Starting Wednesday: Caruana star participant at Saint Louis Masters

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
2/24/2026 – The Saint Louis Masters will take place from 25 February to 1 March as a nine-round Swiss invitational, bringing together a competitive international field. The event features a $100,000 prize fund and classical time controls, with 69 players taking part. World number three Fabiano Caruana is set to participate, ahead of a demanding schedule in March, which includes the American Cup and the Candidates Tournament. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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An invitational Swiss tournament

The Saint Louis Masters will be held from 25 February to 1 March at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri. The tournament is an invitational nine-round Swiss event with a total prize fund of $100,000. With a maximum capacity of 100 players, the event - designed to attract a broad mix of established grandmasters and ambitious younger competitors - currently has 69 players registered to participate.

Play will take place over five days. All games will be contested at a classical time control of 90 minutes for the entire game, with a 30-second increment added from the first move. Each participant may request up to one half-point bye, provided this is done at least 24 hours before the start of round one.

Schedule

Round Date Time (local)
1 25 February 10:00
2 25 February 16:00
3 26 February 10:00
4 26 February 16:00
5 27 February 10:00
6 27 February 16:00
7 28 February 10:00
8 28 February 16:00
9 1 March 10:00

The Saint Louis Masters does not include any tiebreak matches or playoffs. Players finishing level on points will share the prize money for the relevant places equally, and if several players tie for first place, they will all be declared co-champions.

Notably, the tournament will grant points for the 2026-27 FIDE Circuit, which is part of the World Championship cycle.

The leading name on the entry list is Fabiano Caruana, who arrives as the clear rating favourite. The world number three will participate in the event ahead of his playing at the American Cup, which begins on 3 March, and a few weeks prior to the start of the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Cyprus. His presence gives the tournament a clear focal point at the top of the starting rank.

A strong group of players rated above 2600 are set to challenge the favourite. They include Grigoriy Oparin, reigning world junior champion Pranav Venkatesh, fellow Indian grandmaster Aryan Chopra, US prodigy Abhimanyu Mishra, Azerbaijani representative Vasif Durarbayli and recent Tata Steel Challengers winner Andy Woodward. Mishra is also scheduled to take part in the American Cup.

The field will also include several prominent female players. Multiple US women's champions Carissa Yip and Jennifer Yu are among the registered participants.

Carissa Yip

Four-time US women's chess champion Carissa Yip | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Registered players

No. Name Rtg
1 Caruana, Fabiano 2795
2 Oparin, Grigoriy 2658
3 Pranav, V 2641
4 Aryan, Chopra 2631
5 Mishra, Abhimanyu 2629
6 Durarbayli, Vasif 2612
7 Woodward, Andy 2608
8 Dudin, Gleb 2596
9 Bharath, Subramaniyam H 2595
10 Bok, Benjamin 2592
11 Antipov, Mikhail Al. 2591
12 Lodici, Lorenzo 2590
13 Hong, Andrew 2587
14 Warmerdam, Max 2580
15 Fier, Alexandr 2572
16 Can, Isik 2562
17 Quesada Perez, Yasser 2562
18 Sonis, Francesco 2561
19 Tiglon, Bryce 2550
20 Akobian, Varuzhan 2549
21 Stremavicius, Titas 2547
22 Hardaway, Brewington 2544
23 Kadric, Denis 2540
24 Alexakis, Dimitris 2538
25 Harsha, Bharathakoti 2538

...69 players

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Topics: Saint Louis Masters 2026
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.
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Video

60m English The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.