2026 Scholar-Chessplayer Recipients Announced

Iris Mou, Photo courtesy Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

2026 Scholar-Chessplayer Awards

The US Chess Federation (US Chess) and the U.S. Chess Trust (USCT), both independent 501(c)(3) organizations, are pleased to announce six recipients of the 2026 Scholar-Chessplayer Awards. This includes the winner of the new category introduced in 2022, Scholastic Chess Ambassador, which acknowledges lower-rated but deserving chess scholars.

The Scholar-Chessplayer Awards recognize and encourage outstanding high school juniors and seniors who promote a positive image of chess while excelling in academics and leadership. A total of $9,000 in scholarship money is being awarded this year. Each recipient will receive $1,500.

All Scholar-Chessplayer Awards are funded through the U.S. Chess Trust, with a significant contribution from the National Scholastic Chess Foundation. The USCT’s vision is that one day every American, from schoolkid to senior citizen, will have the opportunity to learn chess and enjoy its many mental and social benefits.

We extend our thanks to the US Chess scholastic committee members who reviewed and evaluated all the applications.

2026 Scholar-Chessplayers

  • WFM Ananya Ananth (2034), 11th grade, Aldie, Virginia

  • WIM Iris Mou (2312), 11th grade, New York, New York

  • WGM Zoey Tang (2433), 12th grade, Portland, Oregon

  • WIM Avery Yu (2091), 11th grade, Oak Park, California

  • IM Erick Zhao (2536), 11th grade, Wexford, Pennsylvania

2026 Ambassador

  • Nikhil Murugan (1960), 11th grade, Westfield, Indiana

To qualify, applicants must be US Chess members who satisfy these requirements:

  1. Play at least 25 regular-rated US Chess or FIDE games during the current academic year;

  2. Show outstanding achievement in academics and chess (Scholastic Chess Ambassadors are not required to be highly rated);

  3. Have completed at least one year of chess-related community service since starting the ninth grade;

  4. Describe in an essay of 500 words how being selected as a 2026 Scholar-Chessplayer will enable the recipient to further their education, improve their chess, and allow them to continue contributing to the chess community.

Congratulations to all the 2026 Scholar-Chessplayers!

Scholar-Chessplayer Award Past Recipients

    • IM Nico Chasin (2515), 12th grade, New York, New York

    • FM Jonathan Chen (2265), 11th grade, Diamond Bar, California

    • IM Evan Park (2521), 11th grade, Wexford, Pennsylvania

    • FM Vishnu Vanapalli (2408), 12th grade, Charlotte, North Carolina

    • WCM Vanessa Zhou (2005), 11th grade, Newberry Park, California

    • WCM Anika Rajaram (1960), 11th grade, San Jose, California

    • CM Jack Heller (2166), 12th grade, Chicago, Illinois

    • IM Ming Lu, (2461), 11th grade, San Diego, California

    • NM Alexander Rutten (2249), 11th grade, Johns Creek, Georgia

    • IM Sandeep Sethuraman (2311), 12th grade, Chandler, Arizona

    • WIM Ellen Wang (2275), 11th grade, The Bronx, New York

    • Laurel Aronian (1373), 11th grade, North Salem, New York

    • IM Arthur Guo, Georgia

    • Aditya Gupta, Illinois

    • IM Maximillian Lu, Connecticut

    • FM Jason Wang, Ohio

    • Eugene Yoo, New York

    • Gaayathri Binoj, Missouri

    • GM Andrew Hong, California

    • FM Robert Shlyakhtenko, California

    • FM Vincent Tsay, New York

    • IM Justin Wang, Texas

    • Kevin Xu, Kansas

  • New! Scholastic Chess Ambassador category introduced this year.

    • Nikolaus Peter Garcia, Texas

    • Madeline Libby Weber, Wisconsin

    • NM Destynn Keuchel, OH

    • FM Christopher Shen, OH

    • FM Wesley Wang, NY

    • WCM Iris Zhou, MO

    • WIM Evelyn Zhu, NY

    • Praveen Balakrishnan, VA

    • David Brodsky, NY

    • Akira Wood Nakada, NY

    • Kimberly Liu, CA

    • Annie Wang, CA

    • Forest Chen, TN

    • Albert Liang, GA

    • Emily Nguyen, TX

    • Jennifer Yu, VA

    • Howard Zhong, OK

    • Abhimanyu Banerjee, FL

    • Maggie Feng, OH

    • Craig Hilby, CA

    • Seth Talyansky, OR

    • Andrew Tang, MN

    • Ethan Li (NY)

    • Zhaozhi (George) Li (IL)

    • Prateek Pinisetti (AZ)

    • Joshua Sheng (CA)

    • Warren Wang (NY)

    • IM Safal Bora, MI

    • WIM Agata Bykovtsev, CA

    • IM Akshat Chandra, NJ

    • IM Daniel Gurevich, GA

    • NM Christopher Yang, PA

    • Jackson Chen, CO

    • Rachel Gologorsky, FL

    • Simone Liao, CA

    • Akshay Malhotra, TX

    • Darwin Yang, TX

    • Jeevan Karamsetty, VA

    • Varun Krishnan, CA

    • Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, NY

    • Arthur Shen, NJ

    • Atulya Shetty, MI

    • Miles Hinson, NY

    • Anna Matlin, NJ

    • Kevin Mo, PA

    • Benjamin Tong, CA

    • Thomas Ulrich, WI

    • Yang Dai, VA

    • Joshua Mu, NC

    • Andrew Ng, NJ

    • Jesse Orlowski, CA

    • Alexandra Weiner, CT

    • Chaz Daly, FL

    • Andrew Ng, NJ

    • Eigen Wang, NY

    • Kevin Zhang, AZ

    • Andrew Shvartsman, NJ

    • Rohan Agarwal, CA

    • Richard Herbst, CO

    • Abby Marshall, VA

    • Jake Miller, NY

    • Victor Shen, NJ

    • Adithya Balasubramanian, VA

    • Robert Lau, HI

    • Haotian Zheng, CT

    • Michael Thaler, NY

    • Troy Daly, FL

    • Sarkis Agaian, NY

    • 
Jonathan Cox, AZ

    • Benjamin Marmont, AZ

    • 
Michael Sobin, NJ

    • Adam Weser, NY