Chess Tournament 2026 — Under 7 · Under 10 · Open

Seventy-five players sat down on a Sunday evening in City Light, and for the next few hours a sports arena went as quiet as only a room full of chess players can. Five rounds of rapid chess, ten minutes plus a five second increment, with Under 7, Under 10 and Open all running through the same schedule side by side.

Children who had never played a tournament before were paired against club regulars from the opening round. Some of them held on longer than anyone expected. Parents watched from the edge of the turf, and between rounds the arena filled with the sound of chairs scraping, pieces being reset, and a dozen finished games all being replayed at once.