United States

Titled Chess Coaches in Alaska

Alaska's chess scene is small but genuinely active, built around library and bookstore club nights in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau rather than a big-city tournament circuit — and it produced the state's first grandmaster, Bryan Smith, who grew up in Anchorage. This page keeps the focus on titled coaches while still connecting you to the broader local chess scene.

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Club: 177
Alaska USCF players

The state scene

Organized chess in Alaska goes back decades, but the modern scene is carried by a handful of local clubs: the Fairbanks Chess Club meets weekly at Noel Wien Library, the Alaska Chess Club in Juneau formed in 2024 and plays out of the Mendenhall Valley Public Library, and Anchorage has regular meetups at spots like Title Wave Books and Barnes & Noble. After Far North Chess, the longtime state affiliate, stopped running tournaments in 2014, Alaska went more than a decade without an in-person state championship — the last one had been held in 2013. That changed in 2025, when the newly formed Alaska Chess Federation became the state's US Chess affiliate and hosted the first in-person Alaska State Chess Championship since 2013 in Anchorage. Alaska remains one of the smallest chess communities by registered players, which makes its clubs feel more like a close community than a competitive circuit.

The Alaska State Chess Championship, revived by the Alaska Chess Federation in Anchorage in 2025 after more than a decade without an in-person title event
Weekly drop-in club play at Noel Wien Library in Fairbanks and at bookstore meetups in Anchorage
The Alaska Chess Club in Juneau, hosting local tournaments and casual play at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library