10/9/2026 – Fabiano Caruana has won the US Championship five times, including four consecutive titles from 2022 to 2025. His first victory came on his debut in 2016, shortly after returning to the US federation. At the 2026 edition in Saint Louis, Caruana can equal Samuel Reshevsky’s record of five consecutive titles and, with a sixth overall win, draw level with Walter Browne on the all-time list. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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Caruana's path to five US Championship titles
When Fabiano Caruana begins his title defence at the 2026 US Championship in Saint Louis, he will have the opportunity to achieve something that has not been done in more than eight decades. The 34-year-old has won the national championship in each of the last four years, from 2022 to 2025, and a fifth consecutive victory would equal Samuel Reshevsky's run of five successive titles in the 1936–1942 period.
Caruana already has five US Championship titles in total. His first came in 2016, shortly after his return to the US federation, while his current sequence began six years later. Five victories place him alongside Jackson Showalter, Larry Evans, Gata Kamsky and Hikaru Nakamura. Only Walter Browne, with six, and the record-holders Bobby Fischer and Reshevsky, with eight apiece, have won the championship more times.
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Of the other active five-time champions, Kamsky has since transferred to the French Chess Federation and last appeared in the US Championship in 2017, while Nakamura has considerably reduced his participation in classical tournaments and has not played the national championship since the online rapid edition held in 2020.
Reshevsky won the championship in 1936, 1938 and 1940, retained the title through a match in 1941 and won again in 1942. Fischer twice put together sequences of four consecutive victories: from 1957/58 to 1960/61, and again across the 1962/63 to 1966/67 editions. Caruana became the first player since Fischer to win four in succession when he retained the title in 2025.
Caruana's relationship with the US Championship has an unusual background. Born in Miami and raised partly in New York, he represented the United States as a junior before changing his FIDE affiliation to Italy in 2005. While playing under the Italian flag, he won the Italian Championship every time he entered it between 2007 and 2011: in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. The only edition in that period that he did not win, in 2009, was one he did not play.
In June 2015, FIDE approved his transfer back to the United States. Caruana, who holds both US and Italian citizenship, was once again eligible to play under the American flag, and less than a year later he made his first appearance in the US Championship.
An 11-year-old Caruana playing at the Marshall Chess Club against IM Yury Lapshun
At 14 Caruana is celebrated as a GM, Italian champion and the country's top-ranked player
2016: A title on his first attempt
Caruana entered the 2016 championship as one of three members of the US team ranked among the world's elite, together with Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So. The 12-player single round-robin in Saint Louis included a strong field also featuring Gata Kamsky, Sam Shankland, Ray Robson, Alexander Onischuk and the young Jeffery Xiong.
His debut could not have gone more efficiently. Caruana went through the tournament unbeaten, collecting six wins and five draws for 8½/11. He entered the final round in control of his own destiny and defeated Akshat Chandra with black to secure the championship outright. So and Nakamura both finished on 7½ points, a full point behind the winner.
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Thus, less than ten months after his federation transfer, Caruana was US champion at his first attempt. The result also helped him return to second place in the world rankings.
By 2022, the format had expanded to a 14-player round-robin, giving each competitor 13 classical games.
Caruana moved into the sole lead early in the tournament, notably defeating Hans Niemann in round four. From there, he remained difficult to dislodge. His final score was 8½/13, again without a single defeat. Ray Robson remained within striking distance going into the last round but was unable to win his final game against Jeffery Xiong, leaving Caruana alone in first place.
Although his 2022 score was identical to the 8½ points he had collected in 2016, it came over 13 rather than 11 rounds and was based more on consistency: four victories and nine draws were enough to take clear first place.
Fabiano Caruana at the Saint Louis Chess Club in 2022 | Photo: Bryan Adams
2023: Champion with a round to spare
A year later, the championship returned to a 12-player, 11-round format. Caruana arrived as defending champion and quickly established himself near the front of the standings.
His title defence eventually became his most clear-cut victory during the current sequence. A late surge included a win over Niemann in round nine, and in the penultimate round the defeated 14-year-old Abhimanyu Mishra. That victory took him to an unassailable lead, allowing him to clinch the championship with one round still to play.
Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.
Caruana finished on 8/11, while Wesley So, Leinier Dominguez and Mishra shared second place on 6½, i.e. 1½ points behind the then three-time champion.
Fabiano Caruana became a three-time U.S. chess champion in 2023 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
2024: Three in a row
The 2024 edition was unusual because Christopher Yoo was expelled from the event after round five. Since fewer than half of the scheduled rounds had been completed, his earlier results were annulled. One of those results was a loss to Caruana, meaning a victory the defending champion had achieved over the board no longer counted in the standings.
Caruana nevertheless took the sole lead immediately afterwards by defeating Grigoriy Oparin. From there, he remained unbeaten and entered the final round with his third consecutive championship within reach. A victory over Sam Shankland completed the job.
With Yoo's games removed, Caruana's official final score was 7/10. His margin of victory was again substantial: six players finished tied for second on 5½ points.
The final stages of the Christopher Yoo v. Fabiano Caruana game in round five. The video does not show Yoo storming out of the tournament hall and the subsequent incident with the videographer. However, the tournament organisers released a statement shortly afterwards in which they described the incidents. They expelled Yoo from the tournament.
2025: Joining the five-time champions
Caruana's fourth consecutive title proved rather tighter. Wesley So was his main challenger during the latter stages of the 2025 tournament, and the two were tied on 5½/8 with three rounds remaining. Caruana then established a narrow advantage and kept it going into the final round, helped by a lengthy penultimate-round victory over Abhimanyu Mishra.
Going into round eleven, Caruana led So by half a point. Caruana drew with Levon Aronian, meaning So could still force a playoff by defeating Oparin. Although So had an extra pawn, Oparin successfully defended the position and secured the draw. With all six games in the final round ending drawn, Caruana retained his half-point advantage.
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
He finished with 8/11, ahead of So on 7½ and Aronian on 6½. The result gave Caruana his fifth US Championship title and, more significantly in historical terms, he became the first player since Fischer to win four editions in succession.
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.
8/26/2026 – Fabiano Caruana took the early lead in the Grand Chess Tour final by beating Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu in the first classical game, capitalising on a single tactical error to collect six points. In the third-place match, Vincent Keymer and Wesley So split the points after a complicated London System ended in a draw. Both matches continue on Wednesday with the second classical games. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
4/22/2026 – Fabiano Caruana reflects on his showing at the Candidates Tournament while explaining why he believes Javokhir Sindarov produced one of the strongest performances in the event's history. Caruana discusses Sindarov's opening preparation, his own missed chances, Hikaru Nakamura's costly opening preparation mistake and the likely balance of the forthcoming world title match against Gukesh Dommaraju. | Photo: ChessBase / Nils Rohde
King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.
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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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