The North American Youth Chess Championship (NAYCC) is premier youth chess tournaments for participants under 18 in the Americas. The tournament held annually under the auspices of the Confederation of Chess for the Americas (CCA) and FIDE and first held in 2004 in Boca Raton, Florida. This event is open to players from Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The tournament has 6 age brackets, in two-year increments, from U8 (under 8) to U18. For each age bracket, there is an open championship and a separate championship for girls. Since at least 2015, there is also a blitz tournament. Winners of each category are awarded the title of North American Youth Champion, and top finishers earn direct FIDE titles such as Candidate Master (CM), FIDE Master (FM), International Master (IM), Woman Candidate Master (WCM), Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and Woman International Master (WIM), depending on section and performance.
The North American Youth Chess Championship, the Pan-American Youth Chess Championship, and the FIDE World Cadet and World Youth Chess Championships are connected through a hierarchical structure of youth chess competitions in the Americas. The NAYCC serves as a regional championship for North America and is organized under the framework of FIDE America. According to federation selection policies and tournament regulations, gold medalists at the North American Youth Chess Championship may be granted personal rights or nomination privileges to participate in the subsequent Pan-American Youth Chess Championship, subject to age eligibility and national federation approval.. The Pan-American Youth Chess Championship functions as the continental youth championship for players from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. Under FIDE regulations, continental youth champions are entitled to personal rights to participate in the corresponding World Cadet Chess Championship (Under-8 to Under-12) or World Youth Chess Championship (Under-14 to Under-18).
The 2020 North American Youth Championships had been postponed to 2021. In 2021, it was held in Chicago, Illinois. The U18 champions in NAYCC 2021 are Dimitar Mardov (Open), Alice Lee (Girls), and Nico Chasin (Blitz).
The 2025 North American Youth Championships will be in Kingston, ON, Canada.
Open championship winners (Gold medalists/champions) {| class="sortable wikitable" ! Year !! Location !! U8 !! U10 !! U12 !! U14 !! U16 !! U18 |- | 2004 || Boca Raton || || || || || || |- | 2005 || || || || || || || |- | 2006 || || || || || || || |- | 2007 || Aguascalientes || || || || || || |- | 2008 || || || || || || || |- | 2009 || Mazatlán || || || || || || |- | 2010 || Montreal || || || || || || |- | 2011 || Tarrytown || || || || || || |- | 2012 || Mexico City || || || || || || |- | 2013 || Toronto || || || || || || |- | 2014 || Tarrytown || Arthur Guo|| Maximillian Lu || David Brodsky|| Jason Shi || Kesav Viswanadha|| Alexander Katz |- | 2015 || Toluca || Aghilan Nachiappan|| Justin Wang || Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux|| Edgar Froylan Luna Javier || Carlos Sandoval Mercado|| Jesus Aldair Flores Guerrero |- | 2016 || Windsor || Kevin Zhong|| Rohun Trakru || Nicholas Vettese|| Aaron Shlionsky || Zhaozhi Li|| Michael Song |- | 2017 || Morristown || Kevin Duong|| Liran Zhou || Maximillian Lu|| Qiuyu Huang || Christopher Yoo|| Bryce Tiglon |- | 2018 || Baja California || Rohan Rajaram|| Bryan Xie || Adrian Kondakov|| Cristian Gael Bojorquez Gallardo || Shawn Rodrigue-Lemieux|| Ladia Jirasek |- | 2019 || Kingston || Matthew George Ivanescu|| Leo Lin || Jason Liang|| Liam Putnam || Rohan Shyam Talukdar|| Alexander Costello |- | 2020 || Not organized || || || || || || |- | 2021 || Chicago || Luke Hong|| Marcel Podraza || Tanitoluwa Adewumi|| Arthur Xu || Erick Zhao|| Dimitar Mardov |- | 2022 || Calgary || Joshua Xia|| Yusuf Mansurov || Vedant Ameya Talwalkar|| Kevin Zhong || Tejas Rama|| Nicholas Vettese |- | 2023 || Mexico City || Aayansh R Guntaka|| Luis Fernando Agama Hernandez || Matias Martinez Flores|| Julian Colville || Carlos Francisco Varela Velazquez|| Johnathan Han |- | 2024 || Dulles || Grayson Xiang|| Steven Liu || Ted Wang|| Narayan Venkatesh || Ronen Wilson || Aaron Reeve Mendes |- | 2025 || Kingston || Karson Lu || Stella Xin || Alex Haoning Chu || Calix Marchand || Julian Colville || Emanuel Kot
Girls championship winners (Gold medalists/champions) {| class="sortable wikitable" ! Year !! Location !! U8 !! U10 !! U12 !! U14 !! U16 !! U18 |- | 2004 || Boca Raton || || || || || || |- | 2005 || || || || || || || |- | 2006 || || || || || || || |- | 2007 || Aguascalientes || || || || || || |- | 2008 || || || || || || || |- | 2009 || Mazatlán || || || || || || |- | 2010 || Montreal || || || || || || |- | 2011 || Tarrytown || || || || || || |- | 2012 || Mexico City || || || || || || |- | 2013 || Toronto || || || Jennifer Yu || || || |- | 2014 || Tarrytown || || Kylie Tan || Martha Samadashvili|| || Annie Zhao|| Annie Wang |- | 2015 || Toluca || Amelie Phung|| Lhia Itzayana Castellanos Hernandez || Cindy Qiao|| Joanna Liu || Kaitlyn Yang|| Qiyu Zhou |- | 2016 || Windsor || Sophie Velea|| Atmika Gorti || Claire Cao|| Sasha Konovalenko || Svitlana Demchenko|| Maili-Jade Ouellet |- | 2017 || Morristown || Iris Mou|| Stephanie Velea || Annapoorni Meiyappan|| Ellen Wang || Queena Deng|| Evelyn Zhu |- | 2018 || Baja California || Jocelyn Chen|| Sara Gupta || Melina Li|| Aasa Dommalapati || Minda Chen|| Joanna Liu |- | 2019 || Kingston || Whitney Tse|| Greta Qu || Yesun Lee|| Rianne Ke || Sanjana Vittal|| Svitlana Demchenko |- | 2020 || Not organized || || || || || || |- | 2021 || Chicago || Irene Jiao Fei|| Olivia Laido || Omya Vidyarthi|| Zoey Tang || Kelsey Liu|| Alice Lee |- | 2022 || Calgary || Aimee Yang|| Mia Fernanda Guzman Garcia || Sahana Aravindakshan|| Ananya Ananth || Tianna Wang|| Zoey Tang |- | 2023 || Mexico City || Elizabeth Xia || Sophie Li|| Laura Qiu || Chloe Wang || Elizabeth Schahrazad Diaz Bartolo|| Aradh Kaur |- | 2024 || Dulles || Sarah Nguyen|| Ella Xinyue Zhang || Aimee Yang || Laksshana Deepak|| Erin Bian || Jasmine Zhixin Su |- | 2025 || Kingston || Emily Jiaying Tang || Abigail Zhou || Michelle Zhang || Lilianna Gao || Hanxi Jiang || Jasmine Zhixin Su
See also African Junior Chess Championship Asian Junior Chess Championship European Junior Chess Championship European Youth Chess Championship Pan American Junior Chess Championship World Youth Chess Championship
References
Complete standings: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025