American Cup (chess) explained

The American Cup is an annual invitational double-elimination chess tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Winners

Open Tournament

YearWinnerRunner-up
2022Fabiano CaruanaLevon Aronian
2023Hikaru NakamuraWesley So
2024Levon AronianWesley So

Women's Tournament

YearWinnerRunner-up
2022Irina KrushAlice Lee
2023Irina KrushAlice Lee
2024Alice LeeIrina Krush

Format

The tournament is 8 player double elimination tournament, featuring 8 of the strongest players in the United States. The championship bracket is played with a time control of 90 minutes, with a 30 second increment throughout for 2 games. The elimination bracket is played with a time control of 25 minutes and a 10 second increment for 2 games. If needed two tiebreak games of 10 minutes with a 5 second increment are played followed by an Armageddon game if necessary. The 2023 edition had 2 blitz games after the initial 10 minute rapid games if still tied before going to Armageddon.

Tournament

2022 Bracket

The inaugural edition was held from April 20–28, 2022.[1] Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Lenier Dominguez, Wesley So, Sam Shankland, Sam Sevian, Jeffery Xiong, and Ray Robson participated in the inaugural event.[2] The tournament was won by Fabiano Caruana.[3]

2023 Bracket

The 2nd edition of the tournament was held from March 17th-March 26th. [4] Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Lenier Dominguez, Sam Shankland, Sam Sevian and Ray Robson participated in this edition. The tournament was won by Hikaru Nakamura. [5]

2024 Bracket

The 3rd edition of the tournament was held from March 12th-March 21st.

Women's American Cup

Running simultaneously with the main tournament a women's tournament is held, featuring 8 of the strongest women in the United States.

2022 Women's Tournament Bracket

Irina Krush, Anna Zatonskih, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Katerina Nemcova, Alice Lee, Tatev Abrahamyan, and Ruiyang Yan. The inaugural Women's tournament was won by Irina Krush. 12-year-old Alice Lee finished as the runner-up.

2023 Women's Tournament Bracket

The women's field for the 2023 edition includes Irina Krush, Alice Lee, Anna Zatonskih, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Katerina Nemcova, Nazi Paikidze, Atousa Pourkashiyan, and Tatev Abrahamyan. Again, Irina Krush won before Alice Lee. [6]

2024 Women's Tournament Bracket

The women's field for the 2024 edition includes Anna Zatonskih, Nazi Paikidze, Irina Krush, Zoey Tang, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Jennifer Yu, Alice Lee and Jennifer Yu. Alice Lee defeated Irina Krush in the finals after a tied rapid match.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Starting Wednesday American Cup. chessbase.com. April 17, 2022 . 2022-04-27.
  2. Web site: Start of the American Cup. chessbase.com. April 20, 2022 . 2022-04-27.
  3. https://www.chess.com/news/view/the-american-cup-day-9-caruana-krush Caruana, Krush Crowned Champions: The American Cup Day 9
  4. Web site: Starting Friday: The American Cup Returns. chessbase.com. March 14, 2023 . 2023-03-17.
  5. Web site: After Blunder By So In 4th Game, Nakamura Wins The American Cup. chess.com. March 27, 2023 . 2023-03-29.
  6. https://www.chess.com/news/view/the-american-cup-2023-day-9 Krush Extends Queenship, Wesley So Defeats Nakamura In Tiebreaker