U.S. Championship: Round 7
By Cameron W. · Sat, 17 Oct 2026
Friday's Round 7 in Saint Louis reshuffled both sections. In the open, Wesley So came back from a worse position to beat Ray Robson and lead alone on 5/7, while Awonder Liang lost in 27 moves to Grigoriy Oparin. In the women's, Rachael Li and Alice Lee both won to lead on 5.5, and overnight co-leader Thalia Cervantes lost to Anna Sargsyan.
Friday's Round 7 in Saint Louis reshuffled both sections. In the open, Wesley So came back from a worse position to beat Ray Robson and lead alone on 5/7, while Awonder Liang lost in 27 moves to Grigoriy Oparin. In the women's, Rachael Li and Alice Lee both won to lead on 5.5, and overnight co-leader Thalia Cervantes lost to Anna Sargsyan.
Open section: So escapes, and Liang falls
So's win was the Game of the Day on Chess.com. He equalized comfortably in the middlegame, but by Chess.com's account his decision to trade queens was a mistake, and Robson gained a significant advantage in the endgame. On move 30, Robson could have drawn by repetition with 30.Ne5+. He declined, played 30.f4, and then lost his way in time pressure before the first time control. Both players made mistakes in a complex fight before Robson slipped in a bishop endgame, and So took the full point.
Liang's loss was the other big swing. Chess.com called his 17...c5, which closed the center and left his dark-squared bishop ineffective, puzzling, and said his later errors pointed to fatigue. The final tactic, it noted, was not a hard one for a player of his caliber. Liang still stopped by the confessional booth to say the snacks were much improved that day.
Fabiano Caruana drew Hans Niemann in 44 moves in a game that never left equality, and Andy Woodward drew Sam Sevian in 47 after his kingside play could not break through. Both sit half a point behind So on 4.5. Levon Aronian scored his first win of the event against Sam Shankland, using the bishop pair and then limiting Shankland's chances against his king. Working from the round-by-round results, Liang and Oparin are on 4, ahead of Niemann and Aronian on 3. Chess.com described So as the only unbeaten player in the field, but by that same arithmetic Woodward, on two wins and five draws, has not lost either.
Women's section: two teenagers pull clear
Li, who is 16, won with an unorthodox opening and a clear dynamic plan in the middlegame, Chess.com reported, though the sources reviewed do not name her opponent in text. She said her brother, GM Ruifeng Li, has been helping with her opening preparation, and described her mindset simply: "I came here without any aspirations at all." Lee, who is 17, beat Rose Atwell after some anxious early moments. After her Round 6 loss to Li she said she was still in control of her own destiny, and she now shares the lead with her.
Cervantes had been the only unbeaten player in the section. She lost her first game when her attempt to win by opening up the kingside backfired in the late middlegame, and she was also short of time. Irina Krush moved into sole second on 5, half a point behind the leaders, by beating defending champion Carissa Yip in a King's Indian Defense. The evaluation changed many times under mutual time pressure before Yip made the final blunder. Five of the six games in the section were decisive.
