USA Survives a Scare, Leads Uzbekistan 5-3 After Day One in Miami
By Cameron W. · Tue, 28 Jul 2026
Team USA got exactly the start it wanted in Miami, but it wasn't quite as clean as the final score suggests. After four rounds of rapid at Faena Miami Beach, the Americans lead 5-3 heading into Tuesday's blitz, and it took a rescue act from Wesley So to keep it that way.
Levon Aronian was the story of the day for the U.S., putting up 2.5 out of a possible 3 to lead all players. Nodirbek Abdusattorov matched the intensity for Uzbekistan with 3 out of 4, but with three of his four teammates struggling to keep pace, it wasn't enough to move the overall score.Round 1: USA wins 2.5 – 1.5A clean start for the Americans. So found a sharp pawn sacrifice in the Berlin defense against Madaminov, sat on the two bishops for compensation, and ground out the only decisive result of the round. Caruana–Sindarov and Nakamura–Abdusattorov both settled into solid draws, and Dominguez let Vokhidov off the hook in an opposite-colored-bishop ending rather than press for more, a sensible choice once it was clear So's game next to him had already sealed the round.Round 2: Equilibrium 2 – 2The one round Uzbekistan could have won, and very nearly did. Nakamura fell in just 22 moves to a prepared Sindarov, who found the crushing 16.Bf7! and played out the rest of the game with what the engines clocked as 99.7% accuracy — the kind of number that makes an opponent's preparation look less like luck and more like homework. "Slight mishap, but Wesley saved us," was how Nakamura summed it up afterward, and that's exactly what happened: So beat Vokhidov to level the match, sparing the U.S. what would have been a genuinely damaging tied round. Abdusattorov later called this the pivotal moment of the day, saying things got tough for his side once it slipped away.Round 3: USA wins again 2.5 – 1.5The best chess of the day, on both sides of the match score. Nakamura bounced back immediately, outplaying Vokhidov in a clean queen-and-bishop endgame, while Aronian produced the move of the match: the astonishing 13...Nxh5!, grabbing a stray pawn on the rim of the board while leaving his own e-pawn hanging, against Sindarov. Neither the broadcast team nor, it seemed, Sindarov saw it coming. Uzbekistan's answer came from Abdusattorov, who ground down an exchange-up endgame by marching his king to the queenside and letting his rooks finish the job.Round 4: Uzbekistan 2.5 – 1.5The day ended with a split. Madaminov and Caruana traded a quiet draw, and Aronian added a second win of the day over Yakubboev, but Sindarov beat Dominguez, and the round's decisive board, So against Abdusattorov, went the other way. A dynamic game with opposite-side castling ended with the Uzbek converting rook against two minor pieces, queens still on the board, to hand his team its only round win of the day.Optimism PrevailsAbdusattorov left day one sounding upbeat rather than deflated. "In general we played very well. We have good chances to win all the matches too," he said, adding that he expects the U.S. to enter Tuesday as favorites but that his side can compete if it plays with confidence. Sindarov, for his part, seemed more focused on the evening ahead than the position on the scoreboard, and mentioned looking forward to a card game with Aronian before blitz gets underway.Blitz starts Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET, and with eight rounds worth two points apiece still to play, a two-point cushion is real but far from safe.