A solid draw with the black pieces vs. GM was all GM needed to win Grand Final on Sunday in St. Louis. Nakamura won the $75,000 first prize plus a $15,000 Champion’s Bracket bonus, with $55,000 going to Caruana.
IM ($40,000 plus a $9,000 bonus) managed to tie the score with a classical win before beating WGM ($30,000) twice in the blitz playoff to secure her second consecutive title, aged only 15.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
Having lost the first classical game on Saturday, it was a tough task to win on demand, but at least Caruana had the white pieces to do so. He had played mostly 1.e4 in the tournament, but Caruana this time went for 1.d4 instead, a slight surprise for his opponent.
The rare line 1…d5 2.c4 c5!? was Nakamura’s choice, something he calls “The Box” (because of the pawns on four adjacent squares) and which he has played from time to time and quite successfully since December 10, 2023. That’s when he tried it first, when he drew GM with it in the Champions Chess Tour Finals in Toronto. A few months later, in the same city, he beat GM in the Candidates (via 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 c5) and soon after he also beat the reigning world champion at the time, GM , in Norway.
Another successful outing of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 for Nakamura. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Caruana was prepared for it and initially followed that Ding-Nakamura game from Norway Chess 2024, but deviated on move nine. After a 17-minute think, Nakamura produced a new move, placing his bishop on g4 even though he knew it was not the most accurate.
White had alternatives on moves 12 or 14 perhaps, but even in the double-rook endgame he was slightly more comfortable for a while. Nakamura felt that he only completely equalized on move 25. By drawing the game, he won his second American Cup, after the 2023 edition (he didn’t play last year).
Despite a 50-minute think on move 13, Caruana couldn’t break Nakamura’s defense. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
In his video recap, Nakamura noted: “I’m very, very happy that I got the job done in classical chess. One of the ironies of this tournament is that when I played in 2023, I was the only player to have decisive classical games. That year I won two classical games and in 2025, history repeats itself, we get a bit of deja vu, as I am the only player to have decisive games and lo and behold I have two victories once again, while everybody else drew their classical games.”
It was a completely different story in the women’s event. Abrahamyan had the white pieces and needed only a draw, although she would have had to win a rematch on Monday to claim the title as Lee had an “extra life” as the Champions Bracket winner. Instead, Abrahamyan was gradually outplayed by Lee in a Caro-Kann endgame.
The position was obviously equal when the queens were traded, but Abrahamyan played it just slightly too passively. Especially moving her knight to g1 (twice!) was not good, and the endgame got more and more unpleasant for her until she got her rook trapped. The score was equal again.
The Caro-Kann was a surprising choice by Lee but it eventually paid off. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Image: Courtesy of the Saint Louis Chess Club.
It was quite a tough loss for Abrahamyan in the blitz playoff because she was completely winning in the first game. With a minute and 21 seconds on the clock, she couldn’t work out the tactics on move 19 and two moves later, the tables turned.
Lee sits down for the first blitz game against Abrahamyan. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Abrahamyan had no problems in the second game, a Catalan, but creating winning chances was hard and she needed too much time on the clock. With the seconds ticking down, her position collapsed quickly as Lee found a winning setup with Nh5 and (the threat of) Qg4.
Abrahamyan flags and so Lee wins the Women’s American Cup for the second time. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
“I was just very happy that I was able to win the classical game,” said Lee afterward. “I thought, even if I lost the blitz playoffs I would be happy with the result today, so after I won the classical, I mean, I knew like in blitz, anything could really happen.”
How to rewatch?
You can rewatch 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, that took place from March 15-24, was an over-the-board tournament featuring some of the strongest players in the United States. The time control was 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one; rapid games were played at the 15+10 time control. The prize fund is $250,000.
Previous coverage:
Day 8:
Day 7:
Day 6:
Day 5:
Day 4:
Day 3:
Day 2:
Day 1:
