American Cup: All matches in the open go to tiebreaks

by André Schulz
3/17/2025 – The American Cup's brackets are taking shape after two days of classical games ended in draws, leading to decisive playoffs. Hikaru Nakamura, Leinier Dominguez, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana advanced in the Champions Bracket, while their opponents moved to the Elimination Bracket. In the women's event, Alice Lee, Irina Krush, Carissa Yip and Tatev Abrahamyan (pictured) secured victories to progress. | Photo: Crystal Fuller
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On to the semifinals

In the open tournament of the American Cup, all classical games ended in a draw on the first day of action, and this was also the case on the second day. Four playoffs followed, from which Hikaru Nakamura (against Abhimanyu Mishra), Leinier Dominguez (against Wesley So), Levon Aronian (against Wesley So) and (Fabiano Caruana) against Ray Robson emerged victorious.

The winners continue in the Champions Bracket, with the pairings Nakamura v. Dominguez and Aronian v. Caruana. The losers of the first knockout stage will play rapid chess games in Elimination Bracket, also played as a knockout. The winner of the Elimination Bracket will then play the winner of the Champions Bracket in the grand final.

In the women's tournament, Alice Lee (against Nazi Paikidze), Irina Krush (against Atousha Pourkashiyan) and Carissa Yip (against Thalia Cervantes) took the lead on the first day and defended it with wins or draws on the second day. Anna Zatonskih and Tatev Abrahamyan drew on the first day, and it was Abrahamyan who prevailed on the second day

In this event, the Champions Bracket continues with the matches Yip v. Abrahamyan and Krush v. Lee.

American Chess Cup 2025

American Chess Cup 2025

American Chess Cup 2025

American Chess Cup 2025

All games - Open (champions bracket)

All games - Women's (champions bracket)

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Topics: American Cup 2025
André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.
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American Cup: Missed chances in the open, three winners in the women's

3/16/2025 – The 2025 American Cup began with contested battles in both the open and women's sections. In the open section, all four games ended in draws, with top seeds Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura failing to convert with the white pieces. Meanwhile, the women's section saw three decisive games, as Irina Krush, Alice Lee and Carissa Yip secured victories. Yip's win was particularly dramatic, as her opponent, Thalia Cervantes, missed a forced checkmate before ultimately collapsing. | Photo: Crystal Fuller
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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.