After an 18-move draw, GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana are tied ½-½ within the Open Champions Closing of The American Cup 2025. In Open Elimination, nevertheless, we noticed GMs Wesley So and Leinier Dominguez eradicated, respectively, by GMs Levon Aronian and Sam Sevian. The 2 Armenian-People have arrange a rematch within the Elimination Semifinals.
IM Alice Lee continues full steam forward, now within the Ladies’s American Cup Champions Closing. She defeated WGM Tatev Abrahamyan within the first classical sport, which is our Recreation of the Day. Within the Elimination Bracket, GM Irina Krush knocked out IM Anna Zatonskih 3-1 in blitz tiebreaks, and IM Nazi Paikidze eradicated the highest seed IM Carissa Yip with a 2-0 sweep in speedy.
Day six, that includes simply the Champions Brackets, shall be on Thursday, March 20, beginning at 12:00 p.m. CDT / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.
Champions:
Elimination:
Open Champions: Fast Day At The Workplace
Nothing has modified within the Open Champions Closing besides that we’ve one classical sport much less. If that is drawn, the match shall be determined in blitz tiebreaks.
Nakamura ½-½ Caruana
This was the primary sport to finish, after half an hour. Nakamura confused one thing in his opening, and he bailed out rapidly earlier than issues took a flip. He defined:
One thing went incorrect. So when Fabiano performed this …a6 and …b5 sac’ing the knight I had this robust determination the place Fabiano is clearly very well-prepared, he hasn’t used any time, and I’ve to resolve do I need play on ready the place I am by myself and Fabiano’s nonetheless in prep and I’ll be down on time, or simply form of bail out and make a draw?
The reply was: kill the sport. We noticed a fast draw, with Caruana having 5 extra minutes on his clock than he began with; Nakamura had used practically half an hour. Caruana could have White on Thursday.
Ladies’s Champions: Lee Takes Lead
Lee misplaced her second sport within the occasion, however since then she has been on fireplace. After that one loss, she has received all however one in all her video games, two of them within the classical portion.
Abrahamyan is in a must-win state of affairs with the white items in sport two. If she wins on demand, they’re going to have blitz tiebreaks.
Lee 1-0 Abrahamyan
Lee mentioned that the opening—a King’s Indian Protection—shocked her, “however I by no means thought I used to be in any hassle.” She’d just lately confronted this 6…Na6 line in opposition to GM Daniel Naroditsky in Titled Tuesday, however she admitted that she hadn’t analyzed the sport after, so she wasn’t going to repeat these strikes.
As a substitute, they adopted a sport between GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Karthikeyan Murali till Lee deviated with the flamboyant, tactical novelty 15.Ng5!?. She sacrificed a pawn, however in trade she received the bishop pair and the open d-file. The file, and the sunshine squares, in the end spelled Black’s doom. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Recreation of the Day.
As Naroditsky identified on his stream, by the best way, this Ng5 motif is not fully new! He confirmed the next youth championship sport from seven years in the past, the place the knight once more headed for the e6-square:
Lee, the defending champion, is having an incredible match up to now. She additionally revealed within the interview that she’s a sophomore in highschool and plans to graduate subsequent yr. This fashion, she will be able to dedicate her senior yr fully to chess. As talked about in earlier articles, there’s a $100,000 award for the subsequent American girl to earn the grandmaster title, a feat solely Krush has achieved up to now.
Elimination Open: So And Dominguez Are Out
Due to the sooner time management, there was no scarcity of thrills and spills within the speedy and blitz video games of the Elimination Brackets.
Aronian 2.5-1.5 So
The 2 speedy video games led to sterile attracts, with 99 accuracy, each within the Italian Opening. Very “Giuoco Piano.”
Within the first blitz sport, Aronian had two probabilities for a bonus, however total the sport was even—one other draw. He defined within the interview that one normally has to take vital danger to get So out of his consolation zone, and that is what he did within the final sport, with the black items.
Aronian performed the bold plan of …h6, …g5, and …h5 within the Queen’s Gambit Declined Ragozin, throwing ahead his kingside pawns for house. It backfired within the middlegame, however that did not matter a lot as So had only one minute to determine the most effective plan—and he did not. They reached an equal endgame and, sadly and anticlimactically, So misplaced the sport on time.
Aronian was in a very good temper throughout the interview, as was each different participant that received their match. He grinned: “It is rather more stress-free when you get knocked out of the classical section [or Champions Bracket], so you’ll be able to simply play speedy!”
Dominguez 2.5-3.5 Sevian
This match was the longest of the day, and it practically received to an armageddon sport. Sevian solely triumphed when he received the third blitz sport and drew the fourth.
