Chess · Worth knowing

The 2026 US Chess Championships took place October 9-21 at the Saint Louis Chess Club with two 12-player single round-robin tournaments. In the open section, Wesley So leads after round 10 with 7 points, ahead of Fabiano Caruana (6.5 points) and Levon Aronian (5 points), with highest-rated players Caruana (2789), Aronian (2725), and So (2774) competing for the title. The women's championship features Carissa Yip, Alice Lee, and Irina Krush as top seeds, with WIM Li Ruofan currently leading the standings. The tournament uses classical time controls with 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 30 additional minutes, and 30-second increments, offering over $400,000 in prize money across both events.

GM Wesley So maintained his full-point lead in round nine of the 2026 U.S. Chess Championship, fending off defending champion GM Fabiano Caruana in a critical game where So found the novelty 11...a6 after walking into Caruana's dangerous preparation in the Dubov Gambit of the Italian Opening. GM Grigoriy Oparin won the sole decisive game against GM Sam Shankland in a theoretically drawn rook and pawn endgame, joining Caruana in shared second place. In the women's championship, rookie WIM Rachael Li clinched her first IM norm with two rounds remaining and holds a one-point lead after defeating IM Nazi Paikidze with a late endgame blunder; all six women's games were decisive, with standout performances from FM Megan Paragua, who accurately calculated a winning queen sacrifice in time trouble, and WGM Irina Krush, who engineered a rare rook-trade maneuver with 25.Rb8! to regain contention.

Aarit Kapil, a 10-year-old chess prodigy, has become IMC's first Chess Scholar and is on track to become one of the youngest International Masters in history. He defeated his first Grandmaster at age eight and is currently one tournament norm away from achieving the International Master title, having already earned two qualifying results at the Menorca Chess Open and Serbia Open. Kapil has demonstrated his strength against top players, including holding a draw against Magnus Carlsen at age nine and becoming the third-youngest player ever to defeat a Grandmaster in classical chess when he beat Raset Ziatdinov in 2024. The scholarship from IMC, administered through the HelpChess Foundation, will cover his coaching, travel, and tournament fees as he pursues the International Master title.