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Wesley So won the Elimination Bracket of the American Cup’s open section by beating Ray Robson on Monday. He thus set up a final match against the winner of the Champions Bracket, Levon Aronian. To win the tournament, So needs to beat his colleague twice, with the first match currently taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday and a potential second match set to be played on Thursday.
On the first day of the finals, Aronian played a Berlin Defence with black in the classical game. A rather quick, 36-move draw was the result. In the following rapid game, we got to see more of a fight, with So erring in an endgame with rook against two minor pieces, but managing to demonstrate that the position was nonetheless drawn in the ensuing technical struggle.
Black has a small edge here — despite being two pawns up, though, his pawns are rather weak, as White’s minor pieces can gain coordination and attack them.
However, So’s 34...Re4 was an imprecision that gave away the advantage. Better was 34...Kf6, giving up the pawn on c5 due to 35.Nd7+, but quickly centralizing the king.
Soon after, it was So who was on the defensive, as Aronian eventually gobbled up all of Black’s pawns. The position was a technical draw, though, as Black could always safely give up a rook for a minor piece and a pawn.
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The game ended after 78...Rxg4 79.hxg4 Kxg4 as White does not have enough material to force a checkmate.
Wesley So and Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes
In the women’s tournament, Alice Lee is the one who needs to win two matches to claim the title, as she beat Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova to win the Elimination Bracket and gain the right to face Irina Krush, the defending champion and winner of the Champions Bracket. Remarkably, Lee and Krush have been the Grand Finals contenders in all three editions of the American Cup (with Krush winning both in 2022 and 2023).
On Tuesday, Lee got ahead on the scoreboard by winning the rapid game with white after holding her experienced opponent to a 23-move draw with black in the classical encounter.
Lee obtained a small edge in the middlegame, before entering a materially balanced queen and bishop endgame in which she got to put pressure on her opponent. Krush faltered by allowing the 14-year-old to grab a pawn on move 39.
Defending the a7-pawn with 39...Qf7 was the way to go here, as after 39...f5 40.Qxa7 Qb4 41.Qb8+ Kh7 42.Qxe5, Lee found herself in a technical, winning position with two extra pawns.
On move 44, Lee got to force matters with a pawn push.
44.e4 forces 44...g6 due to the pin along the light-squared diagonal — note that after 44...Bh3+, White should not play 45.Kxh3 due to 45...Qh1#, though 45.Kh2 keeps White’s advantage intact.
Once the bishops left the board, White had a winning queen endgame with a powerful passed pawn on the b-file.
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From this position, Lee needed six more moves to force her opponent’s resignation.
Alice Lee | Photo: Lennart Ootes
