Webster Wins 2026 Pan-Am

Webster University A (Webster-A) won the Open section of the 2026 Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships with a 5½/6 score, giving Webster University its 10th overall title. 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 is included at the bottom of this article. 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:

The full prize list is available below:

Open section
	First	Webster A (1,WBSTRV)
	Second	UTRGV A (3,THNVRS)
	Third	Missouri A (2,UNVRSS)
	Fourth	SLU A (5,SNTLSN)
	Top Division 2	SLU C (21,SNTLSV)
	Top Female Team	SLU B (18,SNTLSR)

	Board 1	Chopra, Aryan, SLU A
	Board 2	Can, Isik, Missouri A
	Board 3	Juksta, Karolis, UTD B
	Board 4	Zhandaulet, Aldiyar, UNC CH B
	Alternate	Bharathakoti, Harsha, Webster A

Top 3 Females Individual
	First	Caglar,Sila, SLU B
	Second	Chumpitaz,Ann Lindsay, UTD C
	Third	Marjanovic, AnnaMaria, Webster B

U2000 Section
	First	UTD D (1,UTDD)
	Second	U of Chgo C (4,UNVRAA)
	Third	UTD E (6,UTDE)
	Fourth	Princeton University (2,PRNCTN)
	Top Division 4	SMU A (14,STHRNM)
	Top Community College	Check Mates at Austin CC (15,CHCKMT)
	Top Division 5	UIUC (22,UIUC)

	Board 1	Hu, Merric, Princeton University
	Board 2	Tran, Minh Binh, UTD E
	Board 3	Glaesser, Will, SMU A
	Board 4	Chen, Maxwell, U of Chgo C
	Alternate	Bat-Erdene, Oyunsuvd, U of Chgo D
	Top Upset	Magoiga, Katelyn Amber, Howard U B

U1400 Section
	First	UPacific (11,UNVRST)
	Second	Wash U A (2,WSHNGT)
	Third	Northwestern C (19,NRTHWS)
	Top Division 7	Illinois Wesleyan A (17,ILLNSW)
	Top Small College	Lawrence University (15,LWRNCN)

	Board 1	Lee, Peter, UPacific
	Board 2	Garza, Gabriel, UT Austin C
	Board 3	Do, Vu Thien Nhi, UPacific
	Board 4	Anderson, Brayden, UTD F
	Alternate	Ghosh, Aryman, Wash U B

Top Females Individual U2000, U1400.
	First	Do, Vu Thien Nhi, U Pacific
	Second	Weber, Madeline, NYU