Full Report: Atwell, Liu Win 2026 National High School (K-12) Championship

FM Rose Atwell and IM Eric Chang Liu are National Champions! At the conclusion of the 2026 National High School (K-12) Championship, Atwell and Liu tied for first with 6½/7 scores, with Atwell finishing ahead on tiebreaks.

Atwell is an 11^th grader from California who recently crossed 2400 FIDE for the first time. Since she has already earned all three norms, she is eligible for the IM title at the next FIDE Congress.

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Photo by Lian Castellanos.

Atwell has been a regular fixture at the last three U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships in St. Louis, and has also competed in the last two editions of the U.S. Women’s Championship.

Liu is a 10^th grader from Texas who continued his hot streak at the spring nationals. This is the fourth consecutive year that Liu has won at least a share of a spring championship, beginning with his victory in the 2023 National Middle School (K-8) Championship as a 7^th grader.

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Photo by Lian Castellanos.

But it’s also the fifth consecutive year that Liu has gone unbeaten in a spring championship, as in 2022 he finished in sixth place with a 5½/7 score that included four wins and three draws. Liu went 7/7 in 2023 before playing his first K-12 Championship section at last year’s SuperNationals VIII, where he finished second on tiebreaks with a 6/7 score featuring five wins and two draws.

In the team standings, there was a four-way tie for first place at 19½/28. In tiebreak order, these schools were: Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School (NY), Stuyvesant High School (NY), Arizona College Prep Erie Campus (AZ), and Dalton School (NY).

Below are annotations on key games from Sunday’s rounds by commentator WGM Sabina Foisor.

Liu entered Sunday’s morning round in a tie for first with IM Julian Colville (CA), and a decisive result in their game would give that player the inside track to the title. While Liu began pushing in the final stages of the game, one misstep was enough for Colville to equalize:

With the draw on Board 1, Atwell, FM William Safranek (NY), and FM Ted Wang (WA) were able to catch up to the leaders with wins in Round 6.

Safranek entered alongside Liu and IM Tanitoluwa Adewumi (NY) as one of three of last year’s Co-Champions defending their title this year, and in Round 6 he found himself paired up against none other than Adewumi! 

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William Safranek (L) pictured in his last-round game against Eric Liu. (Photo by Lian Castellanos)

Out of a sharp opening, Safranek took an advantage and showed nerves of steel to secure the upset:

Atwell joined the top of the leaderboard with an endgame grind against FM Andrew Jiang (GA):

One more board had the potential to produce a co-leader, but instead a draw between FM Lucius Melillo (TX) and IM Bach Ngo (FL) left both players on 5/6, a half-point behind the leaders. Ngo had chances, but Melillo didn’t make it easy:

In the final round, the pairings on the top two boards were Safranek – Liu and Colville – Atwell, with Wang “playing down” against the highest-rated player with a 5/6 score (Ngo).

While Wang capped off his impressive event by holding Ngo to a draw, he did not control his own destiny, and would need to see draws on both of the top boards in order to become a Co-Champion.

Instead, both Liu and Atwell won as Black:

Four players tied for third with 6/7 scores. In tiebreak order: FM Aditeya Das (NY), Wang, Artemii  Khanbutaev (IL), and Jesse Ren (MI).

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Aditeya Das finished third on tiebreaks, leading his Stuyvesant team to a share of first, finishing second on tiebreaks. (Photo by Lian Castellanos)

And this concludes a fabulous weekend of chess in Chicago. Between special evens hosted in the Girls Club Room, exhibitions from Special Guest GM Fidel Corrales, and more, it was a weekend to remember!

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