Welcome to the Rookly Winter 2026 Season weekly newsletter! This is where we share a weekly update on league standings, highlight some great moments from each week’s games, learn a thing or two from our coaches, and of course, share any news about Rookly.

First let’s look at the scores. You can click on the title of a league to view the full standings for that league. The standings pages are public, so please feel free to share with parents, friends, or whoever you think might be interested!

And now, without further ado, here are the results after the twelfth (and penultimate) week of the Rookly Winter 2026 Season:

Current Standings

Playoffs

Congratulations to all of our teams on an excellent season! We are excited to announce that we will once again be holding playoff events to celebrate Rookly’s top players and teams this season.

The last day of the Winter 2026 Season is Thursday, April 30th. All playoff invitations will be sent by Monday, May 4th.

Top Individuals Tournaments

This season, we are splitting our Top Individuals Tournament into three events, separated by grade level.

The first age bracket is for students in grades K-5.

The second age bracket is for students in grades 6-9.

The third age bracket is for students is for students in grades 10-12.

If, at your school, students from more than one age bracket qualify for their respective Top Individuals Tournament and would like to compete at the same time, they are welcome to compete at the higher grade bracket but not the lower one.

Though we always encourage students to play on Rookly together at school, we understand that the Top Individuals Tournaments are scheduled late in the day, and some students may need to play from home; they are more than welcome to do so.

Players can sign in for the tournament using their normal Rookly school login link.

Schedule and Format

K-5 Individuals Tournament — Monday, May 11, 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT

6-9 Individuals Tournament — Tuesday, May 12, 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT

10-12 Individuals Tournament — Wednesday, May 13, 7:00pm ET/4:00pm PT

Individual tournaments will adhere to a double-elimination format, meaning once players accrue two losses, they are out. The tournaments will run for 90 minutes, or until a winner is crowned.

Top Teams Tournament

The Top Teams Tournament will feature the top teams across all of our leagues. Teams can field a maximum of four players, meaning that every single game will count for score!

Teams who qualify for the event will sign in using their usual school log in link.

Schedule and Format

Top Teams Tournament — Thursday, May 14, 4:00pm ET/1:00pm PT

This tournament will run for 90 minutes. It will follow the normal Rookly arena-style format.

If you have any playoff questions please let Coach Lucas know! He can be reached at [email protected]

Game of the Week

The Game of the Week this week goes to Dihren H from Scarsdale (White) and Finn B from The Study Academy (Black) for this fiercely contested and instructive game.

Black created some small advantages in the back half of the game and capitalized on a small mistake from White to take control of the c-file and thus the game.

Take special note of how White’s move 21. b4 weakens the white pawn on c3. Black immediately recognizes the weakness in White’s position and pounces right away!

Check out the full game here:

Move of the Week

This week’s Move of the Week goes to Ben L from Winston Prep (White) who solidified a winning position in this game with a beautiful tactical shot here. See if you can spot the winning move for White in this position:

Did you spot c7? This move unleashes a beautiful discovered attack (and pin) against Black’s queen and king, giving White a crushing advantage for the remainder of the game.

Great find by Ben here! You can check out the full game here:

If there’s anything that you need help with this week please feel free to get in touch with Coach Lucas at lucas@​rookly​.com.

Looking forward to a great final week of chess!