Frazer Chess team wins 3 of 5 championship divisions at the state championship

Press release from the Frazer School

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Frazer School achieved a historic performance at the 2026 Florida State Scholastic Chess Championships, held from March 21–23 in Orlando. Bringing a massive team of 44 players to the tournament, which featured over 550 total registrants, The Frazer School dominated the competition by winning three of the five “Championship” divisions.  

Team Highlights

• 1st Place: High School (K-12) Championship
• 1st Place: Middle School (K-8) Championship
• 1st Place: K-1 Championship
• 2nd Place: Elementary (K-5) Championship 

Individual Standouts

Several players delivered championship-level performances to anchor these team victories:

• Andrew Yang-Fang
  • Only in Kindergarten, Andrew became the K-1 State Champion with a perfect score, winning all five of his matches.
• Aakash Jani
  • The current 5th-grade U.S. National Champion tied for the K-5 State Title with a near-perfect 4.5/5 score (4 wins, 1 draw), though he finished 2nd on tie-breaks.
• Abhiram Pothuri, Sophie Li, and Damian Alexander
  • Each finished the tournament with strong 4/5 scores, contributing vital points to the team standings. 

This stellar showing reinforces The Frazer School’s rapid ascent in the chess world, adding to its recent 10th-grade and 11th-grade national championships and its status as the first high school to receive an NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deal for its “mental athletes.” The Frazer high school team will go on to compete in the 2026 National High School K-12 Championship, March 27-29 in Chicago, IL

The Frazer School is led by its head chess coach, National Master Britt Ryerson, who said, “We expected to win K-8 and K-12, but the K-1 championship has been locked down for the last 20 years by our crosstown rival Oak Hall. They are the current Kindergarten and 1st grade National Champions, so our victory in K-1 is significant and impressive. I’m super proud of all our players, but the youngest group deserves special recognition for its outstanding performance.”

Frazer School Founder Will Frazer said, “Mr. Ryerson has been a legendary figure in our community as both a chess competitor and as a coach. I have been so impressed with how quickly he built up our chess program. Our school highly values chess. The skills needed to be good at chess are transferable to so many different areas. I have many great memories of my time on the Buchholz chess team while I was in high school. I believe the skills I developed playing chess during my youth helped me in other areas of my life.”