In an interview with National Master Ben Johnson on the Perpetual Chess Podcast, IM Rose Atwell said, “The way I think about college is like, what’s in it for me? …I can improve at most of my current interests [chess, music, and writing] by myself, or with a specialized trainer like my chess coach.”
As a chess player with an undergraduate degree in history and a Ph.D. in education — and as a fan of Atwell — I want to weigh in on her educational plans. According to the podcast, recorded on June 22, 2026, Atwell is 17 and a half years old and has completed her junior year of high school as a home-schooled student. Over her upcoming senior year, she could apply for full-ride college chess scholarships.
2026 U.S. Junior & Senior Chess Championships
In mid-July, Atwell will be at the Saint Louis Chess Club for the 2026 U.S. Junior & Senior Chess Championships. She is the top seed for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship. I will be playing in the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship. Also happening at the same time and venue are the U.S. Senior Championship and the U.S. Junior Championship.
I look forward to meeting Atwell, as I’ve been following her on X (Twitter). I admire her frequent posts, which typically analyze key moments in her games. She posts about other topics too, which I also enjoy. This 2025 post, where she hoped that the U.S. Senior Women’s Championship would be hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club, is coming true in 2026.
Role Models and a New Edition
In the podcast episode, Atwell said that she likes being a role model for younger girls. Likewise, I appreciate her reading my eighth book United States Women’s Chess Champions, 1937–2020. It was published in 2022. The only champion without a chapter in my book is IM Carissa Yip, who won the title in 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025. WGM Jennifer Yu has a chapter for winning in 2019 and won again in 2022.
One new chapter about Yip is not enough to justify writing a second edition. If Atwell and other up-and-coming players win titles in 2026 and beyond, I’ll write a new edition to have chapters about them.
A Rosy Future at College
For most students, four years of college (assuming in-state tuition and housing) costs a minimum of over $100,000. But the expense is worth it. Over a lifetime, having a college degree means earnings of at least half a million dollars more than only having a high-school diploma.
College will be free for Atwell if she chooses one of several universities that offer full-ride chess scholarships. At college, she could continue her interests in chess, music, literature, and writing. She would have fellow students who are titled chess players and access to top-notch chess coaching. At The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), where I work, the coach and trainer is GM Mikhail Antipov, and the head coach and program director is GM Julio Sadorra.
IM to GM at College
IM Atwell would likely earn her GM title while in college. As I wrote in Getting the Gang Back Together, a piece for the January 2024 issue of Chess Life magazine, “Over the 27 years of the chess team’s existence, 10 chess team members matriculated at UT Dallas as IMs, and, while still students, became GMs.” The 30th reunion of the chess team will be celebrated on October 9–10, 2026.
Atwell wants to become a GM in time to win one of the $100,000 Cairns Chess Queens Awards. The deadline is July 4, 2029. In my opinion, her best chance at that award is to enroll at a college, like UT Dallas, which supports students in chess and in academics.
Writing About Chess
Atwell likes writing about chess. I do too. I write twice a month for SparkChess and frequently for Chess Life Online. My ninth book The United States College Chess Championship: A History of the President’s Cup will be published by McFarland in October 2026.
Here’s an example of Atwell’s chess writing, from X:
Her opponent is WIM Davaakhuu Munkhzul, a student and chess team member at UT Dallas. Most likely, Munkhzul’s expenses for the tournament where this game was played were paid for by the UT Dallas chess program. Here is the entire game.
It will be exciting to follow Atwell’s chess career and her writing in the coming years. In my opinion, college would enhance her development.
