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The Grand Final of the 2025 American Cup is set, with Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura emerging as the two contenders for the title. On Thursday, Nakamura won the final match of the Champions Bracket in a closely contested battle against Caruana. After two classical games failed to produce a decisive result, the match was decided in blitz tiebreaks. Nakamura clinched victory with a 1½-½ score, taking advantage of Caruana's inability to convert a winning endgame in the second encounter. With this result, Nakamura secured his place in the Grand Final, while Caruana was sent to the Elimination Bracket for one final test.
In the Elimination Bracket, Caruana faced Levon Aronian for the remaining spot in the deciding match. Unlike in the Champions Bracket, games in this stage were played under rapid and blitz time controls. The rapid portion saw both players winning with the white pieces, leading to a blitz tiebreak. Caruana ultimately prevailed, winning back-to-back blitz games to secure his rematch against Nakamura.
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The Grand Final will consist of two classical games played on Saturday and Sunday, with tiebreaks scheduled for Sunday if necessary. Due to the double-elimination format, Caruana must win the match to force a Grand Final Reset, as Nakamura has yet to lose a match in the tournament. Should that happen, a second deciding match will be played on Monday to determine the champion.
Fabiano Caruana | Photo: Lennart Ootes
In the second blitz tiebreaker - played on Thursday - against Nakamura, Caruana had a dangerous passer on the d-file in what engines evaluate as a clearly winning position. The Italo-American grandmaster, however, failed to find the killer blow.
With less than 10 seconds on his clock, Caruana here played 66...Kg7, which is still good for Black but misses the chance to win at once with 66...Rxd1 67.Qxd1 Nd3
There is nothing White can do to deal with the threat of 68...Nb2 - e.g. 68.Qb3 Nb2, and the knight cannot be captured due to ...d2-d1Q.
This idea no longer worked in the game, as the king now stood on g7, which meant White could capture the knight on b2 with check. Caruana went on to make another mistake, which granted Nakamura the draw he needed to win the Champions Bracket final.
Master Class Vol.16 - Judit Polgar
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Judit Polgar. Let them show you which openings Polgar chose to play, where her strength in middlegames were, or how she outplayed her opponents in the endgame.
For the first time in the history of the women's section of the American Cup, the Grand Final will not feature a clash between Alice Lee and Irina Krush. The two had contested the deciding match in all three previous editions, with Krush winning in 2022 and 2023, and Lee claiming the title last year. This time, Lee once again secured a place in the Grand Final by defeating Tatev Abrahamyan in the Champions Bracket final.
King's Indian Attack - Simple. Flexible. Dynamic.
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Lee won the first classical game of the match with the white pieces, putting her in a strong position heading into the second encounter. Abrahamyan had a golden opportunity to level the score but failed to convert a winning rook endgame despite holding an extra pawn (see analysis of the endgame by GM Karsten Müller below). As a result, Lee advanced to the Grand Final, while Abrahamyan was relegated to the Elimination Bracket for one final chance.
In the final of the Elimination Bracket, Abrahamyan showed resilience by defeating Krush, much like Fabiano Caruana did in the open section. She scored back-to-back wins against the eight-time US Women's Champion, securing a rematch against Lee for the title. The Grand Final will now see Lee and Abrahamyan face off once again, with Lee holding the advantage of having yet to lose a match in the tournament.
Alice Lee | Photo: Crystal Fuller
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
The Endgame Academy Vol.1: Checkmate & pawn endgames
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!
Tatev Abrahamyan | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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