He was trained professionally by former Kerala State Champion P. Sreekumar, and subsequently by International Master Varugeese Koshy.

Narayanan won the silver medal for the Under 12 category in the Commonwealth Chess Championship which was held in Delhi in May 2010.

In that tournament, he drew with Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi and beat WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanthy at age 12.

In July 2011, he attended training from Grandmaster Yevgeny Vladimirov at the Chess Camp First Move conducted by Lakshya and Flame School in Pune, Maharashtra.

The first time Narayanan played against a Grandmaster was in January 2010, during the Parsvnath Open Chess Tournament at Delhi, he was offered a walkover as his first-round opponent and third seed Ehsan Ghaem Maghami failed to turn up on time because of a delayed flight.