The 86th Annual South Carolina Chess Championship will take place October 3–5, 2025, hosted by the Columbia Chess Club. The event will be held at 6169 St. Andrews Road in Columbia, SC, offering an exciting weekend of competition for players from across the state.

The list of participants in South Carolina State Chess Championship includes IM Alexander Matros, FM Kelvin Sanchez, WFM Bahar Hallayeva, NM Samuel Copeland, NM Benjamin Caiello, NM Aaron Wang, Andrew Duren, Marc Allouard, Tanay Sanghani, NM Pat Sciacca, Will Snyder, WFM Uthra Pakkiriswamy, Matthew Rogers, Samuel Paukowitz, Roger Johnson, Gene Nix, Aaryav Saha, Jonathan Gao, Arnav Singh, Tyler Murrah, Lincoln Boucher, Diya Balamurugan, Paul Copeland, Scott Marvel, Edward Harris Sr., Sean Miller, Robert Halliday, Abigail Lin, Daniel Sheaf, Chace Nguyen, Erik Murrah, etc.

After storming several state championships on his road to Candidates 2026, Hikaru Nakamura is expected to show up at any state event. Nakamura has previously lived in South Carolina, and even started a chess and games business there called Strategery: Chess and Games.

2025 South Carolina Chess Championship

October 3-5, 2025, Columbia Chess Club, 6169 St. Andrews Rd., Columbia, SC, 29212

Entry Fee: $110 (Available until Sept. 26, 2025); Standard Fee $130 thereafter. Titled Players Free (National Master+, entry deducted from prizes). Online registration only.

Re-entries for 3-day players available Friday after Round 1, $40 on-site only.

Registration is limited to the first 74 players to register, no exceptions.

Blitz Championship is open to all SC Residents with on-site only registration after Round 3. $20 to enter with 75% payout.  (Tournament players given priority if 74-player cap is hit). Play starts 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Must be a resident of South Carolina.

SCCA Annual Meeting Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 from 2-3 p.m.

FORMAT

5-Round Swiss, G/75;+15 (2-Day Rounds 1 and 2 are G/45;+5)

Two Sections: Championship (1600+); U1600, both with class prizes. Players may register for a higher section if they are within 100 USCF rating points of the cutoff. 

Tiebreaks for State Titles: In the event that there is a tie for the best score in the Championship, U1600 Section, or in the Blitz Championship, a series of unrated G/5+3 tiebreak games in a Round Robin format will be played among the players tied (if only 2 players tied, 2-game match of alternating colors is played–in Blitz Championship a 1-game match is played with alternate colors from last encounter or coin flip). If there remains a tie, this format repeats with those players still tied until a winner is determined. For title/trophy only, tiebreaks do not affect distribution of prize money.

Blitz Championship: 6-Round Swiss, G/5+3, single open section with class prize

Byes: 1/2 Point Bye available Round 1-4, 0-point bye for Round 5

PRIZES

$6000 b/74**  

Championship (1600+) $4000: $1000 (plus Trophy Cup – shown – and Title) – $800 – $650 – $500 – $350; Class U1800 $450 – $250

U1600 Section $2000: $550, – $430 – $280 – $220; Class U1200 $300 – $220

**Based on 74 players, meaning that 50% of all prizes are guaranteed and scale with participation to the amount shown. Player count does not include re-entries or blitz players.

Blitz Event $20 entry on-site after Round 3 with 7:30 p.m. start, single open section with class prize, 75% payout apportioned as follows: 40% (plus Trophy Cup – shown – and Title) – 30% – 15%; Class U1600, 1st: 15%

Club Championship: Top 4 players from each club in Championship Section determine Champion Club Title, Top 4 players from each club in U1600 Section determine U1600 Champion Club

SCHEDULE

3-day Format: Rd. 1, 7:30 p.m. Fri.; Rd. 2, 10 a.m. Sat. (G/75;+15)

2-day Format: Rd. 1, 10 a.m. Sat.; Rd. 2, 1 p.m. Sat. (G/45;+5)

Merged: Rd. 3, 3:30 p.m. Sat.; Rd. 4, 10 a.m. Sun.; Rd. 5, 3:30 p.m. Sun. (G/75+15)

Blitz: 7:30 p.m. Sat., Rounds ASAP

SCCA Annual Meeting Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025 from 2-3 p.m.