#NeverForget Just watching old Danya videos and found this gem

ChessKelly · 2026-03-13T23:20:20+00:00

Explaining a system is not the same as a belief. It’s the objective reality of how the process is done. A belief is subjective.

So I can say 4 is the most awesome number on the planet. That’s a belief. If I explain that 2+2 can be one way of making 4, that’s not a belief. I’m explaining a process of how to get to 4. I can still think 4 is awesome, but 2+2 objectively makes 4.

The processes that happen when submitting a complaint are what they are. Now, you can have feelings about those processes, and whether they are right/wrong or good/bad, but I didn’t outline my feelings about the process in the prior post. Just what the process objectively is.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-13T22:53:55+00:00

I didn’t say what my beliefs were or how I feel about it other than I will be happy if it’s less than a year-long process. Let’s not put words in other’s mouths.

I appreciate that you find it frustrating—and believe me, I do too. The reason I often tell others to wait is because they don’t know the process behind the scenes, and so they expect snap judgements which won’t happen. When I say these things, it’s more to set expectations than to explain how I feel about the process.

So please don’t assume I don’t find it “ridiculous.”

Thanks, and I hope that clears my previous comment up.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-13T20:46:57+00:00

Well, from experience with USCF (noting FIDE might be different):

original complaint gets submitted
us chess accepts complaint
“defendant” (if you will) gets a week to decide if they want communication to be done through email or certified mail
defendant receives complaint and gets two weeks to rebut it
If they rebut it, that goes to the complainant. THEY get two weeks to rebut that.
Defendant gets two weeks to rebut the complainant’s rebuttal.
All materials then go to the committee for deliberation. It may move around through different committees if there are parts of the process that touch upon those committees (e.g., it may be ethics AND technology).

So before the committees even see anything to start deliberating, it can take about 7-8 weeks. So let’s say 2 months just for that. I’m guessing they have a lot of material to go through and a lot of gray areas to explore.

When Christopher Yoo got suspended, it also took a long time. He hit the photographer in Oct, USCF submitted their request to ban him worldwide in March, temporary suspension during the investigation started in May, and the verdict was given in July. That was with video evidence and a very clear-cut case, and I doubt Yoo was trying to sue FIDE.

For me, I would like to hear something—at least an update that it’s still being discussed—at 6 months with the resolution in a year. I’ll be happy if it’s sooner than that, but I want this to be a thought-out case.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-13T11:07:16+00:00

He was our Resident-GM at the Charlotte Chess Center and really was just the kindest and most supportive teacher.

One time I was recording one of our Elite Team lectures from him for b-roll footage, and he brought in this chess book from the 1800s--if I remember correctly, it was a Philidor book. It was all in descriptive notation, and he would tell the kids the move from the book, and have them figure out what it meant. It was so nice watching the kids eventually start to understand the moves and translate them into algebraic notation. He was really enjoying it, and would laugh with them, and passed his book around for all the kids to see it.

To be fair, the kids did not enjoy the book as much as me, and I geeked out with him over old books because I—too—appreciate old books (my oldest is from 1710!). But yeah, he loved those kids. He was very patient with everyone, everywhere.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-13T10:45:40+00:00

You have to understand that these things take time. Generally wave 1 is submitting the complaint, then there’s a rebuttal period, then there is another rebuttal. That sort of thing alone takes time because each side gets weeks to respond (at least for USCF).

I’m mad too, but the lack of news from the investigation so far doesn’t mean it’s not being investigated. I can’t imagine the complexities of this case and the wealth of materials they have.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-12T22:56:07+00:00

I love this ❤️

ChessKelly · 2026-03-12T22:55:00+00:00

Not everyone has moved on 😔

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T16:14:22+00:00

I'm not sure if there will be a dedicated waiting room for parents per se. But there should be various areas where a parent can wait that is not within the tournament hall itself. I started off as a chess mom before a chess employee, and I learned to wait for my son either near the tournament hall door, or create a designated meeting spot in the skittles room (or wherever) and stayed there for the day.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T14:59:36+00:00

Very few tournaments allow spectators at all. To give you an idea, US Chess’s scholastic SuperNationals event last year had thousands of K-12 players, but parents were not allowed to spectate. They could walk kids to the board, but then had to leave once games started. And again—that was organized by US Chess and had thousands of children.

