Upcoming Tournament

GM Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky Memorial Blitz

A Special Roundtable: Remembering Danya — His Life and Legacy in the Bay Area

Join us for an afternoon honoring GM Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky, one of the most gifted and beloved players to come out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Danya grew up playing at Mechanics’ Institute and became a world-class grandmaster, author, commentator, and teacher who brought the game to millions. He never forgot the community where he started.

The roundtable will be led by IM John Donaldson and will feature GM Vinay Bhat, GM Sam Shankland, GM Patrick Wolff, and other special guests. Together they’ll share stories, memories, and reflections on Danya’s chess, his generosity, and the lasting mark he left on Bay Area chess.

 

After the discussion, we’ll celebrate Danya the way he loved most: with blitz.

GM Daniel “Danya” Naroditsky Memorial Blitz

9 rounds, 3+2 time control

FIDE-rated

Starts at 3:00 PM

More details, including additional guests, will be announced closer to the event. All are welcome, whether you knew Danya personally or followed him from afar.


Register or Join Wait List Change Request Form

Info

  • Date: Sun, Nov 15 , 2026
  • Eligibility: Open to Everyone!
  • Rating: USCF & FIDE
  • Location: Mechanics' Institute, 4th Floor, 57 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
  • Capacity: 80

Registration

  • Online Registration Open Until: Sunday, November 15: 2:00 pm
  • Onsite Registration: 2:00-2:45pm
  • Entry fee for Mechanics' Institute Members: $25
  • Entry fee for Non-Members: $35
  • Late fee: $10
  • $5 admin fee for all cancellations & refunds.
  • Two ways to check your entries:
    • Check the live entries on the Jumbula page.
    • Check the processed entries here a day before the event.
  • Please note our late fee may be in effect and is usually added 24 hours before the start of a tournament in case capacity reaches 90%.

Tournament Format

  • Tournament Format: Swiss System
  • Total Rounds: 9
  • Time control: 3 min basetime + 2 sec increment
  • Round Times: 11/15 3:00pm and remaining rounds are on a rolling schedule
  • Sections: Open

Prize Fund

  • Prize explanations are coming after the event.
  • Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing prize checks.
  • Per IRS regulations, anyone who receives $2000 or more in cumulative prizes during a calendar year must complete a W-9, and Mechanics’ Institute will issue a 1099-MISC form for tax reporting purposes.
  • Prize Fund:

    • $1000 based on 60 paid entries + $1000 guaranteed thanks to the generous donation of Alexandra Botez.
    • Actual Payout: coming after the event finished.
  Open  
  Guaranteed Projected Total (Projected + Guaranted) Actual  
1st Place $250 $250 $500    
2nd Place $150 $150 $300    
3rd Place $100 $100 $200    
Top U2200 $50 $100 $150    
2nd U2200 $50 $50 $100    
Top U2000 $50 $100 $150    
2nd U2000 $50 $50 $100    
Top U1800 $50 $100 $150    
2nd U1800 $50 $50 $100    
Top U1600 $50   $50    
2nd U1600 $50   $50    
Top U1400 $50   $50    
Biggest Upset   $50 $50    
Top Female $50   $50    

Additional Prizes: 

  • Wooden sets go to the top player in each class and the top female player.
  • Clocks go to the 2nd player in each class.
  • Biggest Upset wins both a clock and a wooden set.
  • All prizes will be decided by tiebreaks. 

Byes

  • Byes are available for players in any round in case they can't participate but would like to stay in the tournament.
  • Byes can be requested up to 15 minutes prior to the round start time.
  • Last round bye must be requested by the start of Round 1.
  • Late registrations will receive a 0.5 bye for any missed round, up to a total of 3 rounds.

Eligibility

Tournament Rules

  • Forfeit time: 3 minutes. 
  • We provide clocks and set it up for players.
  • Games will be US Chess and FIDE blitz rated. Modified FIDE rules apply.
     
