The Belgian School Chess Championships 2026

The final of the Belgian School Chess Championship took place on March 28, 2026, at the Institut Sainte-Anne in Gosselies, which provided excellent organization. In a pleasant atmosphere, with high-quality catering arranged by the school’s butcher department, the best school teams in the country competed in an exciting battle for the title.

In the secondary category, it turned into a true neck-and-neck race between Sint-Lievenscollege from Ghent and the school from Champion. Both teams gave each other no quarter and kept the tension alive until the very last moment. In the end, the Ghent team came out on top, with just a one match-point lead over their strong rivals from Champion.

The battle for third place was also particularly engaging. The defending champions from Liège, Athénée Charles Rogier, entered the competition somewhat weakened, but still managed to make use of their experience and resilience. In a hard-fought contest, they succeeded in claiming the bronze medal, ahead of Sint-Pietersinstituut from Turnhout, which fielded a relatively “young” team, and the Athénée Royal of Chênée.

The championship was thus marked by sportsmanship, excitement, and a high level of chess, once again confirming the strong tradition of school chess in Belgium.

On an individual level, Mateo Plomp stood out above all others. The player from the champion team proved to be simply the strongest on board 1 among the entire field. In addition to the usual trophy, he also received a special reward: an invitation to take part in a simultaneous exhibition match against Grandmaster Nigel Short later this year. This is part of the prestigious Your Next Moves chess event, where chess legend Garry Kasparov will also be challenged by multiple players at once.

The other board prizes went to Sacha Baugnet, Yang Wang, and Luka Plomp, each of whom excelled on their respective boards.

In the “maxi” category, with no fewer than 22 participating teams, three top favorites quickly emerged: Heilig Hart Heverlee, Sint-Michielscollege Brasschaat, and Sint-Pietersinstituut Turnhout—the “usual suspects” of the VSF championship. They fully lived up to expectations and finished in that exact order at the top of the standings.

Individually, the level was exceptionally high. On board 1, Jonathan Van Heinsbergen (Turnhout) did not concede a single half-point and finished with a perfect 9 out of 9. The same applied to Jens Van Der Velpen (Heverlee) on board 2 and Lewis Cheng (Brasschaat) on board 3. Board 4 also saw strong performances, although the supremacy of the best player was less clear. Ultimately, Jindo Tong proved to be the strongest, ahead of Elie Lipschutz.

The ticket for the selection simultaneous against Belgian talents, offered by Your Next Move, went to Yu Pu. After Jonathan Van Heinsbergen, he was the “best of the rest” on board 1 among the remaining teams, but benefited from a regulation stating that a team with a reserve player (Jonathan’s team) could not win an individual title.

Finally, there was also the “mini” category—featuring the youngest chess players from kindergarten and first through third grade. In this section, with 21 participating teams, Studio Dynamo from Antwerp took the victory. OLVO Heist and KLIM Ghent completed the podium.

Theo Ivanov, already Belgian U8 champion earlier this year, once again brought his “sledgehammer” and won all his games here as well. He will have the opportunity this autumn to challenge Belgian talents during the selection simultaneous of the Your Next Move event.

The trophies on the other boards went respectively to Jamuha Zorig, Daan Van Beek, and Dinah Salhi.

The final of the Belgian School Chess Championship thus offered not only excitement at the team level but also impressive individual performances, once again confirming that chess is thriving in Belgium among both young and old.

Nevertheless, school chess does not have to be synonymous with competition: within the ECU, many initiatives are being developed to use chess in a thoughtful way as an educational tool in mathematics, history, and (foreign) languages (immersion) ECU Education Commission – EDU Commission. And in Belgium as well, some Institutions for Higher Education recognize the importance chess can have to achieve educational objectives (EdHub-dienstverlening).

Link to the results:

Secondary – Klassement – Belgian School Chess Championship 2026 – Secondaire | ChessTide

Maxi – Klassement – Belgian School Chess Championship 2026 – Maxi | ChessTide

Mini – Klassement – Belgian School Chess Championship 2026 – Mini | ChessTide