US Chess Championships Round 2: So, Shankland Join Lead As Caruana Escapes

Sargsyan is out alone in the lead of the Women’s section, with only Paikidze within half a point.

U.S. Chess Championship: So, Shankland Lead As Fabi Pulls Off Great Escape

Three-time U.S. Champion So’s only win in the 2024 U.S. Championship was discounted after GM Christopher Yoo was expelled from the event, so that his win in round two was long overdue. It came against a Robson, a player So knows very well from his student days at Webster University:

Back then I was 2650, Ray was around 2590, so we learned a lot from each other, in chess, and also in living habits! I roomed with him for around two years, so we’ve played a ton of blitz games and worked a lot on openings.

The game was bumpy, since although the Philippine-born star played an interesting exchange sac, the arising ending was roughly equal until Robson lost his way in time trouble. So said of that Achille’s heel: “He’s still trying to solve it, and today he paid for it, I guess!”

The last mistake came on move 39, while on the time control move 40 it was clear So was winning.

The day’s other win was much more puzzling, including for the winner, Shankland, who explained he’d planned one move, then found his hand making another. He was worse and contemplating an endgame a pawn down, but then Swiercz instead gave up a pawn and ultimately lost a position of which Shankland said, “I’m sure it’s defensible, but it’s miserable.”

That was a boost for 2018 U.S. Champion Shankland, who said he’d had “a really, really rough few years.” He said of this year’s event:

It’s my 17th, let’s just hope it’s not my last, because my rating’s fallen a lot in the last years [to 2654]. You start getting older and what not, but just hoping to play fighting, good chess every game, and I guess this was a good start!

There was an echo of that game in GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Awonder Liang, since Aronian could have entered an endgame a pawn up but entered one a pawn down, though no damage was done except for his dinner plans—the game continued until move 104! 

The other draws looked much more likely to see blood spilled, and in Caruana-Woodward it looked like being the blood of the winner of the last three events. Caruana had gone undefeated in 41 classical games in a row at the U.S. Championship, but got into real trouble after playing an opening with 4.Qb3!? he’d tried in a casual game against IM Irine Sukandar.

Rare, but familiar? 🤔👀https://t.co/ABn9dJbhP2 https://t.co/WdcudzLVP4 pic.twitter.com/Yb3waFygO3

— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 13, 2025

Caruana went on to grab a pawn on b7, but 8…Nd4!! by Woodward was brilliant.

When the world number-three grabbed the piece, he was lost, objectively speaking, on move nine. As Woodward lamented, however: “I thought in the worst case I was getting back the piece, which unfortunately ended up happening in the game. I couldn’t really make anything out of it.”

Caruana’s great escape—and in fact he fashioned winning chances of his own, is our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes below.

So Woodward missed out on pulling off an absolute sensation, but otherwise it was all according to plan. He explained his goal in his first U.S. Championship is to play “some fighting games,” adding, “You don’t really get to play these guys so often at my level so I kind of want to make the best use out of my opportunity.”

There were two more near misses. 12…e4? (12…d4!) looked like the most natural move in the world for Niemann against Oparin, but in fact after 13.h3! White was close to winning. Niemann dug deep, however, and exploited inaccuracies to gradually equalize the position.

GM Abhimanyu Mishra is incredibly hard to beat and made it 69 games unbeaten with a draw against GM Sam Sevian, but it could have been more. Sevian’s 25…c3! was a mistake, as Mishra spotted, but Sevian put up great resistance to ultimately establish a fortress and hold.

In round three So-Shankland is a match-up between the round-two winners, while Liang-Caruana is the only all-2700 clash. The rating imbalances on the other boards are likely to lead to lively chess. 

Round 3 Pairings: Open

U.S. Women’s Chess Championship: Sargsyan’s Dream Debut Continues

We had an even more combative day in the Women’s section.

Round 2 Results: Women

Once again there was even more decisive action in the Women’s event, with four wins.

Sargsyan’s first ever U.S. Women’s Championship couldn’t be going better as she moved to 2/2 by defeating eight-time champion Krush, who had won brilliantly the day before. The Armenian-born player wasn’t getting too excited, however, commenting, “I’m feeling just OK, honestly, nothing special, because there are still nine rounds to go!”

Krush played ambitiously, and was doing well for most of the game, but she went astray at the end in an incredibly difficult position with an exposed king.

The only player within half a point of Sargsyan is Paikidze, who defeated another round-one winner, Pourkashiyan.

Paikidze commented, “I took a risk today and it paid off,” with move 23 the moment at which White could have kept an advantage. Instead the trade of pieces on g5 helped Black’s attack, with Paikidze later crediting Puzzle Rush with helping her to find a checkmate.

16-year-old Atwell was honest about how she “gets over” losses, commenting, “The first hour or so after the loss it feels really bad but then I calm down for a bit, and later at night I get angry about it again!” She did recover at the board, however, outplaying Cervantes to move to 50 percent.

The other comeback kid was Lee, who celebrating her 16th birthday with some cupcakes in the venue and a crushing sacrificial attack against Yu, who was in deep trouble after pushing f5. Lee particularly enjoyed her final moves.

She commented:

I’m just really happy that I was able to win this game today. I play in the U.S. Championship every year and on my birthday my goal is always to not lose. And actually, in the four years that I’ve played, I haven’t lost the game, so I guess it’s good birthday luck for me!

I guess it’s good birthday luck for me! 

—Alice Lee

Lee’s attitude also helps. “My mentality was that the first game is the best game to lose in a tournament!” she noted, explaining that it left her ten rounds in which to come back.

In round three, Lee plays 12-year-old FM Megan Paragua, who made a draw in round two against IM Anna Zatonskih, with Paikidze-Abrahamyan among the games to look out for.

Round 3 Pairings: Women