10/12/2026 – Wesley So and Awonder Liang drew their direct encounter in round three of the US Championship, remaining tied for first place on 2½/3. Andy Woodward and Sam Shankland (pictured) scored victories, with Woodward joining Fabiano Caruana half a point behind the leaders. In the women's tournament, Alice Lee defeated Nazi Paikidze to join Thalia Cervantes and Megan Paragua in first place. Defending champion Carissa Yip suffered her second consecutive defeat. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club
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Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
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So and Liang draw, remain as co-leaders
The third round of the US Chess Championship saw the two co-leaders, Wesley So and Awonder Liang, draw their direct encounter, allowing Andy Woodward to join Fabiano Caruana half a point behind them in shared third place. So and Liang remain tied for first place on 2½/3, while Woodward and Caruana stand on 2/3. The round featured two decisive games, as Woodward defeated Ray Robson and Sam Shankland got the better of Jeffery Xiong.
The game between So and Liang was relatively uneventful, with neither player managing to create significant winning chances. Liang, who had the white pieces, had previously defeated Hans Niemann and Sam Sevian, while So had survived difficult positions before beating Sam Shankland and Jeffery Xiong.
While tactics decide the game in concrete moments, strategy guides the entire battle. Understanding how to improve your pieces, create weaknesses, execute maneuvers, and steer the game toward favorable structures is what defines strong players. After exploring the fundamentals of calculation in his first ChessBase course, International Master Kostya Kavutskiy now turns to the other half of chess mastery: positional play.
This course offers a structured and practical introduction to the core elements of positional chess.
Co-leaders Wesley So and Awonder Liang | Photos: Lennart Ootes
The day's most complicated - and entertaining - encounter in the open section was played between Andy Woodward and Ray Robson. Playing black, Woodward adopted an ambitious approach and eventually sacrificed the exchange to obtain active play.
The sacrifice was not entirely sound from an objective standpoint, but it created considerable practical difficulties for Robson, who was already running short of time.
Robson had opportunities to maintain the balance and could have settled for a draw, but continued to look for winning chances. The resulting complications proved difficult to navigate, particularly as the first time control approached. Despite spending considerable time considering his options, Robson first gave up his advantage with h3-h4 and then made the decisive mistake on move 43, as he once again erred by pushing his h-pawn.
Besides in-depth theory and exciting tactical exercises in the Scotch Game, this video course also includes a bonus section on the Scotch Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Bc4), a lively variation often leading to very dynamic positions.
Woodward thus secured his first victory of the championship. Having drawn his first two games, Woodward thus moved to 2/3, joining Caruana in the chasing group.
Sam Shankland also collected his first full point of the tournament, defeating Jeffery Xiong with the black pieces. Xiong had begun the event with a victory against Sam Sevian, but subsequently lost to So despite obtaining a promising position. His third-round encounter proved considerably less successful, as Shankland took control in the middlegame and gradually increased the pressure.
Xiong's handling of the pawn structure left him with an isolated central pawn and weaknesses around his king. Shankland exploited these concessions by activating his pieces and creating threats on several fronts.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to. In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves
White's defensive task became increasingly difficult as Shankland's pieces gradually infiltrated his opponent's position. Shankland converted his advantage without allowing meaningful counterplay, bouncing back from his opening-round defeat against So.
Round 3 results
Standings after round 3
All games
Women's: Lee joins Cervantes and Paragua in the lead
The women's championship now has three players sharing first place on 2½/3. Alice Lee defeated Nazi Paikidze to catch the previous co-leaders, Thalia Cervantes and Megan Paragua, who both drew their third-round encounters. Anna Zatonskih and Rachael Li follow half a point behind on 2/3.
Lee's victory over Paikidze continued her recovery from a difficult start to the tournament. In round one, she escaped with a draw from a losing position against Yip, while in round two she overcame Jennifer Yu after again finding herself in considerable difficulties. Her third-round encounter featured a one-move blunder which turned Lee's positional edge into a clear material advantage.
In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!
