Each quarterfinal match will conclude after two more games on day two with possible tiebreaks. They take place on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET/19:00 CET/11:30 p.m. IST.
Double-elimination is back in St. Louis in what's now the third edition of the American Cup. Similarly to Chess.com's Champions Chess Tour, players start the tournament with "two lives," meaning they need to lose two matches to be eliminated.
In the two tournaments—Open and Women's—there will also be two brackets, the Champions Bracket and the Elimination Bracket (that players enter when they lose a match). So far, nobody's in the Elimination Bracket; the first matches only conclude on Wednesday.
Matches consist of both classical and rapid time controls:
In the Champions Bracket, each match is four games, two classical (90+30) and two rapid (15+10)
In the Elimination Bracket, each match is four rapid games (15+10)
Like before, no draw offers are allowed at any point in the game.
But here's a change: last year, two classical games were followed by rapid games to break a tie. This year, one rapid game is played right after each classical game, even if there's a decisive result. Unlike other events that mix classical and speed chess, wins in classical and rapid have the same value: one point.
A grueling day, with a classical game followed by a rapid one. Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
This set the stage for plenty of decisive games on the tournament's very first day.
Open: Caruana Wins Both Games, So Sacrifices Exchange in the Rapid
The 2023 champion, GM Hikaru Nakamura, isn't present this year, presumably to prepare for the Candidates Tournament that's less than a month away. The champion of the 2022 tournament is Caruana, and although he's also playing in the Candidates, it didn't stop him from joining. He could not have started better, being the only player in the Open tournament to win both games.
Caruana had to play against his second, Oparin, in the very first round. Curiously, it was their first classical encounter. He said: "We worked together quite a lot, so it's really unusual to play against him and maybe it feels kind of weird for both of us." They've played before, but only in rapid or blitz; Caruana won both of their previous encounters.
It's really unusual to play against him and maybe it feels kind of weird for both of us.
—Fabiano Caruana
"Kind of weird" for both players, says Caruana. Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Move 19 was critical in the classical game, and computer analysis showed that 19...Nxe6, with the idea of sacrificing a piece with ...Ng5!! and ...Nxh3, would have maintained "equality," whatever that means in such a dynamic context.
How should Black recapture on e6? There's just one good answer, and it requires deep, deep calculation!
Instead, 19...Rxe6? allowed a vicious attack, which Caruana completed with a 98.1 percent accuracy score for the whole game. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the full Game of the Day below.
In another Queen's Gambit Declined, Caruana won with the black pieces in the rapid game. With a two-point start, he needs just one draw out of two games on Wednesday to clinch the match.
So was the only other player to gain a lead on day one. "I didn't expect him to play the Grunfeld," he said after being unable to make progress with White in the first game. "A draw was a fair result, but I'm quite unhappy with how it went."
I didn't expect him to play the Grunfeld.
—Wesley So
Shankland was the first to surprise in game one. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Nevertheless, he managed to win from the black side of the Berlin Defense in the rapid game—with the sledgehammer 27...Rxa3! exchange sacrifice. In fact, the position was still equal, but Shankland had to find the study-like 41.Ke3!! to save it.
The classical game between GM Leinier Dominguez and GM Ray Robson was the deepest theoretical battle of the day, taking 21 moves for the novelty to appear on the board in a Sicilian Najdorf.
Robson plays the Sicilian Najdorf. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
In general, they played a perfect game until move 32, and as it happens in such an opening, a single mistake can cost the game. After 32...Ra4? 33.a3!, Black was left without counterplay, and Dominguez nicely gave away his queen in the conversion phase:
After this tremendous victory by Dominguez, however, Robson evened the score in the rapid game after his opponent sacrificed a pawn for insufficient compensation. Ultimately, Dominguez even lost on time, though his position was lost.
GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Sam Sevian hardly got off the ground, with two draws. The first game reached a rook endgame by move 19 and a threefold repetition almost 20 moves after that. Sevian got into trouble with White in game two and acquiesced to a draw by repetition on move 25.
The quietest match on Tuesday. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
The same matchups will continue on day two, and four players will find themselves in the Elimination Bracket before Thursday. We will see another classical game followed by rapid with a blitz tiebreak to follow if needed.
Women's: Zero Draws Out Of Eight Games
All eight games were decisive, allowing for three sweeps and one remarkable comeback.
The biggest story of the Women's, at first, looked like it was going to be FM Zoey Tang's victory against GM Irina Krush. Krush has won both editions of the Women's tournament since the first one in 2022 and will be looking to score the hat trick this year.
Losing the very first game against the lowest-rated player in the tournament must have been a cold shower.
Who said a chess player can't be a chess fan? Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Grabbing a pawn with 17.Nxa4??, White overlooked a crushing reply. Could you defeat the eight-time U.S. women's champion from here? Black to move.
For 16-year-old Tang, what a way to start her first-ever American Cup! Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
But Krush buckled down, played the King's Indian Defense in game two, and evened the score after a mistake by her opponent in the endgame.
Lee's reached the final twice, against Krush, but has yet to win this tournament. Her 2-0 victory on Tuesday against Abrahamyan, however, sends a strong message: "This might be my year."
This might be her year. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
She won a rook endgame in the first one, but the second was a defensive spectacle. She grabbed one, two, three pawns, and White didn't have an attack to show for it.
Tokhirjonova and Yu met last in the U.S. Championships, and the latter won on demand with the black pieces in the very last round. The Uzbek WGM served a cold plate of revenge on Tuesday, winning both games.
Game one was a 26-move miniature. Tokhirjonova herself wasn't expecting it to be so quick: "I expected a long game; that's why I was surprised."
I expected a long game; that's why I was surprised.
—Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova
Payback for the U.S. Women's Championship. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
"She wanted to be aggressive and it didn't work out because she was not developed," Tokhirjonova said after the game. "She missed just [17].a5 Qb5 [18.]Nxc5 Bxc5 [19.]Nd4," after which Black didn't have a single good move.
Paikidze was the third player to achieve a 2-0 sweep. The checkmate in the final position of her rapid game must have been as satisfying to play as it is to look at.
Paikidze is off to a stellar start. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Like the Open section, just four players will survive in the Champions Bracket by the end of Wednesday. Judging by the uncompromising play on day one, will we even get one draw on day two?
How to watch?
The games of the American Cup can be found on our live events platform: Open | Women. The rounds start each day at 2 p.m. ET/19:00 CET/11:30 p.m. IST.
The 2024 American Cup is an over-the-board tournament in St. Louis featuring some of the strongest players in the United States. Split into Open and Women's sections, the players will compete in a double-elimination knockout bracket while contesting for their share of the $400,000 prize fund.
NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.
Anthony, who also earned his Master's in teaching English in 2018, taught English and chess in New York schools for five years and strives to make chess content accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. At Chess.com, he writes news articles and manages social media for chess24.
