Full Report: Lin, Hunter Win 2026 National Middle School (K-8) Championship

When two members of the same team are playing against each other on Board 1 in the final round of a tournament, that’s a pretty good indicator that that team is having a good event! But with so much talent spread throughout the country, it’s a pretty rare sight in a national event.

But on Sunday in Round Rock, Texas, IM Bryan Enming Lin was playing against his Hunter College Elementary and High School (Hunter) teammate CM Arabella Fang for the title at the 2026 National Middle School (K-8) Championship.

Lin entered the round as the only player with a 6/6 score, and Fang was the only player with 5½/6 (after holding one of the tournament’s highest-rated players, FM Megan Paragua, to a draw on Saturday). This made the intra-Hunter pairing inevitable, and it also meant that this game would determine the outright champion.

Bryan Enming Lin is our 2026 K-8 Champion! (Photo by Javier Carrera)

Lin closed out his perfect performance to finish with a 7/7 score, and, indeed, Hunter won the team championship by two full points.

The victorious Hunter team. (Photo by Javier Carrera)

For Lin, this was an improvement on last year’s second-place finish in the K-8 Championship section of SuperNationals VIII. Fang’s 5½/7 score was still good for a share of fifth place (seventh on tiebreaks). Both players are currently in the eighth grade, meaning next year they will enter the fray at the National High School (K-12) Championship.

Three players tied for second with 6/7 scores. In tiebreak order: CM Jashith Karthi (CA), Vijay Srinivas Anandh (TX), and FM Ethan Guo (CA). Guo is still in seventh grade, meaning he has one more shot at the K-8 Championship title. The full standings are available here.

The state of New York dominated the team standings, with Success Academy Midtown West, Dalton School, The Speyer Legacy School, and IS 318 Eugeno Maria De Hostos finishing second through fifth, respectively in the team standings.

Games with annotations by commentator WGM Sabina Foisor are below, including particularly instructive highlights from the Under-1700 and Under-1400 sections.

Lin in action during his final game. (Photo by Javier Carrera)

On Sunday morning, Lin defeated Srikar Kandikayala (TX), who was the only other player with a perfect score. The Texan had Lin a bit tied up in a cramped position out of the opening, but Lin took advantage of opportunities to fight back and eventually outplay his opponent.

Fang moved into sole second with her win over Phineas Hugo Weingarten (of IS 318) in Round 6:

A rather high-profile battle for the title of club (and national!) champion! (Photo by Javier Carrera)

In the intra-Hunter final round, Fang got into trouble out of the opening and was unable to untangle:

In the Under-1700 section, Vyas Omshankar (TX) took clear first with 6½/7 after a positional error from his last-round opponent:

Vyas Omshankar (TX) won the Under-1700 section. (Photo by Javier Carrera)

Two players tied for first in the Under-1400 section. While Ron Li (WA) entered the final round as the only player with a 6/6 score, his loss to Yotam Doron-Repa (NY) allowed a standings shakeup:

Fellow New Yorker Louie Nakamura played two of the more nerve-wracking games of the day, ultimately squeaking out a pair of victories to join Doron-Repa at the top of the leaderboard:

Stay tuned later this week for a photo report featuring top individual and team finishers from all sections.

And with that, the 2026 spring scholastic season comes to a close! Thank you to everyone who traveled to any of our three national events. It’s because of you and your dedication to chess that we are able to continue growing the game and providing these opportunities.

US Chess Ambassador WGM Jennifer Shahade's book signing was a highlight of Sunday's festivities. (Photos by Javier Carrera)

We would also like to thank our sponsors for this event. Silver Knights Chess Academy was on site all weekend providing free game analysis for all players. If you played in the tournament, keep an eye out tomorrow for a special email offer of a free month of classes.

We hope to see many of you in Orlando this December for the National K-12 Grade Championships. A full list of national events, including dates for the 2027 spring season, is available here.