The 13th Annual Washington International concluded on July 29, 2026, at the Rockville Hilton in Rockville, Maryland, bringing together top talent for one of the premier classical chess events on the American calendar.
Upgraded to a “Super Swiss” format this year with a larger guaranteed prize fund, the flagship Championship Section drew a highly competitive field of 90 participants, featuring numerous international grandmasters and top American talents.
At the end of nine grueling rounds, Grandmaster Grigoriy Oparin (2643) and Grandmaster Christopher Woojin Yoo (2607) emerged atop the leaderboard. Both grandmasters posted impressive unbeaten records to tie for first place with 7 points out of 9.
By splitting the top two guaranteed prizes ($8,000 for 1st and $4,000 for 2nd), Oparin and Yoo walked away with $6,000 USD each for their joint victory.
Organized by the Maryland Chess Association, the 2026 edition ran from July 25 to July 29 with classical time controls of 90 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move.
Alongside the elite Championship section, the festival catered to players across rating tiers with the Premier Section (U2300 USCF / U2100 FIDE) and the Contenders Section (U1800 USCF), offering a combined total guaranteed prize fund exceeding $50,000 across all divisions.
Championship section final standings:
1-2. GM OPARIN Grigoriy 2643 MO USA and GM YOO Christopher Woojin 2607 CA USA – 7.0
3-4. GM ZHOU Jianchao 2605 MA USA and SHEEHAN Ethan T 2348 GA USA – 6.5
5-15. GM BRODSKY David 2518 NY USA, GM CORDOVA DAZA Emilio 2498 MO PER, IM ADEWUMI Tanitoluwa 2467 NY USA, IM LIANG Jason S 2462 OH USA, GM ESCALANTE Brian 2450 MO PER, GM GHAEMMAGHAMI Ehsan 2445 IRI, GM BARON Tal 2410 ISR, IM LIN Bryan Enming 2381 NY USA, IM WANG Isaac 2349 CA USA, IM COLVILLE Julian 2333 CA USA, SETHURAMAN Roshan 2323 AZ USA – 6.0 etc