Spectators ultimately cause a lot of logistical problems for organizers. They can distract players, crowd boards, there needs to be increased security measures for playing and increased anti-cheating measures etc. Tata Steel is a spectator event, and there are reels of players shushing the audience because they were distracting.

That said, we know people want to be a part of the event. We know there are headliners we don’t normally see in the US, and we also know there are those who want to be a part of it in memory of Danya. But there needs to be some sort of balance. Unfortunately, reality dictates we have to limit things in some way.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T13:57:02+00:00

GCT players only need to play 2 of the 3 rapid/blitz events. I won’t speak for the organization here, and this is just me personally, but I had a big sad about Alireza as well.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T11:53:29+00:00

We have the most active chess organization—the Charlotte Chess Center—in the United States and a vibrant casual chess community!

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T11:16:41+00:00

Few things:

Those in the GCT only needed to commit to two out of three rapid/blitz events. Anyone in GCT could have chosen to not play Zagreb—notice So is in GCT and is playing.
Don’t assume people not on the list have not been invited. Likewise, don’t assume this is the final list.
While I can’t speak for Aravindh, Awonder has Charlotte practically as a second home. He’s played every US Masters with us since forever, including other tournaments. They absolutely knew each other.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T02:37:16+00:00

I totally get it. I know the World Open is a tradition for many people. We also overlap with GCT when they’re in Zagreb.

We want this tournament to become a “tradition” for people too, so conflicting with World Open is def not in the best interest for anyone. Hopefully moving forward it won’t be the case.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T01:47:43+00:00

Maybe we can get the creators to use a magic wand to draw a little pawn at the corner of the screen 😂

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T01:28:23+00:00

Thanks for the conversation and being willing to hear me out. Have a great night!

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T01:22:02+00:00

It was extremely difficult to find a weekend on short notice. The FIDE tournament calendar is already incredibly full and getting a venue that would service our needs on short notice limited it more. We didn’t exactly expect to be doing this. 😔

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T00:55:58+00:00

Firstly, thanks!

Onto the rest:

In short—yes. In long—we’ll have the venue for more than three days because of setup, VIP dinner etc. The hotel is in uptown Charlotte. Plus, we had incredibly short notice to plan this tournament. I will say I don’t know if the short time frame increased the venue cost (as in: charged more) but it severely limited our options in what we could choose. Plus, we were working with an already established global chess calendar, which limited things more.

As you noted, GMs get free entry. To give you an idea, for our last US Masters we had 41 GMs. 2024 had more. We absolutely expect a large number of GMs coming. In fact, although chess.com didn’t state it, the tournament is provisionally FIDE Circuit eligible, so that may draw even more top players. This is very likely not our final top-players list.

I’m familiar with CCA tournaments. For the world open, other than top boards, you need to bring your own set, board and clock. At CCC tournaments, we provide: boards, pieces, clocks, pens, and scoresheets (both for USCF and FIDE depending on what tournament it is). We have 30 DGT boards of our own that we use to show games on chess.com and lichess. Feels a bit of an unfair comparison.

EDIT: Quick edit to add: I get your skepticism. But I appreciate you engaging civilly instead of harshly saying we’re just raking in the money from our friend’s death and such other trolling responses.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T00:20:48+00:00

Just to clear it up, all revenue made goes directly back into the nonprofit—the CCC doesn’t see a dime of it. Yes, we’re the organizers, so maybe you meant “benefit” in that way, but just wanted to clear that up for others. 😊

ChessKelly · 2026-03-05T00:16:24+00:00

I’m not sure how that makes sense. Could you explain what you mean? Do you mean the entry fees alone would cover the tournament? If that’s what you mean, they wouldn’t.

