Date: Saturday March 14, 2026 @ 10:15am
IMPORTANT: Both the Northern portion of the state and the Southern portion of the state (defined below) will hold separate Over-The-Board tournaments to determine individuals and the top team from each region who will then compete in the Nevada State Girls Scholastic Chess Championship to be held online on Sunday, April 26thth and the Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship (teams & individual) to be held online on Saturday, April 25th, respectively.
Girls who reside in, or go to school in, the following Nevada counties will be eligible to participate in the Southern Nevada State Girls Scholastic Chess Championship: Clark, Nye, Lincoln and Esmerelda.
***This announcement is for the Southern Nevada State Girls Scholastic Chess Championship. The Northern Nevada State Girls Scholastic Chess Championship will be held on a different day and will be detailed in a separate announcement.
Location:
***NOTE: This event will be held alongside the 2026 Intermountain Collegiate Tournament and the 2026 Southern Nevada Seniors
University of Nevada - Las Vegas
4505 S Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154
US Chess Membership is required
Please join or renew the player’s membership at www.uschess.org before registering for the tournament.
Girls must reside in Nevada or be a full-time student in grades K-12 at a Nevada school
and born after September 1, 2006.
K-12 Open Section (Open to all girls in grades K-12)
5 rounds
Time Control Game/25 minutes + 5 seconds
Round 1 begins at 10:15 AM
Prizes:
Individual Trophies and a Top Team Trophy will be awarded. All Players will receive a participation medal.
Qualifiers:
The top three individual scorers in the Southern Nevada Scholastic Girls Chess Championship will meet at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas on Sunday, April 26th to compete in the Nevada State Scholastic Girls Chess Championship (individuals), an online tournament that includes the Northern Nevada individual qualifiers and the Southern Nevada individual qualifiers. We will provide digital tablets for that tournament. The winner of that tournament will represent the State of Nevada at the 14th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions in Grand Rapids, MI from August 3-6th. The Nevada State representative will receive a travel stipend from Silver State Chess after completing all games in the national tournament without a forfeit loss.
https://new.uschess.org/haring
The top team scorer in the Southern Nevada Scholastic Chess Championship will meet at University of Nevada - Las Vegas on Saturday, April 26th to compete in the Nevada State Scholastic Chess Championship (teams), an online tournament that includes the Northern Nevada team qualifier and the Southern Nevada team qualifier. We will provide digital tablets for that tournament. The winning teams will not qualify for any national tournament because there is no national team tournament for which to qualify.
Additional Prizes:
The top scoring girl will receive free entry to the International Youth Championship in Las Vegas June 13-14th. Restricted to players born after June 14th, 2011 and rated under 1800.
If that player won an entry in the Northern Nevada Scholastic Open Championship on April 18th, the second place finisher will win a free entry to the IYC.
Entry Fees
$50 before March 2nd
$65 before March 8th
$75 before March 13th @ 11:59pm, PST
$100 after March 13h @ 11:59pm PST
US Chess Membership required: you may join or renew at https://new.uschess.org/join-us-chess
Refunds: Refunds must be requested via email to info@silverstatechess.org prior to 11:59pm on March 22nd and will have a processing fee of $12 withheld.
Byes: Maximum one (1) half point bye is available upon request. Half-point byes must be requested by 12:00pm on March 14th and will be irrevocable after that time. If any player is unable to play any round for any reason, including withdrawals, please notify a tournament director or score keeper.
Teams: Two or more players from the same school in the same section automatically form a team.
Snacks:
No food will be provided. Competitors are encouraged to bring water bottles, which can be used in the playing area and snacks, which can be consumed outside of the playing area between rounds.
Schedule: Welcome and announcements will begin at 10:00am. All players should be seated for Round 1 start at 10:15am. Subsequent rounds start about 15 minutes after the previous round ends. There will be a lunch break for players to eat player-brought lunches. Players registering after 10:00am may not be paired for round 1.