Waterville Chess Blog

Swan Song

- screen shot by Don Smallidge from a Zoom session [in the fake tropics]

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Retirement or aging or co-morbidities or treatments thereof [even with the best healthcare system in the world, LOL] is taking its toll! I am not sure how much longer I could have continued to update this website, but I have been struggling to find the time with all my medical appointments and related behavioral changes (which certainly eat up a lot of clock); my wife tells me that I have always complained about not having enough time in the day, but that seems to have gotten much worse in the last year or three. All my efforts to hand off the site are moving very slowly. I get it: people have busy lives (even young people). This will be my last blog post. The site will remain 'live' for a while until it is replaced by the next generation of website administrators [Jacoby and Wyatt]. Best of luck!

Before it becomes ancient history I wanted to share the sad information about Daniel Naroditsky and Alex Relyea; and the happy news about our recent team chess tournament results. You can share your thoughts and images if you were there! Send information about the tournament to us and perhaps this blog post will be updated.

One last word. It has been a pleasure (mostly) to herd the cats of the Waterville Chess Club. You might not miss me (being cats), but I will remember most of you fondly [taking into account the condition of my memory].- Don Smallidge

Daniel Naroditsky

- image found on Chess.com

Monday, October 20, 2025

The chess world and many of us in the Waterville Chess Club were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Daniel Naroditsky, "an American chess grandmaster (GM), commentator, and content creator. He had a peak FIDE rating of 2647 in classical chess and was regularly ranked in the top 200. He won the under-12 World Youth Championship in 2007 and the under-20 US Junior Championship in 2013. Naroditsky was a specialist in speed chess. In blitz chess, he had a peak rating of 2716 and was ranked in the top 25 in the world." - Wikipedia article

Here are some articles and some videos to help you understand and process his passing.

• Chess.com Announcement
  
  
• Rest In Peace, Daniel Naroditsky.
  GothamChess - 10/20/2025 [5:35]
  
  
• Daniel Naroditsky (1995-2025)
  ChessNetwork - 10/21/2025 [7:10]
  Featured is a rapid chess game played by Daniel Naroditsky in 2021. Let this game serve as a simple reflection of the style and brilliance of a true pillar of the chess community. I share some of my thoughts throughout. To all who feel the weight of this tragedy, know that you are not alone in your sorrow. To the countless lives Daniel Naroditsky has touched, stay strong. - Jerry
  
  
• Justice for Daniel Naroditsky
  GothamChess - 10/22/2025 [16:49]
  
  
• Daniel Naroditsky's Mysterious Death: Vladimir Kramnik's Explosive Accusations Shock the Chess World
  Hidden Truth - 10/23/2025 [16:22]
  
  
• The Real Reason Kramnik Is Accusing Danya Of Chess Cheating
  Epic Chess - 10/24/2024 [9:42]
  
  
• The Joy & Challenge of Facing Daniel Naroditsky in Blitz (Game 1)
  John Bartholomew - 11/22/2024 [21:39]
  
  

Farmington Chess Club Takes a Break

Ahoy, Chessters! - Saturday, October 11th, 2025

"With the weather turning, our outside venue at Walton’s Mill Pond park can't reliably serve us in the weeks to come. So, with the repairs at the Community Center still underway, we're going to take a break until our indoor venue becomes available again. Of course many of us will still get together for casual games, and if you need contact info for other specific chess players, you can reply directly to this newsletter and I'll help you get in touch! - Glenn Miller"

Sicilian Vipers Win Team Championship!

- Thanks to Champions Fitness Club for sponsoring my participation in the team chess tournament

Saturday, September 13, 2025

The Champions Fitness Club sponsored me to play in the 2025 Maine Teams Cup chess tournament. Each 4-player team was composed of four members [three teams] with an average rating below 1800; plus two unaligned opponents (because there were not enough players to make up a fourth team). Dmitry Smalley, the youngest player persuaded me to join the team in a conversation at the Baxter Academy First Saturday tournaments (because my relatively low rating would help his team meet the requirements). Will Ravn was the team captain and Sam Lewis rounded out the Sicilian Vipers (the team name chosen by Dmitry Smalley). We played four rounds at a time control of G/60 +5 second increment.

In a surprise victory, we eked out a win against very strong competition. My two victories (against the two unaligned players) turned out to be decisive. Dmitry, Sam and I each had two wins and two losses; Will won all four of his games for a final score of 10, edging out the nearest team with a score of 9.5! The tournament director handed the trophy to Dmitri, but he gave it to me (probably because he already had many trophies and I had none, LOL).

The other teams were Dawn Land (William Nadolny, Andrey Savov, Pavel Sulyandziga, and Barry Magda), Mate in 1 (Wyatt Hendrix, Aaron Spencer, Brian Hurst, and Corey Dunn) and Team Eagle (Mukhammad Shovkiddinov and Justin Fisette [the Tournament Director]). The Dawn Land team won bragging rights for having the best team name. The tournament was held at the picturesque McKernan Inn on SMMC's South Portland campus.

- Don Smallidge

• - Round 1 facing Wyatt Hendrix from Team Mate in 1
  
  
• - Round 2 facing Justin Fisette, the Tournament Director, from Team Eagle
  
  
• - Round 3 facing William Nadolny from Team Dawn Land
  
  
• - Round 4 facing Mukhammad Shovkiddinov from Team Eagle
  
  
• - photos by Sam Lewis's dad

Rest in Peace, Alex

Saturday, August 23, 2025

NTD/IA Alex Relyea (standing center) passed away today in West Hartford, Connecticut, following the onset of a terminal condition after a long term illness of several years. He will be greatly missed by the entire New England chess community where he directed and played many chess events.

- The Connecticut State Chess Association, Inc.

I met Mr. Relyea twice as he organized and was the arbiter for the 2023 and 2024 Maine State Championships (with his lovely wife Nita); he was very generous with his time and knowledge with me and so many others. I am sure that he will be dearly missed by many. Read the full obituary and article.