Aronian and Lee clinch American Cup titles!

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
3/22/2024 – Levon Aronian and Alice Lee emerged victorious at the 2024 edition of the American Cup. While Aronian did not lose a single game throughout the event, Lee managed to beat defending champion Irina Krush twice in a row in hard-fought matches. At 14, Lee played her third consecutive Grand Final in the event, as Krush had defeated her in the previous two editions. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

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Aronian beats So, finishes undefeated

Before reaching the Grand Final, Levon Aronian got the better of Sam Sevian, Fabiano Caruana and Ray Robson. In the deciding match, he faced the winner of the Elimination Bracket, Wesley So, who had been defeated by Robson last Friday, in the semifinals of the Champions Bracket. So then beat Sevian and Caruana to gain the right to face Aronian.

In the Grand Final, three draws were followed by a win with black for Aronian (see analysis of the game below), who did not lose a single game throughout the whole event. Aronian had reached the Grand Final in the first edition of the American Cup back in 2022, while he made it to the Elimination Bracket final last year.

For his efforts, Aronian took home the US$ 90,000 first prize.

American Chess Cup 2024

Levon Aronian

Levon Aronian | Photo: Crystal Fuller

All games - Champions Bracket

Women’s: Lee wins in thrilling blitz playoff

While Aronian’s victory was quite smooth, the Grand Finals in the women’s section featured two hard-fought matches between two players who came from facing each other five times in the three editions of the event. Irina Krush had beaten Alice Lee in all of those matches, including the two pairs of Grand Finals in 2022 and 2023.

Once again, Krush arrived in the deciding stage after winning the Champions Bracket, but this time around her 14-year-old opponent managed to stop the streak, as she won back-to-back matches on Wednesday and Thursday to claim overall victory.

Lee has climbed to world number nine in the girls’ live rating list (for players aged 20 or younger). Only Li Miaoyi is younger than Lee among the top 20 in this list.

Winning the tournament granted Lee a US$ 40,000 monetary prize.

American Chess Cup 2024

Alice Lee, Irina Krush

An epic confrontation — Alice Lee v. Irina Krush | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Alice Lee, Rex Sinquefield

Alice Lee next to tournament sponsor Rex Sinquefield | Photo: Crystal Fuller

All games - Champions Bracket

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.