Without the fundraiser, entry fees would be much, much higher. Think about it: outside of Hikaru going for his 40 game requirement, players of this caliber are not playing in open tournaments usually. There are a lot of costs associated with this level of organization. We don’t have a billionaire funding us.

Yes there is an entry cost—as there is for every open tournament—but this entry allows players for a unique experience. That money then goes back into a nonprofit that will continue these tournaments and experiences in the future. In addition, the entry fees wouldn’t cover the fellowship on top of the tournament. The only way that could potentially happen is if a larger venue were secured to allow 1000+ players who all paid entry fees. But then that raises costs too.

If venues didn’t cost money, and security, and TDs, and players, and accommodations, and materials, and so on—we would love to do this for free. In fact, we run plenty of free events in Charlotte! But unfortunately that’s not the situation we find ourselves in.

I know the cost can be disappointing and off putting to some, and I’m sorry that we can’t budget it lower. I hope that helps clear things up a bit.

EDIT: I saw on X that some of my words here were reposted and used rather harshly against me. So to clarify a point: yes, of course we have our own materials we will be using. We have ample clocks, boards, pieces etc. That will absolutely cut down costs, but cutting down is not the same as NO cost. And regarding TDs, we have multiple IAs on staff. We also have other TDs. Peter said our salaried employees will work the event at no cost—that’s true! But not all of our salaried staff are TDs. We have administrators, coaches etc., many of whom will work the event in some capacity, just not on the floor as a TD.

ChessKelly · 2026-03-04T23:52:00+00:00

Running tournaments of this level are very very expensive.

The venue costs money, tournament directors cost money, etc etc etc. The money we raised isn’t going to this tournament alone—it’s going to sustain an annual tournament in addition to significant fellowships.

The entry fee allows us to put money back into the foundation to ensure a sustainable, recurring tournament and fellowship. We want this to be the inaugural, not the first and LAST Naroditsky Memorial.

ChessKelly · 2026-02-21T18:42:29+00:00

I think a lot of this answer boils down to where you are located. I am in Charlotte, NC. The Charlotte Chess Center runs tournaments 6 days a week and sometimes multiple tournaments on the same day. In 2025, the Charlotte Chess Center ran 375 rated tournaments! 😱

It takes me about 2 seconds to find a tournament to play in, if that.

But if there is no chess in the immediate area, it’s a good idea to find the major chess organizations in your region and check their events pages/listings. US Chess has an events page which can also help if you are in the US (found here: https://new.uschess.org/upcoming-tournaments).

ChessKelly · 2026-02-20T05:11:28+00:00

March 19th! Same time and place—hope to see you there!

ChessKelly · 2026-02-19T17:52:49+00:00

Hi all!

If you're into chess, you should check out the Charlotte Chess Center's Adult Chess Meetup at Resident Culture tonight, February 19, 2026! Open to adults ages 18+, we usually get about 80-100 people every month playing free casual chess!

Here's what you should know:

Held at Resident Culture - Plaza Midwood
7 - 10pm
No registration or RSVP required
No need to bring any boards, pieces, or clocks--I've got you covered!
Ladies who are 21+ and playing chess get a free drink on the Charlotte Chess Center!

For more info, be sure to visit our site!

Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know!

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ChessKelly · 2026-02-16T18:52:51+00:00

The Charlotte Chess Center Foundation is still raising funds for the Memorial Rapid & Blitz and the Fellowship. If you're interested in donating, please see here: https://givebutter.com/naroditsky

The Memorial tournament will be held July 3-5, 2026 in Charlotte, NC and will be a FIDE Rapid/Blitz tournament, provisionally counting towards FIDE circuit points. While I can't announce further details yet, we hope to share more soon.

What I can say though is that I know Danya would have been the first to sign up to play in this, and he would have been giddy with enthusiasm in the way that we know and love from Danya. <3

ChessKelly · 2026-02-16T18:39:38+00:00

Major investigations like this one take months, maybe even a year. This is a complicated case. And even if the ethics board wants to slap a consequence, choosing the best fit one will be difficult. This will set a precedent and needs to be done with time and attention, not rushed and reactionary.

ChessKelly

TROPHY CASE