Webster Wins 2026 Pan-Am

Webster University A (Webster-A) won its 10^th overall title at the 2026 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships with a 5½/6 score. The tournament, organized by Chess Weekend (NTD/IA Glenn Panner and NTD/NA Maret Thorpe), took place from January 2 through 5 at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort. 86 total teams competed between the Open, Under-2000, and Under-1400 sections.

Webster Wins

Webster-A’s victory included wins over the two teams tied for second with 5/6 scores: University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley-A (UTRGV-A) and University of Missouri-A (Mizzou-A).

The victorious Webster team. (Photo courtesy Sofia Doroshenko)

UTRGV versus Webster, with Dudin – Liang up front. (Photo courtesy UTRGV Chess Program)

The top four finishing schools in the open qualify for the President’s Cup, and Saint Louis University-A (SLU-A) will round out this year’s field thanks to better tiebreaks over University of Toronto, Hart House, Team A. SLU-A drew Webster-A in the last round, which was enough for Webster-A to clinch first and SLU-A to clinch their spot in the Cup.

From left: second-place UTRGV-A (courtesy of UTRGV Chess Program), third-place Mizzou-A, and fourth-place SLU-A. (Photos of Mizzou and SLU courtesy of Sofia Doroshenko)

The tournament could have taken a very different turn, though, had one game come out differently in the third-round match-up between Webster-A and University of Texas at Dallas A (UTD-A):

Competition at Every Level

In the Under-2000 section, UTD-D took clear first with a 5/6 score, ahead of University of Chicago-C and UTD-E, which finished second and third, respectively, on tiebreaks.

University of the Pacific. (Photo courtesy Sofia Doroshenko)

University of the Pacific won the Under-1400 section, also with a 5/6 score.

Information about all other prize-winning teams will be shared here in the near future. For many more photos from the event, visit Chess Weekend’s Facebook page.

As a bonus, Sofia Doroshenko, who was running Chess Weekend’s social media during the event, was able to talk to several team captains and get a few game highlights from more teams. Below are five entertaining submissions: