A day after losing the Champions Final, GM earned his spot in Grand Final after all. Caruana beat GM on Friday in a blitz playoff in the Elimination Bracket Final and will now play GM once more, this time to decide the tournament altogether.
The will see a rematch as well because WGM defeated GM in both rapid games to qualify for another fight with IM . The Grand Finals will start Saturday, March 22 at 12:00 p.m. CDT / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
A total of 181 games between Aronian and Caruana could be found in the database before this match and with both players living in St. Louis, they will certainly break 200. Last year, Aronian was victorious in the American Cup and back then he beat Caruana eventually in a blitz playoff, after two draws in both the classical and rapid games. Yesterday, it was the other way around, and we didn’t get to see any draws.
Because it was the Elimination Bracket, the players went straight to rapid and it was Caruana who took the lead in what was the most interesting fight of the day. He always had some sort of initiative but Aronian continued to find counterplay and simply defended extremely well, until a final mistake on move 57 was decisive.
GM analyzes the Game of the Day below.
A good win for Caruana in the first game. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Aronian managed to win on demand from the white side of a Sicilian. Caruana was doing alright as his bishop pair compensated for his isolated queen’s pawn, but one careless move left his a-pawn all alone. Aronian won the pawn and later another one, when the conversion was a matter of technique.
“Of course I wasn’t happy that I had lost especially in rapid because you feel like you have very good chances to hold in rapid, but he definitely outplayed me very cleanly in that game,” Caruana later said.
Aronian outplayed Caruana “cleanly.” Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
You could say that this match was decided at one single moment, which was when Aronian blundered terribly in the first blitz game. When it’s not Freestyle Chess, it’s very hard these days to win with the black pieces and trying the Philidor Defense wasn’t a success for Aronian in the second game – he lost that one as well. Here’s what happened in the first:
Back on track! Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Caruana thus immediately bounced back into the Grand Final where he’ll face Nakamura again, who could enjoy a rest day. The two will play on Saturday and Sunday, and if a playoff is needed, this will happen on Monday.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
In explaining what decided Friday’s match, Caruana spoke about his previous and next opponent: “I think it very often comes down to these last-second moments and it maybe comes down to some details that we don’t really think of, not even the chess moves but let’s say not hesitating for even half a second in certain situations, which is one of Hikaru’s strengths, for sure, that even if he’s losing and he’s maybe not even defending in the best way but he’s defending super fast, he plays extremely fast and it doesn’t give you time to get your bearings.”
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Abrahamyan’s 2-0 win vs. Krush could be called an upset, especially after her heartbreaking loss to Lee the other day. Abrahamyan said she watched YouTube videos until 4:30 a.m. until she fell asleep. “I was like, I just never want to play chess again, but today when I woke up I really wanted to win so something happened in those five hours!”
I was like, I just never want to play chess again.—Tatev Abrahamyan
The head-to-head score is heavily in favor of Krush, but it should be noted that Abrahamyan had beaten her five times over the years (since their first game back in 2004!), always in U.S. Women’s Championships.
Also here, it was a big advantage to score the first win with the black pieces. Abrahamyan’s Na6 King’s Indian is known to be a bit better for White, but somehow Krush’s play wasn’t straightforward enough – she waited too long with the typical c4-c5 break.
Well done by Tatev Abrahamyan. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Getting an Open Sicilian wasn’t bad for Krush in a must-win situation, but Abrahamyan skillfully avoided complications and always seemed in control. In her mind, it was a bit different, she said: “I was starting to question myself and I got down on time so I started getting nervous today the whole game. I was just reminding myself and I was like, remember what you did yesterday, you know what you’re capable of, so you know, stay focused.”
She won a game that normally would have ended in a draw because Krush had to try something:
For the first time, Krush didn’t make it to the final of the American Cup. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
How to watch?
You can watch the event on the Saint Louis Chess Club or channels. You can watch coverage of Nakamura’s games on his and channels. You can also check out the games on our .
GMs , , and WGM hosted the broadcast.
The 2025 American Cup, taking place from March 15-24, is an over-the-board tournament featuring some of the strongest players in the United States. The time control is 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one; rapid games are played at the 15+10 time control. The prize fund is $250,000.
Previous coverage:
Day 6:
Day 5:
Day 4:
Day 3:
Day 2:
Day 1:
