Upcoming Event Highlights
There are some scholastic championships coming up at various levels: regional, state, national, and continental! See below for highlights.
- Nov 01, 2026 2026 Chris Riley Memorial Tournament at Wooldridge Square – Annual unrated outdoor tournament at Wooldridge Square Park in downtown Austin. A great casual event!
- Nov 13-15, 2026 Texas North Grade Championship 2026 – State grade level championship, your chance to be a state champion!
- Nov 14, 2026 NYOS Scholastic 11/14/26 – A scholastic chess tournament on 11/14/26 at NYOS, presented by Rocks & Rooks.
- Nov 10-17, 2026 2026 North American Youth Championship – Continental championship in Mexico, with possibility of norms and titles in multiple sections based on age as of 1/1/26: U18, U16, U14, U12, U10, U8.
- Dec 10-13, 2026 US Chess Grade (K-12) National Championships 2026 – Annual national grade level championships in Orlando!
- Dec 18-23, 2026 2026 North American Junior Championships – Continental championship in Charlotte, NC, with possibility of norms and titles in two sections based on age as of 1/1/26: Open U20 and Girls U20 sections.
Website Updates
Now that I’m back in town, we’ve started working on some website updates, including a Coaches page and an International/Norm Events page. Scroll up to see links for both above, and please email any suggestions or updates.
Coaches, please email any bio or flyer you would like to have added to your page. I’ll be adding many more coaches to the listing!
Recent Event Results
The Texas State Girls Championship 2026 was held 10/10 in Irving, hosted by the Coppell Chess Club. Congratulations to Yangyang Shen, who won 1st place in the High School section with a score of 3.5/4 and is the Texas Girls High School Champion! Congratulations, Yangyang!
The 2026 Region VI Girls Championship was held 10/3, hosted by Austin Grandmaster Chess Academy. Congratulations to Yangyang Shen, who won with a perfect score of 5/5!
Her win in this event secured a spot in the Haring section of the Texas Junior Invitational, which will be held in the spring to decide Texas’ representatives to the National invitational tournaments next summer. Yangyang represented Texas in the Haring National Tournament in both 2025 and 2026
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Other Chess Updates and News
Annika Manchanda played in the Texas Junior Open Championship this summer, winning the U11 section with a perfect 5/5 score. Annika earned the title of Texas U11 Champion, congratulations to Annika!
Annika Manchanda earned her WCM (Women’s Candidate Master) title at the XXXVI Pan-American Youth Chess Festival held in Medellín, Colombia, a tournament for youth players across the Americas. Annika competed in the U8 age group and earned three medals: bronze in both classical and blitz, and GOLD in rapid with a perfect 9/9 score in that format!
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Advik Manchanda also participated in the XXXVI Pan-American Youth Chess Festival in the U12 age group. He earned a silver medal in the rapid format and narrowly missed out on a medal in classical, finishing 4th in a field of 115 players. Congratulations!
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 in 2025. 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 2027 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 at austinchesstournaments@gmail.com.