Awonder Liang Wins US Masters in Dramatic Playoff: Final Recap!
Trailing by half a point entering the last day of the US Masters in Charlotte, Grandmaster Awonder Liang won both of his games to vault himself into a tie for first, before taking down GM Andrew Hong in a crazy tiebreak playoff. The win clinched Liang $5,750 and the first place trophy, while Hong still took home $5,250 for his tremendous tournament.
The US Masters is the strongest open tournament in the USA, hosted every year by the Charlotte Chess Center over Thanksgiving weekend. All participants must be titled-strength players, as defined by the CCC's eligibility criteria prior to the event. This year's edition boasted a prize fund of $25,000 and hosted 251 total players, including 38 GMs, 36 IMs, and representatives from 30 countries!
GM Liang entered the event as a pre-tournament favorite but ceded a few draws, including to GM Hong, to put himself half a point out of first entering Sunday's games. He won both of his games on command to catch up, including this victory against GM Sonis:
GM Liang's two wins put him tied for first with Hong, who had some winning chances but only managed to draw his last game against GM Jeffery Xiong (find that game here).
That set up a blitz playoff between the two GMs in front of a crowd of onlookers and tournament directors. The first game was a peaceful draw in a Four Knights Spanish, but the second game brought lots of entertainment!
For a moment, GM Hong may have been winning, but Awonder steered the game into a rook-for-two-minor-pieces ending where his king was able to defend against white's passed pawns, while his own passed pawns became dangerous. The final challenge was executing a famous checkmate in time pressure:
While the drama atop the standings was the biggest storyline, there were also four norm recipients from the 2025 US Masters! FM Avi Kaplan, FM Seth Homa, and NM Evan Sammons each achieved IM norms, while WFM Martyna Starosta scored a WIM norm. Additionally, FM Bryan Lin's FIDE rating crossed 2400, and with his norms already secured, he now becomes an IM-elect!
Other top performers included IM Carissa Yip, who won the $600 prize as the highest-placing woman in the field, and GM Shabalov, who received the same prize as the top senior player (in addition to the $350 he won for splitting the top U2500 prize). Full standings with all prize winnings included are viewable on our website.
Additionally, the North Carolina Open was held at the same location, with NM Emmanuel Carter and expert Andrew Fletcher splitting the top prize with 5.5/6 in the Championship section and taking home $900 each! Other section champions were:
Under 2000: Mitchell Andersson, Karimjon Yuldashev, Siddharth Basavaraju, and Lokruth Patil
Under 1800: Saeed Hoja
Under 1600: Sahasra Rallanbandi and William Wu
Under 1400: Kenny Campbell and Asher Bowe
Under 1200: Jaden Wilson
Under 1000: Gerardo Garcia
Scholastic: Neil Lalgudi
On Saturday evening, the CCC also hosted a $2,000 blitz tournament, free for players in the US Masters or NC Open. GM Vasif Durarbayli split first in the top section with IM Liam Putnam ($450 apiece), while Ananya Wadhwa and Srihas Maddipati each scored a perfect 6/6 ($200 each). Between rounds, players could attend lectures and game analysis sessions with GM Yasser Seirawan!
Live games from throughout the US Masters are archived right here on chess.com. Additionally, you can view the USCF rating changes from the US Masters here and the NC Open here.
Ove final big thanks to Kelly Centrelli for the photographs in these recaps, as well as to all our tournament directors who made this event possible! We hope to see you again soon at the Charlotte Chess Center.
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
