The 21st annual Southern Class Chess Championship took place from 15-17 March in Orlando, Florida! The event was played over seven rating sections at the Wyndham Orlando Resort, with $17,000 in prizes.
Three players topped the main Masters competition tying for first with 4 points, each: GM Sergei Matsenko, Ethan Thomas Sheehan and FM Brejesh Chakrabarti. The trio shared the top prize in equal parts, and each pocketed a money prize of $933.
Aniket Shukla won the Expert tournament which was open for players rated 1900-2199. Shukla was half a point ahead of the runner-ups. Ayush Roy and Sophie Li tied for the top of the Class A in the field for players rated 1700-1999. Parker Bennet, Anushka Ayyappan and Benjamin David Sisler scored 4 points each to top the Class B category for players rated 1500-1799. Ethan Francis Boley triumphed the Class C section for player rated between 1300-1599, and Harold Emanuel Gonzalez clinched the Class D competition for players rated U1400. Benjamin Weston Forbes scored perfect 5/5 points to win the Class E for players rated U1200.
Final standings – Southern Class Chess Championship 2024 Masters section:
| Rk | Name | Rating | Total |
| 1 | GM Sergei Matsenko | 2620 | 4 |
| 2 | Ethan Thomas Sheehan | 2373 | 4 |
| 3 | FM Brejesh Chakrabarti | 2318 | 4 |
| 4 | Lior Lapid | 2322 | 3.5 |
| 5 | Siddharth Singh | 2196 | 3.5 |
| 6 | John Bryant | 2523 | 3 |
| 7 | Raghav Venkat | 2380 | 3 |
| 8 | Vikram Rajmohan | 2206 | 3 |
| 9 | CM Henry He | 2155 | 3 |
| 10 | Harshin Reddy Jagirapu | 2146 | 3 |
| 11 | Advait Nair | 2109 | 3 |
| 12 | GM Vladimir Georgiev | 2475 | 2.5 |
| 13 | Ryan Edward Hamley | 2234 | 2.5 |
| 14 | Abhishek Mallela | 2170 | 2.5 |
| 15 | Linxi Zhu | 2162 | 2.5 |
| 16 | William Wu | 2155 | 2.5 |
| 17 | Santhosh Ayyappan | 2130 | 2.5 |
| 18 | Arav Patel | 2125 | 2.5 |
| 19 | Roshan Jayaraman | 2117 | 2.5 |
| 20 | CM Marvin Gao | 2325 | 2 |
| 21 | Lev Shangin | 2144 | 2 |
| 22 | Jean-pier Singher | 2100 | 2 |
| 23 | IM Mladen Vucic | 2353 | 1.5 |
| 24 | Aadit Bhatia | 2304 | 1.5 |
| 25 | Theodore Luke Slade | 2262 | 1.5 |
| 26 | Todd Charles Bryant | 2206 | 1.5 |
| 27 | John Joseph Ligotti | 2214 | 1 |
| 28 | Ulises DeCozer | 2124 | 1 |
| 29 | Stewart Bradley Taylor | 2100 | 0.5 |
| 30 | FM Dalton Perrine | 2350 | 0 |
| 31 | Devin Michael Scanlon | 1855 | 0 |
