Race Tightens Entering Final Day of 2026 National Middle School (K-8) Championship

Triple Round Day

Only two players survived Saturday unscathed to emerge with perfect 5/5 scores entering the final two rounds. IM Bryan Enming Lin (NY) and Srikar Kandikayala (TX) will face off this morning on the top board, with Kandikayala taking the white pieces.

Lin has been taking care of business as the highest rated player in the tournament. But that isn't to say his opponents haven't been taking their best shots against him. In particular, Samant Robert Sen (NY) pushed Lin to his limits in their Round 4 battle. Commentator WGM Sabina Foisor has the goods:

Kandikayala upset CM Jashith Karthi (CA) Saturday night thanks to bold play in a sharp Ragozin.

Four players trail the co-leaders by a half-point (all from NY): FM Megan Paragua, Phineas Hugo Weingarten, Armaan Chandraguptaa Jain, and WCM Arabella Fang. Fang held Paragua to a draw in their Round 4 match-up:

Many of the day's most interesting games came down to the endgame, as was the case in Paragua's win from Saturday morning:

19 more players follow closely behind with 4/5 scores, led by CM Ethan Guo, who went three-for-three to bounce back from Friday’s upset. This mating net was particularly satisfying to watch:

In the team standings, Hunter College Elementary and High School take a point-and-a-half lead into the final day. With Lin and Fang both on the team, the race for the individual title and the team title are going to be closely intertwined.

Friends and Family

Congratulations to New Mexico’s Oscar Emilio Iglesias Galvez for winning the rated section of the Friends and Family tournament with a perfect 4/4 score. The father of Oscar Julian Iglesias Flores, the duo’s combined score of 6½ points (thanks to Oscar Julian’s even score of 2½/5 in the Championship) were enough to win the $350 gift card for the combined prize.

An interesting note: While it’s not unusual for a child to outrate their parent in today’s age, Oscar Julian (1902) has just 48 points on his dad! It’s rare to see a father-son duo so close in rating when both are so highly rated! Those must be some fun post-mortems.

Wisconsin’s Louis Olson and Texas’s Evan Chiang took top honors in the unrated section.

Today’s Happenings

Sunday’s slate of events begins bright and early at 9:30 a.m. with Silver Knights Chess Academy’s national master Adam Weissbarth’s lecture “From Munchkin to Master: Taking the Next Steps” in Crown Palm/Banyan. Last year, Silver Knights’ online academy coached 11 state champions, so Weissbarth knows a thing or two about how to put in the work in the scholastic circuit!

Guest GM Julio Sadorra’s second lecture — “Facing Chess Giants” — is also in Crown Palm/Banyan. At 11 a.m., this is an opportunity to learn from the University of Texas at Dallas’s storied International Chess Team’s Head Coach and Director. You can also find Sadorra at 2 p.m. in Kalahari Ballroom E for his third and final blitz session, but if you want a game, try to get there early to secure a spot.

GM Julio Sadorra during Saturday's blitz. (Photo by Javier Carrera)

After her puzzle-solving session yesterday, US Chess Ambassador WGM Jennifer Shahade is setting up “shop” in Kalahari Ballroom E beginning at 1 p.m. to sign copies of her new book Thinking Sideways: How to Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life.

Shahade during Saturday's puzzle-solving session. (Photo by Javier Carrera)

Why “shop” in quotes? Because you don’t need to buy a copy to get it signed! In Baltimore, Shahade stayed at her station for three hours until every single copy was given away. Still, it’s worth queuing up early to be sure to secure your copy!

It’s another full day in the Girls Club Room, beginning with a donut social at 10 a.m. in Zambezi/Nile. Then, join special guests IM/WGM Tatev Abrahamyan and WIM Luciana Morales at 11:30 a.m. for a blitz chess challenge, and hang out until the closing party at 3:30 p.m.

gcr — Scenes from Saturday's tandem simul and lecture in the Girls Club Room. (Photos by Javier Carrera)

gcr — Scenes from Saturday's tandem simul and lecture in the Girls Club Room. (Photos by Javier Carrera)

After the final games are finished in Round 7, the awards ceremony will be in the playing hall (Kilimanjaro Ballroom 5-10) beginning around 6 p.m. Keep an eye out on Chess Life Online this evening for a flash report, and again tomorrow for a full report featuring more annotations from WGM Sabina Foisor (who will be live on Twitch beginning at 9 a.m. this morning for Round 6).