Dominguez received the primary speedy sport, which was a deep theoretical battle within the French Protection. White sacrificed an trade within the nook on transfer 20, however it had all been performed earlier than till transfer 22. They really performed an ideal sport after that, and a draw would have been the anticipated end result till Sevian dropped a complete bishop with verify.
Both he missed the verify or he thought he was regaining the piece tactically, however no such tactic existed. Dominguez discovered the essential 34.Bf7! to dam the f-file, maintain onto the fabric, and win the sport.
However then Sevian received on demand. In a really sophisticated place, with simply 20 seconds, Dominguez performed a Botez Gambit. That being mentioned, there was just one non-losing transfer, 45…Rb5!, which is not the best transfer to search out.
So we had been off to the blitz, the place the gamers traded wins with the black items. Sevian was up a pawn in sport one, however he needed to nonetheless convert the benefit with each gamers beneath 5 seconds every. After an extended wrestle, nevertheless, Dominguez dropped a rook and resigned.
Dominguez was misplaced anyway, however he hung his rook within the time scramble!https://t.co/OHTEbf32GW#AmericanCup pic.twitter.com/tKaxfFjzXT
— chess24 (@chess24com) March 19, 2025
Dominguez then received on demand, with Black, with two distant handed pawns overpowering a knight within the endgame. So we reached sport three, which in the end determined the match.
The Sicilian Protection was what introduced Dominguez his final victory, so he repeated it and we received a Najdorf (Sevian opted for the Alapin within the final sport). In a tense middlegame, nevertheless, Dominguez erred with 24…Qd8? and Sevian discovered a sequence that received the trade, and he then transformed the benefit completely.
Sevian managed to attract sport 4 and thus win the match. The lesson Sevian took away from the match was, concisely mentioned, “Actually, simply hold combating. You may get an opportunity.”
He’ll have a rematch with Aronian subsequent, after shedding their first one within the Champions Quarterfinals. All he revealed about his preparation was the next: “I’ve some stuff, and he has some stuff as effectively.”
Elimination Ladies’s: Zatonskih, Yip Eradicated
Krush needed to recuperate from a tricky loss, whereas Paikidze loved an unbelievable one-sided match.
Krush 3-1 Zatonskih
The match may have been rather more one-sided than it was, when Krush received sport one and was “coasting” to victory in sport two, however a pricey blunder from Krush meant that she needed to win it over again. She mentioned:
It was a high-adrenaline day. I had a setback within the speedy… after profitable with White, I used to be actually form of cruising with Black. I had extra time, I had an amazing place, she may barely make any strikes. And I simply blunder a chunk in a single transfer.
The primary sport was good, as she received by pressuring, after which profitable, an remoted queen’s pawn. She then had an enormous benefit within the second sport once more, needing only a draw, however 21…Qxc5?? allowed Zatonskih to win a chunk, win the sport, and struggle her manner again in.
Luckily for the grandmaster, she allowed no additional shenanigans. She received each blitz video games. The ending of the final one reveals simply how brutally decisive opposite-color bishops could be when the queens are nonetheless on. Extra so than the two-pawn benefit, the sunshine squares spelled dying for the black king.
That implies that the two-time American Cup champion continues to be alive and effectively within the Elimination Bracket. If she will be able to win two extra matches, she’ll have her Grand Closing rematch with the reigning champion, a rematch from final yr.
Yip 0-2 Paikidze
Paikidze eradicated the highest seed from the match with a 2-0 sweep. It was a better day than anticipated, as Paikidze mentioned, “Carissa is unquestionably the strongest participant on this occasion, and perhaps I simply caught her on her unhealthy day.”
She received a simple first sport when her opponent blundered her knight in a single transfer, strolling straight right into a decisive pin.
“That was a present, however within the second sport, I do suppose I performed rather well.” She defined that Yip does not prefer to be attacked, and castling reverse sides, Paikidze hardly let up.
It is the top of the street for Yip, who was gracious sufficient to provide an interview after getting eradicated. “In all probability I will be having nightmares in regards to the final 4 video games for a lot of a few years, however you realize, it is life.”
She talked about that she was learning overseas in Paris till simply final week, and that she’s making ready to step away from college to focus full-time on chess. What would she change for subsequent time? “I believe I might’ve began making ready for the occasion a bit earlier.”
Learn how to watch?
The 2025 American Cup, happening from March 15-24, is an over-the-board match that includes among the strongest gamers in america. The time management is 90 minutes for all the sport plus a 30-second increment beginning on transfer one; speedy video games are performed on the 15+10 time management. The prize fund is $250,000.
Earlier protection:
