Category: My Life

Remembering Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky

Photo: Lennart Ootes

On October 19th, 2025, the chess community lost an astounding player, teacher, and human being: Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky.

A few years ago, I attended the Carolinas Classic, an annual tournament held by the Charlotte Chess Center. I was animate to be attending, as I read of the prestige the CCC has in the chess community, and the titled players that are usually in attendance. On the other hand, I was incredibly anxious to play in such a competitive space. The players around me wore a stern face, while I couldn’t decide whether to fear them or attempt to talk to them.

Meanwhile, the round was almost ready to start, rows of boards, pieces, and clocks laid out in a large hall. The younger players were delighted at this scene, while the older ones prepared their opening lines and chatted amongst themselves. In the midst of all of this, I noticed the titled players towards the end of the hall. Some were familiar, such as former coaches and notable North Carolina players. Though, out of all of them, I saw him: Daniel Naroditsky. I was stunned! I knew Naroditsky was a resident in the Charlotte area, but seeing him in-person was quite unexpected. His streams online always left me astounding at the speed and precision that he moves at. (A reason for my speed chess addiction)

Unfortunately, before I mustered the courage to walk to him, the arbiter announced the starting of the round. I sighed, and walked towards my board, though fulfilled I was able to see a player I looked up to, seated a few couple feet away from me. It was an irreplaceable feeling, one that I will never forget.

After all the rounds concluded, I was able to see Naroditsky one more time, as he won the event, and dominated in the blitz. This was not surprising to anyone though, as I fondly remember during this section players were elicit to get the chance to play him, but also fearful of the fact that they would be attacked with no mercy. I would crave the chance to play him as well, though unfortunately now I will never get that opportunity.

Daniel Naroditsky at the FIDE World Blitz Championship.
Photo: Lennart Ootes

Along with his presence at CCC tournaments, I am indebted to consider him as a coach. As my rating was rapidly advancing during this time, I was recommended to join the Pro Chess Training program. I was dumbfounded when I noticed the coaches listed on the site. R.B. Ramesh, considered one of the premier Indian coaches, David Navara, a thirteen-time national champion, Boris Gelfand, a former world chess championship challenger, and Daniel Naroditsky, a world youth chess champion and national blitz champion. I couldn’t comprehend seeing all these incredible grandmasters in one program!

Without hesitation, I registered for the program. The elation I had to get the opportunity to learn from these masters was immeasurable. As the weeks past, I would study over my games and read the books I bought from past tournaments. As the lessons came around, I would attend as early as the meeting opened, and soak in all the knowledge that I could. Embarrassingly, I couldn’t hold the zeal of learning from Naroditsky, and would send a message in the meeting chat stating how much of a fan I was of him, not noting that the message was set to public than private. Not my finest hour over the chess board.

The last time that I saw Naroditsky was the K-12 Chess Championship, my last opportunity to play in this tournament as I was an incoming student at North Carolina State University. As the tournament concluded and I was walking out of the Raleigh Convention Center with my father to our car, I saw Naroditsky talking and laughing with what seemed to be a few of his students. My eyes widened as I got my father’s attention and told him:

“That’s Daniel Naroditsky, the strongest grandmaster in North Carolina, an outstanding speed chess player, and incredible chess teacher.”

Danya was the player that I admired the most. He drove me to the chess player that I am today, and taught me more than any other. His teaching and methodology is one that motivated me to teach chess to others, and share the love that he held for this timeless game.

Thank you, Grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky.

Why I Love Teaching, and You Should Too

“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery”

Mark Van Doren

Throughout the five years that I spent in primary school, I never grasped mathematical concepts. Whether it was equations and inequalities, probability, or even number theory, my mind blanked. I didn’t hate maths, but it definitely made my heart skip a beat whenever my teacher announced another test or he cold called me on a question I definitely was not paying attention to.

Looking back at it, I was a overreacting a tad as I spent more time watching film and talking with friends than putting pen to paper. (Or pencil to paper as I made a lot of mistakes) Though, once I reached middle school, I began to change how I approached maths. I didn’t abandon a problem when I couldn’t solve it, instead I stuck to it, and tried my best to understand the problem than get done with it. I became stronger at maths as a result of this, and to the shock of my parents, actually found delight in the subject.

This soon was shown in my grades. I started scoring well on tests, better than I ever had in primary school. I also finished tests much more swiftly and was aplomb when I handed them in. Seeing this trend in my results, my maths teacher offered me to tutor the subject during break hours, and I contentedly accepted. I never knew that was the moment that my zeal for teaching began.

With each Tuesday, I taught my peers equations and inequalities, probability, and yes, number theory. As I taught, I became more passionate and did anything that I could to support their learning, whether that was figuring out how to design fresh problems, learn different methods of solving (still hate completing the square), and create personalized study material for them to use. I soon grew a knack of working with people and learning how I can help.

Nonetheless, this was the first step in my teaching tenure. As I reached towards the end of middle school, I started to gain an interest in the game of chess. Though I used to learn it in the past, I never appreciated the richness of chess. But, the game found its way back to me, and I decided to pick it up again. This proved to be a life-changing choice.

I swiftly learned the ins and outs of all sixty four squares on the board, and the distinct characteristics of the pieces. My instructor was taken aback, but was further inclined to work with me, and day by day I was able to become a natural at the game. Now, a half decade later, I am a tutor, a teacher, and an instructor myself to students across the country.

To get to the point, the reason why I am writing this is that teaching is valuable for the student and the teacher. Though my chess activity has fell stagnant throughout the years, teaching the game constantly refines my knowledge of theory and openings. Most of all, teaching provides a sense of delight that cannot be mimicked by any other trade. I would describe that euphoria in words but perhaps I let you undergo that sensation yourself.