The American Cup, a mainstay of the Saint Louis Chess Club, is now in its fifth edition. The tournament invites the strongest players in the United States to compete in a rare format for over-the-board chess: double elimination.
In each of the two tournaments, all players will have two "lives," meaning that they can lose two matches before they are eliminated. Games in the Championship Bracket feature a classical time control of 90+30, followed by blitz playoffs if needed. Once players lose one match, their remaining matches in the Elimination Bracket will be rapid games of 25+10, also with blitz playoffs if needed.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
The prize fund is $400,000 overall, with $250,000 for the open tournament ($75,000 first prize) and $150,000 ($40,000 first prize) for the women's. Everyone started in the Championship Bracket on the first day, though that will change on day two.
The tournament was preceded by a traditional blitz tournament, The American Cup Blitz, which featured many participants who played in the 2026 Saint Louis Masters the week before—including 42 grandmasters. So, Mishra, and GM Andy Woodward split first place with 7/9.
The American Cup Blitz proved once again why it’s considered the strongest blitz tournaments in the country. The 67-player field was incredibly deep, featuring 42 GMs, 4 WGMs, 16 IMs, 3 WIMs, and 2 FMs — strength from top to bottom.
Caruana won our Game of the Day, while the other games ended in stalemate (but not literally!).
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
All but two of the participants have played in all five editions of The American Cup since 2022. Seventeen-year-old Mishra, best known for breaking the record of world's youngest grandmaster in 2021, plays for the second time. He is the youngest player in the field and the only player rated under 2700. The other youngster, 22-year-old and 2719-rated Liang makes his debut.
Liang crossed 2700 for the first time last year. Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
The defending champion, GM Hikaru Nakamura, isn't participating this year and is presumably, instead, training for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. He won the event in both years he played, in 2023 and 2025.
Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield rings the traditional bell to signal the start of the round. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Caruana 1-0 Mishra
World number three Caruana is predicted by the Saint Louis Chess Club to be the 41.4% favorite to win the event, with So in second at 21.5%. More than the title and the generous prize, however, it is Caruana's last classical event before playing in the Candidates.
He's finished two training camps, but is likely saving his most dangerous opening novelties for later this month. His modest-looking move 4.e3 was perhaps a way to sidestep any main lines in the Grunfeld or King's Indian Defenses.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Despite the timid-looking opening, Caruana said, "I wanted to be ambitious mostly because I lost to him in blitz yesterday, so I wanted some revenge!"
I lost to him in blitz yesterday, so I wanted some revenge!
—Fabiano Caruana
Mishra beat Caruana in round three of the blitz tournament. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
"In general he's super strong, but I have a good score against him," Caruana continued. Funnily, he added that he's only ever had White; tomorrow's game will be Caruana's first time playing Black against Mishra.
We got a fascinating struggle in the Benoni, where Mishra certainly had chances until a very late stage in the game, when time trouble induced a blunder. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the game below.
Asked about the Candidates, Caruana said it wasn't on his mind exactly. "For this tournament, I don't want to think about the next one yet. I have to play well here and how I do here has no relevance to the Candidates."
I have to play well here and how I do here has no relevance to the Candidates.
—Fabiano Caruana
Aronian ½-½ Liang
2024 American Cup winner Aronian had the white pieces in the first game, and his new idea in the Queen's Gambit Declined was 12.f3!?, nearly a novelty except that it was played once in Titled Tuesday. The computer suggested a small, nagging advantage for a long time, but no serious problems transpired for Black, and the players found a threefold repetition by move 30.
Aronian said, "I think my position was kind of pleasant," but considered 22.h4 h5 to be the point where he let some advantage slip, even if the computer evaluation does not change much. He admitted some rust: "So far I'm a bit rusty. I think, somehow with age, I need to play more to get in shape, and today was kind of an example of that."
I think, somehow with age, I need to play more to get in shape.
—Levon Aronian
Aronian and Caruana are veterans at the American Cup and also in St. Louis. Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
So ½-½ Robson
So and Robson played a nearly perfect game, with 99 accuracy by both sides, and made a draw in the Catalan Opening. One may have the illusion that White is better with pressure on the isolated pawn, but Robson showed he had enough counterplay against the king to hold the draw.
Robson will have the white pieces on Wednesday. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Dominguez ½-½ Sevian
A theoretical battle in the Open Ruy Lopez saw both players dive more than 20 moves into theory. It was another 99 accuracy game, with a pretty simplified position by the time the first new move, 25.Rc1, was played.
Sevian passed the theoretical test against Dominguez. Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Mishra will need to win on Wednesday, and a loss for anyone else means they go straight to the Elimination Bracket. A draw means they go to playoffs.
Women's: Krush, Lee Take Leads
Two-time The American Cup winner Krush and two-time winner Lee, the current champion, were off to early wins in their matches.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Krush, Lee, and Abrahamyan have participated in all five The American Cups, but most of the field has not. Zatonskih played in four, skipping just 2024; Yip and Tang played in two (2024 and 2026); and Sargsyan and Li make their debut this year.
Lee 1-0 Li
Lee has returned to St. Louis in good form, at least judging by her first game. Black's troubles started as early as move nine, when 9...c6 was necessary but headed toward a long theoretical line. Lee built up a typical Catalan advantage, with her play revolving around controlling the key c5-square.
Curiously, the game ended with Lee possessing three queens. She said, "This might actually be the first time [this has happened]. Usually my opponents resign before I'm allowed to queen all my pawns, but she was quite generous" to allow the final position.
Lee holds three queens. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
The commentators loved Lee's maneuver 15.Nxa5 followed by Nb7-c5. Asked about her 16th move, she said, "I actually put my knight on b7 or b2 a lot of times. It was quite bad for me the times that I did it, but I think this time it was pretty good."
Krush 1-0 Tang
Eight-time U.S. Women's Champion Krush scored the other win. She summarized the game:
At first, I thought I had something out of the opening, and then I was really struggling to turn it into something concrete. I decided to just play it safe, and all of a sudden, that safe position turned out to have some bite."
Krush is a draw away from advancing. Photo: Austin Fuller/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Tang had some objective ways of bailing out into a draw in the endgame, but defending a tough position for humans isn't always as straightforward as computers make it seem.
Yip ½-½ Zatonskih
Four-time U.S. Women's Champion Yip, the top seed with a rating of 2466, is predicted by the Saint Louis Chess Club to have a 38.8% chance of winning, ahead of Lee at 23%. She drew the longest game of the day.
A missed chance for Yip in game one. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Game one looked good, except that Yip misjudged two key moments. She was squeezing with a slight advantage, but said she underestimated Black's idea of 33...c6 followed by 36...c5!, saying she was playing a bit too much "on autopilot" to allow it.
The biggest missed chance was much later, when with little time, Yip missed the instantly winning 54.Bb4!. Instead, the game petered out.
Sargsyan ½-½ Abrahamyan
Abrahamyan was on the worse side in the clash between the Armenian-Americans. She explained that the biggest problem was her time usage. She had equalized but started to overpress, saying, "I felt like I had to keep the game going... but I also spent too much time." With her clock dwindling, she hung her a-pawn for free and had to fight for her life in the rest of the game.
Abrahamyan survived. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
The crowning move of her defense was 42...d4!!, a brilliant tactical equalizer.
Abrahamyan told GM Maurice Ashley, "I'm very happy I survived this because I could be going into tomorrow down a point, and it's now tied. I have the white pieces. I just have to manage my clock better."
Day two will feature the second classical game as well as playoffs if needed. By the end of the day, only four players will remain in the respective Championship Brackets.
How To Review
You can check out the games on our dedicated events page, and you can watch the broadcast on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube page.
The American Cup 2026, which takes place from March 3 to 12 in St. Louis, brings together the United States' strongest players to battle in a high-stakes double-elimination knockout bracket across classical and rapid time controls. There is an open tournament and a women's tournament, with the two time controls of 90+30 and 25+10 (with 3+2 blitz and potential armageddon as tiebreakers). The prize fund is $250,000 in the open and $150,000 in the women's.
