U.S. Championship: Round 10
By Cameron W. · Wed, 21 Oct 2026
Wesley So drew Hans Niemann in under an hour and leads on 7/10, a full point clear of Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin. In the women's, rookie Rachael Li beat Rose Atwell and leads Alice Lee by a point, but Lee won too and stays alive.
Round 10 in Saint Louis on Tuesday left both sections a single round from the finish. In the open, Wesley So drew Hans Niemann in under an hour and leads on 7/10, a full point clear of Fabiano Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin. In the women's, rookie Rachael Li beat Rose Atwell and leads Alice Lee by a point, but Lee won too and stays alive. The final round is today, Wednesday, October 21, at 1 p.m. ET (19:00 CEST).
Open section: So removes another game
So and Niemann played a theoretical Nimzo-Indian that went quickly into an endgame after mass trades. So described his plan for the closing stretch as "to remove games from the tournament." The chasers could not close the gap. Caruana tried the Scandinavian Defense as Black against Jeffery Xiong in search of a win, and Oparin drew Abhimanyu Mishra. Chess.com says all four players in both games had 99 accuracy. Awonder Liang and Andy Woodward also drew, leaving both on 5.5.
The two decisive games were the most dramatic. In a Najdorf Poisoned Pawn, Sam Sevian had a relatively risk-free advantage late on before he played 35...Qg1??, and Sam Shankland won. Shankland called it far from a glorious win but said he would take it after what he has been through in this tournament. Levon Aronian beat Ray Robson in a queen endgame where Robson briefly saved himself with the only move 52...Ke4!! before losing anyway. Aronian, who is on 50 percent, said he could not give up on the event because his second, Mikhail Antipov, left that morning to be at the birth of his baby.
The numbers favor So. A draw today would take him to 7.5, above the 6.5 that Caruana or Oparin can reach with a win. Tiebreaks on Thursday would happen only if So loses and Caruana or Oparin wins. First place pays $55,000, plus a $7,000 winner's bonus and a $5,000 Finish Strong prize, according to Chess.com. Chess.com earlier said So's last two opponents are Niemann and Sevian, which makes Sevian his opponent today.
Women's section: Li wins, Lee wins on demand
Li won a piece against Atwell, though the knight on e7 was trapped and the conversion was not quick, and Atwell eventually made the final mistake. Li could have clinched the title with a round to spare had Lee not also won. She said she doesn't feel much emotion and is fairly relaxed, treating each game as practice for future tournaments. She is performing at nearly a 2600 level, is set to gain more than 50 rating points, and sits 31st in the world on the live rating list. She played 38 FIDE-rated classical games in August, Chess.com learned on the broadcast.
Lee needed a win to stay in the race and got it against Thalia Cervantes, using an exchange sacrifice when her pieces were badly placed. Cervantes, short on time with two minutes against 27, then played the losing 36...Kh7??. Lee said the result was out of her control but that she was glad to keep a small chance alive. Her dream scenario is a win with Black over Anna Sargsyan while Li loses to Anna Zatonskih. Otherwise Li takes the $35,000 first prize.
Tatev Abrahamyan beat Zatonskih with a bishop, knight and rook sacrifice for mate, and Sargsyan beat Jennifer Yu in 26 moves with the Schara Gambit. Defending champion Carissa Yip beat Nazi Paikidze for her second win in a row but is on 4/10. Megan Paragua and Irina Krush drew.
