Liu, Colville Lead National High School (K-12) Championship Entering Final Day

And then there were two. After five rounds of play in Chicago for the 2026 National High School (K-12) Championship, only two players remain with perfect 5/5 scores in the Championship section. 

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Da bears are ready for Sunday! (Photo by Lian Castellanos)

Sunday’s early round will feature a battle of the unblemished on Board 1 between sophomore IMs Eric Chang Liu (TX) and Julian Colville (CA).

Below are highlights from the grueling triple-round day, with annotations by commentator WGM Sabina Foisor.

Liu’s Saturday featured a sharp game in Round 4 following by a long grind in Round 5:

Colville won his fifth-round game in style, executing an excellent positional squeeze:

Seven players trail the leaders by a half-point with 4½/5 scores, and another 26 sit on 4/5 scores, so the coveted title of National Champion is still very much up for grabs. But a decisive result on Board 1 will give that player the inside track on the title.

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Rose Atwell enters Sunday as one of seven players a half-point behind the leaders. (Photo by Lian Castellanos)

Of the players tied for third, FM Rose Atwell (CA) was close to staying perfect in Round 4 before a small misstep cost her a half-point:

After also drawing his fourth-round game FM Lucius Melillo (TX) got back to his winning ways to join Atwell:

FM Andrew Jiang (GA) has been clawing his way up the standings after conceding a draw Friday evening, and is now also tied for third after winning all three of his games on Saturday:

The four other players in the seven-way tie are IM Tanitoluwa Adewumi (NY), IM Bach Ngo (FL), FM William Safranek (NY), and FM Ted Wang (WA). Full standings can be found here.

Before moving on, here are a few more of Sabina’s most instructive moments from Saturday:

Full disclosure: we’re saving some of the more explosive moments for upcoming Tactics Tuesday and Wednesday Workout worksheets, so keep an eye on Chess Life Online in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to William Molina for winning the rated section of the Friends & Family tournament with a 4/4 score, and to SaiRoshan Bhrugmalla for going 3½/4 to win the unrated section. Molina won a $190 gift certificate for the day’s work, and Bhrugmalla won a US Chess membership. All results and prizes can be found here.

Before the start of this morning’s round, the 2026 Scholar-Chessplayer Award recipients were announced in the playing hall. Congratulations to all six high school students on earning these prestigious awards.

At 11 a.m., be sure to catch GM Fidel Corrales’ final lecture in Mississippi. Then, his last All-Comers blitz is from 2-4 p.m. in Riverwalk. A full schedule of events and round times is available here.

It’s also a full day of events in the Girls Club Room, beginning with a donut social at 10 a.m. (parents and coaches are welcome). Then, be dazzled by blindfold chess with guests WGM Katerina Nemcova and WFM Yassamin Ehsani at 11:30 a.m., followed by an always-entertaining human chess game at 3 p.m. before the closing party at 3:30 p.m. 

Stay tuned to Chess Life Online this evening for a flash report on all winners, with a full report featuring photos and annotations by WGM Sabina Foisor coming Monday morning.

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