2026 National Elementary School Championships: Full Report

Sunday saw the coronation of new national champions at the 2026 National Elementary School Championships in Baltimore, MD. Note that this was championships, plural, because this event hosts four distinct national championships across different elementary grade ranges.

Yesterday’s flash report highlights the individual and team winners, full results can be found here, and the tournament is already rated on MUIR.

Now, it’s time to dive into the critical moments of Sunday’s games with a final batch of annotations courtesy of commentator WGM Sabina Foisor.

K-6: Four Tie for First

The K-6 Championship is a unique hybrid between the typical wide-ranging sections of the spring scholastics and the by-grade formatting of the December championships. If you’re in sixth grade, this is your last chance at an elementary school title. If you’re not in sixth grade, there are other championship sections available that won’t require having to beat any sixth graders. So, this section is predominately (but not exclusively) sixth graders.

After some fantastic fighting chess on Sunday, four sixth graders finished atop the K-6 Championship standings with 6/7 scores. And after spending a weekend with elementary schoolers, I can confirm that my “six-seven” joke from December would still play well with the youths five months later.

The K-6 co-champions: Wu, Weyman, Yang, and Liu. (Photo by Caroline King)

In tie-break order, our co-champions are Winsley Wu (NY), Grant A. Weyman (PA), WFM Aimee Yang (PA), and Steven Liu (MD).

Aimee Yang played spirited chess on Sunday to hold on to a share of the championship. (Photo by Caroline King)

Yang entered Sunday as the sole leader with a 5/5 score, but Wu and Liu held her to draws on Sunday.

Steven Liu earned a share of the title by drawing Yang in Round 7. (Photo by Caroline King)

Winsley Wu finished first on tiebreaks. (Photo by Caroline King)

Wu and Liu also each won their other Sunday game to close the half-point game with Yang. Wu’s game is below:

While Yang, Wu, and Liu entered the weekend as the section’s three highest-rated players, Weyman entered the tournament more than 300 points lower rated than his co-champions.

Grant Weyman's remarkable run continued on Sunday, earning him a share of the championship. (Photo by Caroline King)

But after an undefeated 4/5 performance against five consecutive opponents rated over 2000, Weyman gained a ridiculously impressive 155 points for his effort, going from 1861 to 2016. His heart-stopping final win is below:

The Speyer Legacy School (NY) won the K-6 Team Championship with a 19½/28 score, a half-point ahead of Success Academy Midtown West (NY).

The Speyer Legacy School. (Photo by Caroline King)

K-5: Karthik Closes Clutch

In the K-5 Championship, Aarav Karthik (MI) and Raben Goel (NJ) entered Sunday as the only players with 5/5 scores. Both sides played hard in their head-to-head Round 6 pairing, but a decisive result was not to be:

Aarav Karthik won the title in style with a nice tactical flourish. (Photo by Caroline King)

In Round 7, Karthik won as Black against Advik Manchada (TX), while Goel lost as White to Viyaan Krishna Doddapaneni (NJ).

Photo by Caroline King.

But because Doddapaneni was held to a second draw in Round 6, he ended up finishing a half-point behind Karthik. Only in fourth grade, Karthik defeated both of his higher-rated (and older) opponents in this event.

Photo by Caroline King.

PS 130 The Parkside School (NY) won the K-5 Team Championship with a 19½/28 score, a full two points ahead of the field.

K-3: Mehmet Means Business

If the name Mehmet Yilanli sounds familiar, you might be thinking of his 7/7 sweep of the K-1 Championship at last year’s SuperNationals VIII or his share of the 2nd Grade title in last December’s National K-12 Grade Championships. Or maybe you saw some of his games at the 2025 FIDE World Cadet Championships (where he also won a gold medal in blitz).

Mehmet Yilanli went 7/7 to sweep the K-3 Championship as a second grader. (Photo by Caroline King)

Photo by John Hartmann.

In other words, it’s time to get acquainted with this second grader from Ohio who is already rated over 2000 and just swept the K-3 Championship with spirited, creative play:

PS 198 Isador E Ida Straus (NY) won the K-3 Team Championship with an 18/28 score, a half-point ahead of PS 77 Lower Lab School (NY) and Trinity School (NY).

Photo by John Hartmann.

K-1: Wang, Xiong Share Top Honors

Aidan Wang (NY) and Isaac Xiong (NY) finished first and second, respectively, on tiebreaks with 6½/7 scores in the K-1 Championship.

Xiong performed a semi-Swiss Gambit, drawing his first game before going on a six game heater. Wang was paired against the section’s top seed, Ojas Daftuar (CA) on the top board in Round 7, pulling off the upset. Daftuar finished third with the best tiebreaks of all players with 6/7 scores.

K-1 team co-champions Oak Hill (L) and Speyer. (Photos by Caroline King)

Oak Hall Lower School (FL) and The Speyer Legacy School (NY) tied for first in the K-1 Team Championship, each posting 19/28 scores. Oak Hall took first on tiebreaks.

Celebrity Sightings and Signings

If you like waiting in lines to do something cool, Sunday was probably your favorite day of the tournament. I’m not being facetious, either: I love building that anticipation as I wait in line, seeing others happily skip away from the front of the queue. Besides, I can always play blitz on my phone if I get bored.

Sunday morning, IM Danny Rensch – Chess.com’s Chief Chess Officer (CCO) and Co-Founder — signed copies of his new memoir Dark Squares. It was heartwarming to see the 1998 National Elementary School champion soak in the atmosphere and connect with his scholastic roots.

In the afternoon, US Chess Ambassador WGM Jennifer Shahade gave away copies of her new book Thinking Sideways.

Her event was scheduled for two hours, but at the end of that window, there was still a growing queue. I asked our invited guest if she wanted me to politely tell the anxious crowd that they were too late, and she looked at me like I opened with 1. f3? before assuring everyone that she would stay until all 300 books found good homes.

This generosity gave many kids the chance to meet the three-time national champion after they finished their final game of the weekend, too.

If you happen to be going to Round Rock in two weeks, you’ll get another chance to get her to sign your copy. Just to be safe, get in line early!

Speaking of which, the spring scholastic season is not done just yet! We look forward to seeing many of you in Round Rock, TX from May 15-17 for the National Middle School (K-8) Championship.

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