Top seeds Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So progressed to the final of the open section at the American Cup on Friday by winning their semifinals in blitz tiebreaks. In the women's event, Carissa Yip and defending champion Alice Lee secured classical wins to reach the final. The defeated players drop to the elimination bracket for matches on Saturday.
The American Cup, a double-elimination chess tournament held at the Saint Louis Chess Club, saw its championship bracket semifinals decided on Friday, March 6, 2026. In the open section, Fabiano Caruana defeated Awonder Liang with a score of 2½–1½ after a blitz playoff, while Wesley So overcame Sam Sevian by the same margin following draws in the classical games.
Caruana, who won the inaugural American Cup in 2022, and So, a runner-up in 2023 and 2024, will now face each other in the championship bracket final. The winner advances directly to the grand final, awaiting the survivor of the elimination bracket. Sevian and Liang, despite their losses, remain in contention and are scheduled to play Levon Aronian and Leinier Dominguez, respectively, in two-game rapid matches on Saturday. The losers of those encounters will be eliminated.
The So-Sevian match went to blitz after two classical draws. So won the first blitz game with white in a Giuoco Piano, gradually outplaying his opponent. In the second, So gained an edge with black, but Sevian missed a tactical opportunity on move 24, replying 24.Kf2? instead of 24.f5!, which would have led to a strong attack with 25.e6!. The game ended in a draw, securing So's advancement.
In the women's section, rating favorite Carissa Yip, a four-time US women's champion, beat Tatev Abrahamyan in classical play, prevailing with white. Alice Lee, the defending champion and third seed, defeated Zoey Tang in 36 moves after Tang's blunder on move 19...Qd7?? allowed 20.Nc6!, winning a knight and creating a strong passed pawn. Yip and Lee will contest the final, while Abrahamyan faces Rachel Li and Tang plays Anna Sargsyan in the elimination bracket on Saturday.