,” Giannatos said, describing the work behind new initiatives created in Naroditsky’s honor.
Giannatos said the center will also announce a fellowship award at the event.
A format in his image
Beyond honoring Naroditsky’s name, Giannatos said the tournament’s structure reflects conversations he had with his friend and Naroditsky’s own experience navigating a chess world where elite rapid and blitz events can be difficult to access if you’re not already at the very top.
Rapid and blitz — faster, more intense forms of chess — were Naroditsky’s favorite formats. That’s why the memorial tournament will focus on those, while also aiming to be more inclusive than many top-level events.
“If he was alive, I guarantee you, he would have been one of the first people to sign up for this exact event,” Giannatos said. “So it very much fits who he was and what he wanted.
“We had discussed that many times in the past like, is it possible to do a blitz and rapid tournament where it’s a little bit more inclusive and more people are invited, not just the world’s very, very best players.”
As a result, the event isn’t limited to just competitive players. Chess commentators and content creators — a major part of Naroditsky’s world — have also been invited.
“There is a content creator element to the event as well,” Giannatos said. “So it’s not just the highest-level players in the world. (Naroditsky) was a content creator, somebody who uploaded videos on YouTube and streamed on Twitch regularly.”
That mix, he said, is intentional.
“So it’s really a bridge between the world’s elite players, content creators and amateurs who can participate in the event,” Giannatos added.
Honoring his memory
Giannatos said the work of building the memorial has also shaped how he has grieved.
“It’s all done out of pure passion and commitment to our late colleague,” he said. “For me personally, I’ve been working for him every day for the last six months, and that has been part of my grieving process.”
An autopsy found methamphetamine and kratom in Naroditsky’s system at the time of death. The report listed the probable cause of death as an abnormal heartbeat tied to an underlying condition, systemic sarcoidosis.
Although his death was initially investigated as a suicide, officials later ruled the manner of death accidental.
“Instead of crying or wishing things would have been different, (building the tournament is) very much part of my grieving process — waking up every day and spending a few hours every day working for him, and working for his legacy to continue, and for his memory to continue,” he said.
Giannatos said he also feels a responsibility to steer public conversation toward Naroditsky’s impact, particularly because of the negativity that surrounded his death.
“A lot of different angles,” he said. “There was, of course, a substance-abuse angle, but there was an online bullying angle — and certain negative angles around that — and we really, at this point, found it to be our responsibility to guide that discussion in a more positive way.
“So if we can produce this amazing tournament that everyone can follow from home and people love it, and they’re entertained by it, that gives them butterflies in their stomach in a positive way – that’s just awesome.”
Gianttos adds that Naroditsky’s family is appreciative of the memorial and fellowship. His brother, Alan Naroditsky, sits on the board of Charlotte Chess Center foundation working on the nonprofit side. This event will also mark Naroditsky’s mother’s first public outing since his death.
“We just don’t want his life to be in vain. We want it to be very much in a positive, light movement because that’s all we can really do at this point,”
The memorial tournament will take place in the Marriott City Center from July 2-5.