  • What do the time controls mean?
    Time controls tell you how much time you have for each game.
    G/3+2 means game in 3 minutes with a 2-second increment with each move. This means you get 3 minutes, your opponent gets 3 minutes, and with each move players get 2 seconds added to their clock.

Sick Policy:
The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club asks that any player who is feeling unwell withdraw from the tournament to help protect the health of others. The club reserves the right to deny entry to players who appear visibly ill. Players who withdraw due to illness before the start of the tournament will receive a full refund as a credit to their Jumbula account.


Mechanics' Institute Chess Club reserves the right to update any details of this event (including but not limited to sections, time control, round times, prize fund, etc.) as we get closer to the event date to ensure an excellent tournament experience for players.

Standings

Processed entries are coming 1 day before the event starts.

Final standings will be posted after the event is finished.

 

List of registered players as of 7pm PT

SwissSys 11.80.5 - Standings. GM Daniel "Danya" Naroditsky Memorial Blitz: Open

# Name ID Rating Team Total
1 GM Sam Shankland 12852765 2715   0.0
2 GM Christopher Woojin Yoo 15244943 2640   0.0
3 GM Patrick G Wolff 11343406 2588   0.0
4 GM Vinay S Bhat 12551720 2569   0.0
5 GM Balaji Daggupati 14499403 2532   0.0
6 IM Ladia Jirasek 14196222 2432   0.0
7 IM Dmitry Zilberstein 12610669 2418   0.0
8 IM David Pruess 12601834 2417   0.0
9 IM William John Donaldson 10270294 2363   0.0
10 Sebastian Suarez 16875347 2316   0.0
11 FM Andy C Lee 12559999 2316   0.0
12 WIM Laurie Qiu 30582856 2267   0.0
13 Aadit Bhatia 16689603 2265   0.0
14 WFM Jenny Qi 17050786 2150   0.0
15 Arthur Ismakov 12654576 2122   0.0
16 Zlata Mokeeva 31128131 2085   0.0
17 Jules J Jelinek 12058870 2073   0.0
18 Zeno Kalonaris 16307134 2019   0.0
19 Saatvik Krishnan 15210955 2001   0.0
20 Arjunsai Navaneetha Prabhu 30250735 1926   0.0
21 Frederic Dutter 12343420 1900   0.0
22 Si Hao Huang 31312861 1884   0.0
23 Avik Saha 17251957 1866   0.0
24 Daniel Sevall 12811060 1850   0.0
25 Marlon Rigel 30206555 1833   0.0
26 Pranav Db 30518186 1826   0.0
27 Murali Srinivasan Vajapeyam 12862132 1817   0.0
28 Ritwik Saha 30418328 1771   0.0
29 Isaac S Mays-Smith 30338290 1742   0.0
30 Avyukth Ganapathy Viswanath 30613480 1703   0.0
31 David Siegel 12595160 1666   0.0
32 Jaison Acharya 30472824 1657   0.0
33 David Melnikov 16743275 1627   0.0
34 Satyakam Dash 31420034 1573   0.0
35 Thu Anh Le 17248797 1514   0.0
36 Alexander Alvarado-Lopez 31197782 1485   0.0
37 Peter Tran 31819497 1460   0.0
38 Omar Elnahas 32274035 1397   0.0
39 Mason Tobias 32440186 1359   0.0
40 Yousuf Jamal 33227780 1305   0.0
41 Alexander Dylan Wong 14169745 1262   0.0
42 Alex Alaniz 31522693 1177   0.0
43 Colin Evran 33335938 1175   0.0
44 Renate Otterbach 14565208 1173   0.0
45 Pratham Jain 31759460 1027   0.0
46 Ehsan Moharreri 39976831 998   0.0
47 Sergei Pimenov 31964181 969   0.0
48 Saiaansh Reddy Mudireddy 32545684 775   0.0
49 William Augustus Leu Dennis 32706121 722   0.0
50 Aaron Ingber 32151075 unr.   0.0
51 Conor Patrick Moore 33301393 unr.   0.0

 

Pairings

Pairings are posted on the wall of the club. We do not post pairings online for 1-day events.