All are invited to participate in the first ever, Tulsa Cathedral Chess Tournament, taking place on January 31st, 2026 in the Holy Family Cathedral Classical School! Event doors open at 8am for check-in and the Tournament officially begins at 9am. Entry is $30 per player ($25 if registered before Jan 29th!), and spectators are free. Each player will play 4 games in the Swiss system with a 30 minute clock with 5 second increment. There will be two brackets, one unrated (for casual players) and one USCF rated (for more competitive players), with prizes for each bracket. If you are not currently registered, or are, but inactive with the US Chess Federation, go to https://new.uschess.org/join-us-chess to activate your membership. This must be completed before the start of the event. A list of registered players can be viewed HERE!

Latest News:

Thanks to All for a Great Tournament!

Thank you to everyone who helped make the inaugural chess tournament at Holy Family Cathedral Classical school a resounding success. We were truly overwhelmed by how many people showed up to play, from beginners to experts. Tournament Directors, Matthew Cole and Mike Waters oversaw two brackets, one USCF rated and one open unrated. NM Chuck Unruh won the USCF rated bracket, followed by a 9-way tie for 2nd between David Luscomb, Christopher Dooley, Daniel Koehn, Liam Bond, Peter Thomer, Ryan Samadder, Paarth Jain, Jacob Rothrock, and Landon Tedford, with impressive upsets by Jacob Rothrock and Paarth Jain. Top 3 under 18 were Paarth Jain in 1st, Liam Bond in 2nd, and Ryan Samadder in 3rd. The unrated bracket was won by Maliex Brophy in his first tournament appearance, after winning a blitz tie breaker against K Clark Phipps, followed by Nicholas Clere in 3rd. Top 3 under 18 were Edgar Nolte in 1st, Eric Portillo in 2nd, and Mason McCombs in 3rd. Special congratulations to Will Rogers College Middle and High School Chess club, participating in their first chess tournament and placing two players, Eric Portillo and Mason McCombs in the top 3 under 18! Please enjoy these pictures from the event and feel free to contribute more by emailing them to matthewcole805@protonmail.com. We hope to see everyone again next year!

Useful information for Saturday

The school is the three story building just to the south of the church, (circled in red) located at 9th and Boulder downtown, just a block from the Foolish Things coffee shop.

The orange-colored areas are parking lots that can be used.

NOTE: the venue is on the third floor of the school, and there are no elevators. If you need help up the two flights of stairs, please let one of us know, and we would be happy to help.

Lunch will be for sale, with Venmo accepted, serving Hamburgers, Fries, Soft drinks, and snack items.
There will also be $1 Coffee and Tea for sale, throughout the day.
Alcoholic beverages will not be permitted on the school grounds.

Rozsa Cup to be rescheduled

Make no mistake, the Tusa Cathedral Tournament is still on for Saturday 1/31, but with the weather came scheduling changes at the school, and the coinciding Rozsa Cup Tournament will need to be rescheduled. Unfortunately, this means the planned display of their games will not be available, but at least one player from the Rozsa Cup will now be playing in our tournament!

Awards Categories Announced!

Due to a high percentage of signups from under 18 players in both the rated and open unrated brackets, we have decided to include a 3rd Award category:

1. Top 3 players from Rated Bracket
2. Top 3 players from Open Bracket
3. Top 3 players Under 18 (Including the top 3 performing under 18 players from either bracket.)

Trophies will be awarded to the top 3 players in each category.

There will be a cash prize for the top 3 players in the Rated Bracket, as well. (amount TBD)

Welcome Rozsa Cup!

We are excited to announce the event has been rescheduled for January 31st, so as not to conflict with any OSCO tournaments. Even more exciting news, Tulsa Cathedral Knights of Columbus is partnering with the Oklahoma Chess Association to also host the highly prestigious Rozsa Cup Invitational, and the Tulsa Cathedral Open will be hosted simultaneously with day two of the event. In addition to participating in the open tournament, players will be able to observe the top players in the state compete in the Rozsa Cup, with live commentary and Q&A provided by OCA experts!

Online Registration Closed

We are very excited to announce the event is now at capacity, however we must also apologize to those who were still hoping to sign-up as we cannot accept any new online registrations. If you would like to be put on the waitlist, in case participants drop out, please email matthewcole805@protonmail.com.