ADA, Okla. – The East Central University (ECU) Tiger Esports director, Cody Soden, has collaborated with the Oklahoma Chess Association to bring an official tournament to the ECU campus August 15, 2026, inside the North Lounge of the Memorial Student Union.

“We are excited to welcome an official chess event to our campus for the first time,” said Soden. “Esports is adopting chess into its ecosystem, which is providing additional competition opportunities for students on our campus.”

The Roaring Tiger Open will be a four-round, U.S. Chess-rated and over-the-board tournament with a G/45;d5 format, which means each player starts with 45 minutes on the clock to complete the game (G stands for Game), and there is a 5-second delay for every single move (d stands for Delay).

Onsite registration will be from 9 – 9:30 a.m. with a registration fee of $40. Advance entry will be available online until 9 a.m. the day of the tournament for $30.

Free entry is available for all ECU students. Enter promo code TIGER at checkout. If you are a first-time tournament player and need a US Chess membership, purchase your membership at www.chessokc.com/memberships.

Prize trophies will be presented for all plus scores (2.5+) as well as a trophy to the top scholastic player rated 0–1200.

Soden added, “This is part of ECU Tiger Esports ongoing efforts to offer additional competition opportunities for the campus and community.”

Incoming ECU freshman Jasson “Spike” Harris-Green of Macomb, Okla., joins the university after winning Oklahoma Scholastic Esports state chess championships in both the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Harris-Green said he hopes success by ECU's chess team will inspire more students to become involved. "I could see this increasing interest in the game and the esports chess team at ECU as well, especially if an ECU chess player on the team wins."

Harris-Green also said scholastic esports made competitive chess accessible to him. "I was not able to compete outside of the High School Esports space since my household never really had the money to do stuff like this tournament. I was not able to compete until it was introduced to my school, and it allowed me to participate in chess for free."

For registration and more information about the event visit, https://caissachess.net/register/11114119.

For more information about ECU Esports contact Soden at csoden@ecok.edu.

-ECU-