3/22/2024 – Levon Aronian and Alice Lee emerged victorious at the 2024 edition of the American Cup. While Aronian did not lose a single game throughout the event, Lee managed to beat defending champion Irina Krush twice in a row in hard-fought matches. At 14, Lee played her third consecutive Grand Final in the event, as Krush had defeated her in the previous two editions. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

3/20/2024 – The first day of the Grand Finals in the American Cup saw Levon Aronian and Wesley So signing back-to-back draws, while Alice Lee got the lead by winning the rapid game against Irina Krush. One classical game and one rapid game remain to be played in each match, with blitz tiebreakers to follow in case of a draw. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/16/2024 – Levon Aronian and Ray Robson defeated Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So respectively to reach the final of the Champions Bracket in the open section of the American Cup. Meanwhile, the women’s tournament saw Irina Krush and Alice Lee getting clear wins to advance to the final in the Champions Bracket for a third year in a row. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/15/2024 – The first players to be eliminated in the open section of the American Cup were Grigoriy Oparin and Sam Shankland. Oparin was defeated by Sam Sevian, while Shankland played no fewer than eight games before being knocked out by Leinier Dominguez. In the women’s section, Anna Zatonskih and Tatev Abrahamyan were eliminated by Zoey Tang and Jennifer Yu respectively. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

3/13/2024 – The third edition of the American Cup kicked off at the World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis. Each match saw the contenders playing a classical game and a rapid game on opening day. In the open, only Fabiano Caruana scored back-to-back wins (over Grigoriy Oparin), which means he only needs a draw on Wednesday to advance to the next stage in the Champions Bracket. Meanwhile, three out of four matches finished with 2–0 scores in the women’s section, with Nazi Paikidze, Alice Lee and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova obtaining consecutive wins on the first day of action. | Photo: Austin Fuller

10/19/2023 – At some point, it seemed like the title was going to slip away from her hands, but things finally went Carissa Yip’s way on Tuesday, as she claimed outright tournament victory to become a 2-time U.S. women’s chess champion. The 20-year-old lost her final-round game against Ruiyang Yan (her first loss of the event), and saw title contender Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova failing to find a drawing line and eventually losing to Jennifer Yu. In the open championship, Abhimanyu Mishra finished the tournament in style, beating Levon Aronian to climb to shared second place. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/9/2023 – Wins in rounds 3 and 4 allowed Fabiano Caruana to go into the first rest day as the sole leader at the U.S. Championship in Saint Louis. Three players are sharing second place with 2½/4 points: Sam Shankland, Hans Niemann and Abhimnayu Mishra. In the women’s championship, Carissa Yip and Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova are sharing the lead with 3/4 points each. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

7/24/2023 – Melikset Khachiyan and Alice Lee secured victories at the US Seniors Championship and the US Girls Championship respectively. In the Junior Championship, five players still have a chance to win the title. On July 20, the Saint Louis Chess Club celebrated its 15th anniversary with a big party. | Pictured: Alice Lee at the anniversary celebration | Photo: Crystal Fuller

7/23/2023 – In the seventh round of the US Junior Championship played on Saturday, Arthur Guo (pictured) defeated Andrew Hong, who entered the round tied with him in first place. Since Abhimanyu Mishra, the third member of the former leading trio, had to settle for a draw against Justin Wang, Guo became the sole leader with two rounds to go. Melikset Khachiyan continues to lead the Seniors category, while Alice Lee extended her lead to a full point in the Girls’ Championship. | Photo: Bryan Adams

7/19/2023 – At the US Junior Championships in Saint Louis, some of the youngest players in the fields (open and girls’) are showing remarkable performances. Alice Lee (photo), aged 13, took the lead in the girls’ tournament, while Abhimnyu Mishra, aged 14, dethroned former leader Andrew Hong in the open. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club

6/17/2023 – Alice Lee, aged 13, is considered one of the biggest talents in the United States. In March, she finished second in the highly competitive American Cup after narrowly losing to Irina Krush in a playoff. The youngster has now earned her third and final IM norm at the Canadian Transnational Open in Montreal. Alice Lee is in illustrious company, as the only women players that had previously earned the IM title by age 13 are Judit Polgar and Kateryna Lagno. | Photo: Bryan Adams / Saint Louis Chess Club

5/28/2023 – In an exclusive interview for ChessBase, American Fide Master Alice Lee talks to chess journalist Tatiana Flores about her ambitions in chess as well as in her private life, gives some insights into her training routine and answers the big questions about her future in chess. | Photo: Alice Lee, ready for the start of the 4th day of the American Women's Cup 2023. | Photo: St. Louis Chess Club, courtesy of Alice Lee.

3/24/2023 – Wesley So and Alice Lee qualified to the American Cup’s grand finals in the open and women’s sections respectively. So knocked out Levon Aronian, while Lee eliminated Nazi Paikidze. In both cases, after 1-1 draws in the 25-minute games, the winners prevailed in the second set of tiebreakers, played with a 10-minute time control. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/21/2023 – Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So advanced to the final match of the champions bracket in the open section of the American Cup after beating Leinier Dominguez and Fabiano Caruana respectively. Among the women, Irina Krush and Alice Lee scored 1½-½ wins to set up a rematch from last year’s edition in the final. The losers of the day still have chances to win both events, via the elimination brackets. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

3/18/2023 – The 2023 American Cup kicked off with several decisive games on the first day of action, with Nakamura, Krush, Lee, & Tokhirjonova all taking a one-point lead in their initial matches. Their opponents (Sevian, Abrahamyan, Pourkashiyan, and Nemcova) will now have to win tomorrow’s game in order to force their match into a playoff. | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club / Lennart Ootes

10/7/2022 – The two players who kicked off the U.S. Championship with losses bounced back immediately by winning their round-2 games in Saint Louis. Elshan Moradiabadi defeated Awonder Liang, while Christopher Yoo got the biggest win of his young career as he took down Wesley So with the black pieces. Meanwhile, in the women’s event, three players still have a perfect score — Jennifer Yu, Alice Lee and Megan Lee. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

10/6/2022 – Hans Niemann and Sam Sevian kicked off the U.S. Championship with wins, as they defeated Christopher Yoo and Elshan Moradiabadi in the first round of the 14-player event. True to his style, Niemann was laconic in the post-game interview, noting that “chess spoke for itself” and that the game was so beautiful he did not even need to describe it. In the women’s event, four players scored full points, including Alice Lee, who is playing her first national championship. | Photo: Crystal Fuller

4/29/2022 – GM Fabiano Caruana clinched clear 1st place in the inaugural 2022 American Cup, after defeating GM Levon Aronian in the second classical game of the final. In the Women’s Field, GM Irina Krush completed her campaign for the title as well, securing the victory after drawing the second game in her match against FM Alice Lee. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Lennart Ootes

4/28/2022 – The finals of the American Cup kicked off with the first of two classical games in the matches between Aronian - Caruana and Krush - Lee. In the Open, Aronian (pictured) managed to build up a winning endgame advantage but faltered at the last moment, allowing Caruana to escape with a draw. Meanwhile in the Women’s Field, Krush displayed her strategic skill once again, outplaying Lee in the early opening and middlegame to take a 1-0 lead in the match. | Photo Courtesy of Saint Louis Chess Club, Bryan Adams

2/22/2022 – The Master Section of the 13th Annual Southwest Class Championships, February 17–21, ended in a tie for first between International Masters Christopher Yoo and Zurab Javakhadze, with 7.5 out of 9. Woman International Master Alice Lee made an International Master norm. Alexey Root reports from Fort Worth, Texas. | Photo: Courtesy of the Lee family