Paikidze continued to seek compensation, but her attacking possibilities proved insufficient. With Lee maintaining control and gradually neutralising the remaining threats, Paikidze eventually resigned.
Another significant result came in the encounter between Tatev Abrahamyan and Carissa Yip. Playing white, Abrahamyan obtained a convincing victory over the defending champion, whose difficult start to the competition continued. Yip had missed winning opportunities against Lee in the opening round before losing to 13-year-old Paragua on Saturday. Her third-round game brought another disappointing result.
The encounter featured a sharp middlegame in which Black's ambitious play backfired, as she failed to protect her king in time. In the setup that appeared on the board, White is likely to castle queenside, but given Black's inaccurate middlegame strategy, it was a short castle - played at the exact time - which gave White a clear advantage.
Abrahamyan made effective use of her better-coordinated pieces and central control.
The result was particularly welcome for Abrahamyan, who had lost her opening-round encounter against Cervantes despite obtaining a considerable advantage. Her victory over Yip brought her back to 1½/3, while the defending champion remains near the bottom of the standings with just half a point from three games.
In this video course experts examine the games of Bent Larsen. Let them show you which openings Larsen chose, where his strength in middlegames were, how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame & you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities! Bent Larsen (1935–2010) was the greatest chess player in Danish history, and for a time, the second-strongest player in the Western world behind Bobby Fischer. Between 1954 and 1971, he won the Danish Championship six times, and achieved numerous international tournament victories throughout his career.
Free video sample: Introduction to Bent Larsen by Peter Heine Nielsen
Free video sample: Introduction to the Opening Section
Rachael Li also collected a full point on Sunday, defeating Anna Sargsyan after benefiting from a tactical mistake. Sargsyan had recovered from an opening-round defeat by winning her second game, but failed to maintain the balance against Li.
Li now shares fourth place with Anna Zatonskih on 2/3, half a point behind the three leaders. Cervantes and Paragua, meanwhile, remain unbeaten after following up their two opening victories with draws.
16-year-old Alice Lee joined the lead on Sunday | Photo: Lennart Ootes
While tactics decide the game in concrete moments, strategy guides the entire battle. Understanding how to improve your pieces, create weaknesses, execute maneuvers, and steer the game toward favorable structures is what defines strong players. After exploring the fundamentals of calculation in his first ChessBase course, International Master Kostya Kavutskiy now turns to the other half of chess mastery: positional play.
This course offers a structured and practical introduction to the core elements of positional chess.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos 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.
10/11/2026 – Wesley So and Awonder Liang remain the only players with perfect scores in the open section of the US Championship after two rounds. Fabiano Caruana stands alone in third place, half a point behind. In the women's tournament, the two lowest-rated participants, Thalia Cervantes and 13-year-old Megan Paragua, share the lead on 2/2. Paragua defeated defending champion Carissa Yip, who blundered in an equal position. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club
10/10/2026 – Wesley So, Awonder Liang and Jeffery Xiong scored victories with the white pieces in the opening round of the US Championship in Saint Louis, while defending champion Fabiano Caruana drew his game against Levon Aronian in just 17 moves. In the women's tournament, four lower-rated players claimed victories, including Rachael Li, who benefited from a surprising blunder by eight-time champion Irina Krush. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Saint Louis Chess Club
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.
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The Nimzo-Indian has stood the test of time for over a century: Still a top choice for elite players today, from Magnus Carlsen to Praggnanandhaa, it remains one of Black's most reliable ways to fight for real chances against 1.d4 2.c4 3.Nc3.
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4!? is an opening idea well worth considering. Black immediately threatens to double the pawns on c3 in the style of the Trompowski or Sicilian Grand Prix attack.
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Videos: Nico Zwirs discusses the Sicilian with 2…e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 Nf6 6.Nc3. Mihail Marin examines Sindarov’s 6.Ne5 in the Queen’s Pawn Defence. Plus the ‘Lucky bag’ featuring 41 analyses by Berg, Ftacnik, Gupta and many others.
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