The 30th edition of the Southern Chess Open will take place from 22-24 July in Wyndham Orlando Resort, Florida. The event features five tournaments: Major (for players rated 1900+), Under 2100, Under 1800, Under 1500 and Under 1200 with a guaranteed prize fund of 20.000$.
The top seeds of the main Major tournament are GM Jianchao Zhou, GM Nikola Mitkov, and GM Vladimir Georgiev. The event will be played in 5 rounds, swiss system, with time control: 80 minutes for 40 moves, plus 30 minutes till the end of the game, plus 30 seconds of increment starting from the move one. Scroll down for starting rank list of players
Starting rank list of players – 30th annual Southern Chess Open:
| Player’s Name | FIDE Rating | Section | |
| 1 | Jianchao Zhou (GM) | 2576 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 2 | Nikola Mitkov (GM) | 2500 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 3 | Vladimir Georgiev (GM) | 2446 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 4 | Scott Ramer | 2192 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 5 | Samuel Malka (FM) | 2210 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 6 | Carlos Gaston Andretta | 2128 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 7 | Irina Utiatskaja (WIM) | 2184 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 8 | Marvin Gao (CM) | 1942 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 9 | Vincent William Stone | 2000 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 10 | Antony Timotey Gospodinov | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 11 | Aldo F Lopez | 2027 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 12 | Aniket Shukla | 1941 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 13 | Preston C Deleo | 1925 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 14 | Vikram Rajmohan | 1842 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 15 | Otis C Wilson | 1898 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 16 | Goran Markovic | 1954 | Under 2100 |
| 17 | Lawrence Younker | 1608 | Under 2100 |
| 18 | Jorge A Martinez | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 19 | Elio Otero Arencibia | 2056 | Under 2100 |
| 20 | Sherwood Dong | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 21 | Lyubomir Timoteev Gospodinov | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 22 | Dereck Laureano | 1831 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 23 | Arav Patel | 1790 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 24 | Shama Yisrael | 1803 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 25 | Kameron Grose | 1523 | Under 2100 |
| 26 | Jose Gabriel Casares | 1733 | Under 2100 |
| 27 | Nate Ryan Ziegler | 1813 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 28 | Javier E Adorno | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 29 | Abror Kurbanov | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 30 | Nicholas Michael Ricci | 1911 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 31 | Jayden Lang | 1910 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 32 | Stephen Zabbia | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 33 | Aaron Bias | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 34 | Sam W Sokhanvari | 1869 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 35 | Ilya Blokhin | 1847 | Under 2100 |
| 36 | Sasha Creighton | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 37 | Libaski Espinosa | 1852 | Under 2100 |
| 38 | Niko Pompe | 1787 | Major (1900 & up) |
| 39 | Damian Krotov | 1472 | Under 2100 |
| 40 | Peter V Bias | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 41 | Michael Xukun Guan | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 42 | Leo W Bonnell | 1791 | Under 2100 |
| 43 | Benjamin Cartoon | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 44 | Dhruv Rajaganesh | 1554 | Under 2100 |
| 45 | Santiago De Jesus Casares | 1555 | Under 2100 |
| 46 | Aleks Fetlyaev | 1563 | Under 2100 |
| 47 | Marcos Antonio Casares | 1661 | Under 2100 |
| 48 | Jerry Yao | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 49 | Christopher Walenty Fashek | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 50 | Kabilesh Yuvaraj | 1553 | Under 2100 |
| 51 | Neryk Davydov | 1539 | Under 2100 |
| 52 | Alice Wu | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 53 | Neel Sahai | Unr | Major (1900 & up) |
| 54 | Anthony Coleman | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 55 | Paul Leggett | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 56 | Elias Chavez Monarrez | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 57 | Kyle Paul Knapp | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 58 | Glenn Leotaud | 1829 | Under 2100 |
| 59 | Tariq M Amin | 1412 | Under 2100 |
| 60 | Ronan P Spelman | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 61 | Timotey Dimitrov Gospodinov | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 62 | Christopher Lee Baumgartner (Withdrawn) | 1684 | Under 2100 |
| 63 | Kanishk Mahesh | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 64 | Jolie Huang | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 65 | Brooks Matthew Chandler | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 66 | Qiyaqin Zhang | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 67 | Darryl D Allen | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 68 | Luke Zimmer | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 69 | Thomas V Smith | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 70 | Bill Waite | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 71 | Saketh K Vudutala | 1347 | Under 2100 |
| 72 | Om Mishra | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 73 | Vasanth Parthasarathy | 1426 | Under 2100 |
| 74 | Jack H. Rhoton | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 75 | Sinclair Wilkinson | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 76 | Michael J Wong | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 77 | Oleg Semenov | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 78 | Nicolae Vlad State-ungureanu | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 79 | Mike Ward | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 80 | Ved Priyadarshi | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 81 | Ben Assa | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 82 | Agrim Kumar | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 83 | Cole Holloway | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 84 | Christopher Daniel Von Hoff | 1537 | Under 2100 |
| 85 | Rodrigo Lisita Barbosa | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 86 | Daniel Edu Flores | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 87 | Ayush Roy | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 88 | Nathan Heck | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 89 | Andrew S Kan | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 90 | Janusz Gromnicki | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 91 | Wyndell Michael East | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 92 | David Robert Stearns | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 93 | Joseph J Byrnes | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 94 | Arthur Hernandez-visbal | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 95 | Alexander Dshalalow | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 96 | Brandon Nicholas Tregde | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 97 | William Kipersztok | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 98 | Daniel Smith | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 99 | Carliteau Leger | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 100 | Tristan Elvers | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 101 | Stephen Herreros | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 102 | Marcos Gabriel Casares | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 103 | Michael Uhlig | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 104 | Randy Merrell | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 105 | Walter Sznerch | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 106 | Luka Nikolai Tristam | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 107 | Ivan Goponenko | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 108 | Zhiyu Cao | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 109 | Lawrence Cerrato | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 110 | Prajit Manivannan | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 111 | Sophie Li | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 112 | Greg Engl | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 113 | Rithwik Hegde | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 114 | Analaya Muneepeerakul | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 115 | Elena Anastasia State-ungureanu | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 116 | Sergio C Lopez | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 117 | Mike Moschos | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 118 | Gauri Sreekumar (Withdrawn) | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 119 | John Louis Jankowsky | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 120 | Monroe L Steindorf | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 121 | Rui Jiang | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 122 | Stuart A Elvers | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 123 | Brian Lee Morris | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 124 | Shalam Yisrael | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 125 | Sai Kanha Kummari | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 126 | Aaron Wang | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 127 | Gavin Preston Yichen Song | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 128 | Varshini Venkat | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 129 | Joshua Alton | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 130 | Eli Assa | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 131 | Charles Russell Mccallister | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 132 | James Alton | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 133 | Joseph Messervy | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 134 | William Hardison | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 135 | Ishir Kumar | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 136 | Emilyn Chiu Doan | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 137 | Tanisha Saha | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 138 | Coco Yao | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 139 | Aarna Warekar | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 140 | Jonathan Thomas Martin | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 141 | Jacl Richard Firestone | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 142 | Caleb Zeng | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 143 | Hebron George | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 144 | Anthony Reed | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 145 | Alexander M. Lafortune | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 146 | Kevin Joel Acevedo | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 147 | Scott A Leslie | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 148 | Reid Sammons | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 149 | Nitin Krishna Warekar | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 150 | Osvaldo Ramirez | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 151 | Grace Siqi Yang | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 152 | Raymond Zeyuan Tu | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 153 | Drew A Siegel | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 154 | Liam Storm Gale | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 155 | Scarlett Asselta | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 156 | Sabrina Chile Paz | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 157 | John C Joura | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 158 | Stephen M Lippincott | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 159 | Derek Mcelroy | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 160 | Arham Shah | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 161 | Saatvik Dasari | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 162 | James Gong | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 163 | Kas Baumstark | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 164 | Tiana Semenov | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 165 | Myles Savage | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 166 | Addison Baumstark | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 167 | Jacob Wang | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 168 | Ian Mckee | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 169 | Samuel Robert Tuttle | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 170 | Stefan Todman | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 171 | Isaiah Felix | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 172 | Steve Simeonidis | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 173 | Russell J Rice | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 174 | Thia Chiu Doan | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 175 | Timothy Patrick Staley | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 176 | Mila Wang | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 177 | Pearson Fraser | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 178 | Gayathri Sreekumar (Withdrawn) | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 179 | Govind M Kummari | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 180 | Balakrishnan Sreekumar Maliekal (Withdrawn) | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 181 | Klim Vasilyeu | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 182 | Tristan Lucas Squire | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 183 | Ishaan Jain | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 184 | Isabelle Mathew | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 185 | Jonathan Zhang | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 186 | Evdokiia Krotova | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 187 | Anthony D Borzillo | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 188 | Lisa Chapman | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 189 | Gordon Miller | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 190 | Carl Dalton Smith | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 191 | Zach B Busch | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 192 | Olivia Asselta | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 193 | Brandon Rhymer | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 194 | Anthony Manuel Dominguez | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 195 | Carrie A Schaper | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 196 | Advaith Kandam | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 197 | Marcus Anthony Timmons | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 198 | Krish Palisetti | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 199 | Christian Pitta Carter | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 200 | Mikeyla Vega Campagne | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 201 | Daniel Benji Yang | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 202 | Azari Dshalalow | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 203 | Fabiana Paola Casares Brito | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 204 | Anaya Atara | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 205 | Eliana Dshalalow | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 206 | Sai Krithik Kummari | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 207 | Aanya Kumar | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 208 | Khalid Fahad Al Mahmood | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 209 | Charles T Bell. | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 210 | Abdullah Fahad Almahmoud | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 211 | Barrett D Fortner | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 212 | Saint Fortune | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 213 | Isaac Fratti | N/A | Under 1200 |
| 214 | Henry Alexander Miranda | N/A | Under 1500 |
| 215 | Riley Davis Shinn | N/A | Under 1800 |
| 216 | Langston Moses Simmons | Unr | Under 2100 |
| 217 | Winston Sutfin | N/A | Under 1200 |
