Chess "Open Mic Night” at the Silverdale Chess Club

Sixteen-year-old IM Alice Lee is once again the champion of The Women's American Cup 2026 for the third year in a row.  Wesley So was the winner of the Men’s American Cup after defeating Levon Aronian by a 1½–½ score. So only needed a draw with white on the last day to secure the title, and he achieved exactly that. 

This is So's first American Cup title, achieved after taking part in all five editions of the double-elimination tournament organised by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Twice before he had reached the Grand Final, only to fall short at the last stage: in 2023 he lost to Hikaru Nakamura, and in 2024 he was defeated by Aronian.

This year, however, his run was notably steady. He won the Championship Bracket by defeating Ray Robson, Sam Sevian and Fabiano Caruana, all by identical 2½–1½ scores. Against both Robson and Sevian, the classical portions ended with two draws, before So prevailed in the blitz tiebreakers. His match against Caruana was more difficult, as he lost the first classical game, then had to win on demand to force blitz, where he once again came through after the first pair of three-minute games.

The Grand Final itself was comparatively straightforward by comparison: after the smooth win with black in game one, he only needed a safe draw to close matters out.

The American Cup title is So’s second major success of the year. In January, he won the Tata Steel India Blitz tournament with 13/18, finishing ahead of players such as Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Wei Yi and Vishy Anand. His run of strong results also follows on from August last year, when he won the Sinquefield Cup for the second time in his career, having previously taken that title in 2016.