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 eighth week of the Rookly Winter 2026 Season:

Week #8 Standings

Game of the Week

The Game of the Week this week goes to the mysterious Player E from Hilldale (White) and Samridh K from Moreland (Black) for this incredibly close game that came down to a very tricky endgame position.

Before we get to the deciding moment of the game, let’s take a look at how we got there.

This game started out with a well played Sicilian by by both players. After some minor piece exchanges, at move 14 this game has stabilized, but with an imbalance between players: White has the bishop pair, while Black has the knight pair.

After White’s move Be3, the computer has this game at a 0.0 evaluation—perfectly even.

After move 20, more minor pieces are exchanged. Still a 0.0 evaluation!

Rooks are exchanged on move 26. Black is slightly ahead now at -0.4.

Queens are off the board at move 30. White is ahead now at +0.8.

On move 33, White creates an imbalance in the game. In this position, White chooses to exchange the rook for Black’s knight. The evaluation swings from +1.6 to -0.6!

After move 39 and h4 from Black, we are back to a 0.0 evaluation despite the slight material advantage for Black.

After some simplification, White finds the best move in this position on move 43: taking the pawn on h3 and giving up the bishop. The evaluation is still 0.0!

We have now come to the decisive moment of the game. It’s Black to play—there are 16 available moves for Black, and only three continue this game in a drawn position, while the other 13 give White a winning position. Can you find one of the three viable continuations?

If you spotted the moves Kg7, Kg8, or Rb3 then congratulations! Your endgame instincts or calculations are spot on. It’s imperative that Black takes immediate action against White’s pawn advance.

In the game, black plays Rh5+, a very tempting move, but not one of the three best options.

Rh5+ doesn’t work because it allows white the convenient move b5, blocking the check and advancing a pawn simultaneously.

It’s now impossible for Black to stop White from promoting and going on to win (assuming correct play from white).

Check out this game for yourself! See if you can find the correct continuations for black after Kg7, Kg8, or Rb3 on move 45. Excellent work by both Player E and Samridh K in this one!

Move of the Week

The Move of the Week this week goes to Wajeh R from Westbrook (White) who found a beautiful attack against Connor R from OFL (Black).

See if you can find the winning attack here—it’s White to move:

Did you spot Ne7+? Not only does the knight fork Black’s king and rook, but it also unleashes a discovered attack against the black queen on a5 from White’s queen on e5.

After the dust settles, White is now decisively ahead in this game. Well done Wajeh R!

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 another great week of chess!