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2026 K-12 Championship Results and National Invitationals

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Mississippi Chess Association K-12 Championship Season Results The 2025-2026  K-12 championship season has finished. Thank you to all our participants. Please keep your eye out for our upcoming fall scholastic events. Click for Individual Championship Results Click for Girls Championship Results Click for Team Championship Results Mississippi Chess Association Announces 2026 US Chess Invitational Nominees and Susan Polgar Foundation Nominees We are thrilled to announce the Mississippi nominees for the prestigious 2026 US Chess National Invitationals and the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls' Invitational. These players have earned their spots through outstanding performances in state-level competitions. US Chess Invitational Nominees for Mississippi: Denker Tournament of High School State Champions (Grades 9-12): John Wesley Ozier Barber Tournament of Middle School State Champions (Grades 6-8): Lucos Ma* Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary School State Champions (K-5): Owen You...
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Mississippi Chess Festival attracts US Senior Champion and 4 other Masters

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Left to right: writer Chris Baker, NM Aaron Kahn, FM Alex King, NM Todd Bryant, NM Benson Schexnaydre, GM and US Senior Champion Alexander Fishbein By   CHRIS   ALLEN   BAKER (this is part of a longer article that has been submitted to Chess Life)   CLINTON –  The Mississippi Chess Festival attracted Grandmaster Alexander Fishbein, FIDE master Alex King, and National Masters Aaron Kahn, Todd Bryant, and Mississippi resident and National Master Benson Schexnaydre.     Fishbein, also reigning U.S. Senior Champion, said Mississippi was a stop on his journey to play in each state and now has three states left to visit. A Nashville resident who was born in Russia and came to the United States at the age of 11, Fishbein said the lure of this tournament was appealing.   “I enjoy the competitive aspect of chess. This is a very interesting tournament. It is so good to see chess events like this being organized here,” Fishbein said. “This isn’t a large...
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Announcing the 2025-2026 Mississippi Chess Association K-12 Schedule

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Announcing the 2025-2026 Mississippi Chess Association K-12 Schedule New this year - a fall team tournament. As the 2025-2026 name implies, we're going to follow the full school year this year by having both fall and spring tournaments. Our fall tournaments will be jamboree events intended to give players some practice playing in tournament conditions before we have our championship tournaments January through March. In sporting terms, jamboree events are celebrations typically held at the beginning of a season. These will be individual K-12 chess tournaments held on a single day with a faster time control than our individual championship. The time control will be 30 minutes with a 15 second increment per move. Our goal is to distribute these events throughout Mississippi. This fall we are having the following events: September 6 @ Co-Lin September 27 @ Jackson Prep in Flowood November 8 @ St. Andrews - new team event! Our spring championship schedule is: January 17-18 -- Individua...
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Upcoming 2025 State Championships

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Read about several upcoming state championships that are open to all ages. A separate announcement will be posted soon with the 2025-2026 scholastic schedule. Registration is open for two upcoming state championships to be held this summer - the G/60 and the Team championship. While the format of both these popular events is very similar to last year, there are some changes in the sections available.  Later in the fall we'll have the Women's and overall state championships and registration will be open soon. Expect there will be a Quick and Blitz championships scheduled late in the year. We'll share the details when the schedule is finalized.  See https://www.mcachess.org for all of the latest details. June 14, 2025 - Mississippi G/60 Championship @ Jackson Prep in Flowood This year there are five sections: Championship, Under 1500, Under 1000, and Under 600. All players are eligible to play in the Championship section. Unrated players can play in their choice of section, ...
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Announcing the 2024-2025 Mississippi Chess Association K-12 Season

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New this year - a series of fall K-12 tournaments and several enhancements to the schedule and section options at the individual championship. Announcing the 2024-2025 Mississippi Chess Association K-12 Schedule As the name implies, we're going to follow the full school year this year by having both fall and spring tournaments. Our new fall tournaments will be jamboree events intended to give players some practice playing in tournament conditions before we have our championship tournaments January through March. In sporting terms, jamboree events are celebrations typically held at the beginning of a season. These will be individual K-12 chess tournaments held on a single day with a faster time control than our individual championship. The time control will be 30 minutes with a 15 second increment per move. Our goal is to distribute these events throughout Mississippi. This fall we are having the following events: September 28 @ Jackson Prep in Flowood October 5 @ Franklin Chess Cen...
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Announcing Mississippi's Inaugural Women's State Championship

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Read about the upcoming and first ever Mississippi Women's State Championship. The first ever Mississippi Women's State Chess Championship will be held at the Nissan Training Center in Canton on September 14, 2024. The winner of the Open section will be Mississippi's first Women State Champion.  This tournament is operated under the regulations of the US Chess Federation and also offers players the chance to obtain or improve a rating. Players must be current US Chess members or either join or rejoin prior to the tournament. The event is open to all female  participants  of any age. There are currently 59 female USCF members of any age in Mississippi. We had 36 players participate in our State Girls Championship in February in Flowood. We expect a number of our participants to be scholastic players. However, there are 682 (!) female players who have a rating and a Mississippi address on file with US Chess.  So the sky's the limit! There will be 3 sections: Open, Res...
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Bienville Chess Classic attracts high turnout

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MORTON – A record number of players from across Mississippi gathered Saturday at Roosevelt State Park to compete in the centuries-old game of chess. The third annual Bienville Chess Classic was held April 20 at the park’s Alfreda-Harris Lodge where 58 players battled for prizes, improved ratings, and earned bragging rights. This is an increase from last year’s 45 players and up from 32 in 2022 in this tournament series, one of two hosted by the Scott County Chess Club. This event brought the combined turnout to 309 players who have visited Scott County for six chess tournaments since the club started hosting in November 2021, holding one tournament in the spring and one in the fall. Chris Allen Baker, club founder and coordinator, said players reported having a great experience as many of them have played in the club’s past tournaments, but there were new first-time players. One player came from Mobile, Ala., to participate.   “We were blessed to have a wonderful turnout an...
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