On Saturday 21st February 2026 John Paul the Great College held its 8th Annual Chess tournament! The John Paul tournament is Belize's longest running Annual event and this years edition featured 40 players.

After the successful completion of our 2024-2025 National Chess Championship Cycle, we saw the birth of our new Belize Junior Chess Champion Isaiah Garay and NM Alfred Awe retaining his title as Belize National Chess Champion. Looking forward for the 2026 - 2027 Cycle, the BCF will be updating the cycle with different qualifications methods as well as several format changes that will be explained here.

On the 7th February 2026 the Belmopan Library hosted our first event of the year. This event had players from Belmopan, San Ignacio, Belize City and special guests from Mexico! We also had Curtis Andrade and Gregory McGibney who recently came in 2rd and 3rd respectively at the Junior Chess Championship in January.

The 2026 National Chess Championships were held at the George Price Center in Belmopan on January 17, 2026. Players from across Belize competed in both the Junior and National Championship events.