Kansas Chess Association

Congratulations to Gus Ramirez for winning the Kansas Class Championship, class C and up with a perfect 4.0 score. Also, congratulations to Andrew McReady and Habub Kahn for sharing first place in the class D and below. Details at Ratings TableWe are starting a chess history website. As an example, we have an article submitted by Michael Wierzbicki, former Kansas Champion. If you have something you'd like to submit, e-mail us at [email protected].The 2026 Kansas Class Championship will be held in Manhattan on March 28. Play people at your level to be the Kansas Champion! Details at Class Championship.Mark your calendars. The 2026 Kansas Open will be in Wichita, July 11-12 at the Nguyen Golden Hotel and Conference Center. Registration is open!Your KCA membership gets you access to free tournaments. The KCA will pay $50 for free tournaments that require a KCA membership. If you'd like to host a KCA sponsored tournament contact us for details.A big Thank You to everyone who assisted with the Renaissance Festival. And a special thank you to Ken Sarner who organized the entire event. It was a record breaking year and many people were exposed to opportunities to play chess in the KC Area.The Kansas Open was a great deal of fun this year. Find out more about it at Kansas Open. You can also find out about Kansas Representatives to the US Open

US Open Kansas Reps

Kansas Representatives to US Open (senior plus scholastic) - Bruce Law- Irwin (senior), Aayush Wadhwa- Denker (K-12), Ananya Wadhwa- Haring (girls), Samuel Mehlhaff- Barber (K-8), Maria Leboeuf- Rockefeller (K-5)

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2026 Kansas Open

Kansas Champions

Kansas Scholar Champions

Specials

Kansas Open Picture AlbumBlitz Tournament Cross TablesOpen Tournament Cross TablesBughouse Results:

The 2026 Kansas Open was held at the Golden Nguyen Conference Center in Wichita, KS from July 10-12. It consisted of three events- The Bughouse Championship and Blitz tourney held on Friday, July 10 and the main event held July 11 and 12.The Bughouse tourney consisted of four teams, so a round robin event was held consisting of three rounds. The team of Ken Gradsky and Tony Dutiel finished first with a score of 6 wins in 6 games- each team playing two games against each opponent. Noah Bruggeman teaming with Brendan Layne Jones finished second with a score of 4 points. Cross table later in report.
The Blitz event was held Friday night, July 10. There were 31 participants. All participants were from Kansas except on from Nebraska, one from Illinois, and one from Missouri. The event was a 5 round swiss tourney, with two games against each opponent. The event was won by Ananya Wadwa with 9 points out of 10 possible. She had finished 2nd place last year. He brother Aayush Wadwa (who had won the event the year before) finished tied for second with Alex Johnson with 7.5 points. There was a three way tie for 4th to 6th between Ben Gradsky, Rakshith Seetharaman, and Edward Perry at 7.0 points. Rathvik Seetharaman was the top scholastic finisher with 4.5 points.
The main event had 74 players divided into three sections –Open, Reserve (U1800), and Amateur (U1400). Most players were from Kansas, but there were 2 from Nebraska, 2 from Missouri, 2 from Oklahoma, and 1 each from Illinois, Maine, and Illinois.
The Open section determined the state Champion. Samuel Mehlhaff won the Open section with 4.5 points; 4 wins and 1 draw in 5 rounds. Finishing in a tie for second place were Augustus Ramirez and Andrew Bledsoe with 4 points. They were also the top rated players in the section with a U1900 rating. Ted Belanoff from Maine finished by himself with 3.5 points for fourth place. The top scholastic player in the Open section was Sophia Sun with 2.0 points.
The Reserve Section (U1800) was won by Chess Eccles with 4.5 points. He had won the same section the previous year. Finishing tied for second place were Matthew Moors and Okahoma scholastic player Liam Bond with 4.0 points. Liam was the top scholastic player in this section and received a plaque for his efforts. Mathews rating went up 200 points as a result of his good performance at the Kansas Open. Tied for fourth through fifth at 3.5 points were Kansas Chess Association President Eric Mullins and Brandon Maffit.
The Amateur section (U1400) was won by Duane Tate with 4.5 points. There was a three way tie for second through fourth at 4.0 points between Titis Hoggart, Gage Simpson, and Quentin Hogg. By himself at 3.5 points in fifth place was Michael Omoding . The top scholastic player in the Amateur section was Zack Byrum with 2.5 points.

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Over The Board

There are a lot of opportunities for you to play chess over the board (in person).If you are interested in casual play, check out local clubs. Several clubs are listed at the bottom of this page.If you want to enter tournaments, you will most likely need a United States Chess Federation membership. Some tournaments will also require a KCA membership. You can view upcoming events on the KC Knights calendar.Also, the Kansas Chess Scholars Association has tournaments for school age youth. These tournaments are usually inexpensive and do not require a USCF membership.

If you have a chess club you want added to this list or if you want help creating a website for your club, contact us at [email protected]

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Minutes

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KCA Member List

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Renaissance Festival

Each fall, at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, the KCA has a sponsors a booth to raise funds. The booth, "Knight Moves" is manned by KCA volunteers. If you are interested in helping, click on the "Volunteer" button below. To see the current volunteer schedule and other information, click on the "Information" button. For more information contact Ken Sarner at [email protected]

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Knight Moves Revenue by Year

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KCA Ledger

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Archives

Kansas Champions

Click for more information about Kansas Open Champions and Kansas Representatives to the US Open

Plains Chess

Kansas Chess Articles

Previous Event Games

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TD Corner

All tournament directors for KCA events are required to be certified by the USCF. If you would like to become a Tournament Director, we have created a tutorial. If you are interested in gaining TD experience, contact the KCA about assisting at a local event.
The KCA will reimburse TD's/Organizers who make their events a KCA event. This means you require KCA memberships for Kansas residents. The KCA will reimburse TD's/Organizers $50 per event. You may use this three times during the calendar year. To collect, submit/email a copy of your USCF cross table along with completed membership forms to the KCA President. You must also submit the dues collected to any KSCA Officer. Players can also pay KCA dues online. Non-Kansas residents playing in your event are not required to join the KCA. The KCA Membership list is "live", so use it to determine if KCA memberships are current. You could also make it part of the Kansas Grand Chess Tour.In order to avoid conflicts, check out the upcoming events calendar

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