K-12 Chess Champs in Orlando Feature Top Players from Hans to Tani

Reigning US Women's Champ gives a simul at the 2019 RHNGTOC photo Ana Vivas

The K-12 Chess Championships in Orlando kick off on Thursday, December 12th at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. The annual event features 13 National Championships from the Kindergarten section to 12th grade, with the seven round Main Event starting on Friday, December 13th.

Wesley Wang

Hans Niemann, Photo IM Rosen

Top pre-registered players include IM Hans Niemann in Grade 11, Wesley Wang in Grade 10, Vincent Tsay in Grade 9 and new NM Brewington Hardaway in Grade five.

Tani Adewumi will also be participating in the Fourth Grade Championship. His rating has rocketed up to 1900 since his big win in the 2019 NY State Championships that led to a media blitz, book and movie deals. "Chess is like Magic," Tani said, in our video, the "Magic of Chess",  just selected as a Vimeo Staff pick. The last three rounds will be streamed on twitch at twitch.tv/uschess, with analysis from GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez and US Women's Championship Jennifer Yu. Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian will be our guest GM, and he'll be doing a series of events and appearances including a 30-board simul on Friday at 9 AM.

GM Corrales Jiminez

Jennifer Yu will also be a star guest at this event's "Girls' Club Room", and she'll do a signing and Q&A on Saturday at 3 PM. WIM Carolina Blanco and WGM Jennifer Shahade will also be in Orlando for simuls and talks. Full Schedule below: K-12 Chess Championships Quick Links:  Information page Twitch stream Twitter #K12ChessChamps Pre-registered players in 13 sections and blitz