Upcoming Event Highlights
The Austin Winter Open is coming up in early January. The hotel block expires 12/24/25 – book rooms now!
The Austin Grandmaster Chess Academy (AGCA) is also hosting a Winter Open. Details about the AGCA Winter Open, the AGCA Winter Classic round robin, and their other tournaments HERE.
Scholastic tournaments will be back soon. A couple to note:
- Rocks & Rooks scholastic at Paragon Prep School 1/24/26 – a local classic!
- Region VI Championships to be held in San Antonio 2/28/26 – save the date, details to be added soon!
- Texas Superstate Championships to be held in Austin 3/7/26-3/8/26 – save the date, details not yet available!
Recent Event Results
Lucius Melillo, an Austin FM, earned his first IM norm at the AGCA’s 2025 Winter Classic. Full results, including an IM/WGM norm for Megan Lee, a WIM based in Seattle, HERE. Congratulations!
Congratulations to Jonathan Tuck for winning the gold medal at the Pan-American Individual Chess Championships in early December!
Texas players went to the 2025 National K-12 Grades Championship and several from our region earned medals. Region VI players in the top 20 for their grade are listed below, and full standings can be found HERE. Congratulations to all!
- Kindergarten 1st place: Zayn Shanmuganathan, Austin International School
- Kindergarten 10th place: Avanya Kaul, Patsy Sommer Elementary, Austin
- 2nd Grade 7th place: Akhil Gopu, Rancho Sienna Elementary, Georgetown
- 2nd Grade 19th place: Annika Manchanda, Basis Cedar Park
- 3rd Grade 15th place: Advaithkrishna Rajeshkanna, Basis Austin
- 4th grade 17th place: Kai Lan, Laurel Mountain Elementary, Austin
- 5th grade 9th place: Advik Manchanda, Basis Cedar Park (also 8th place in K-6 blitz!)
- 6th grade 5th place: Subbu Sivaraju, Pearson Ranch MS, Round Rock
- 7th grade 8th place (tied for 1st, co-champion): Miransh Vyas, Basis Cedar Park
- 7th grade 11th place: Emerson Johnson, Heroic Homeschool, Austin
- 7th grade 19th place: Asher Chodniewicz, Regents School of Austin
- 7th grade 20th place: Ashwath Badrinarayanan, Meridian World School, Round Rock
- 7th grade 20th place: Anika Kaul, Pearson Ranch MS, Round Rock
- 9th grade 9th place: Anirudh Kumar, Round Rock High School
- 9th grade 3rd place for ratings 1300-1599: Edison Chodniewicz, Regents School of Austin
- 9th grade 5th place TEAM: Round Rock High School
Other Chess Updates and News
Advik Manchanda, a local 5th grader holding a FIDE CM title, has earned the first Texas Master title. Congratulations, Advik! See more HERE.
General Info
The Austin Chess Club is excited to announce that it has taken over the AustinChessTournaments.com website as Lori Balkum retired from chess this summer. Austin Chess Club (ACC) and Austin Chess Tournaments (ACT) have worked closely together for 20 years. We appreciate your support of our efforts to encourage chess in Central Texas! Read a letter of introduction from the ACC President, Patrick Connaughton, who has great plans for chess in Central Texas!
There are lots of wonderful events both local and out of town being offered all over our great state. Watch our Upcoming Events Listing and visit the Weekly Events page for local opportunities. Central Texas thanks you for your participation!
Please check out Texas Chess Association’s calendar for other chess opportunities, both online and OTB all across the state!
Sarah Brauner is our Region VI Director! She can be contacted at txchessmom@gmail.com to submit bids for the 2026 Region VI Scholastic Championships!
Please consider supporting local events (camps, tournaments, etc) whenever the opportunities present themselves! Responding quickly to new opportunities is the only way we are going to keep chess opportunities in our local area.
If you wish to advertise your chess event, please contact us.
