GM Levon Aronian lost the first rapid game of The American Cup 2026 Elimination Final, but came back in the second game to even the score against GM Fabiano Caruana. He then won the match in blitz tiebreaks and will face GM Wesley So in the Grand Final.
IM Carissa Yip won both rapid games against IM Tatev Abrahamyan in The Women’s American Cup 2026 Elimination Final. She’s earned her rematch against IM Alice Lee in the Grand Final.
Day eight, featuring the first classical game of the Grand Finals, will be on Tuesday, March 10, starting at 1:10 p.m. ET / 18:10 CET / 11:40 p.m. IST.
Elimination Final:
Open Elimination Final: Aronian Goes For ‘Irrational Position,’ Wins Match
Aronian, who was knocked out in his very first match of the event, has climbed all the way through the Elimination Bracket to the final stage. Aronian previously reached the Grand Finals twice, winning in 2024 (against So!) and finishing runner-up in 2022. So has reached the Grand Final twice, in 2023 and 2024, but has yet to win The American Cup.
Aronian 2.5-1.5 Caruana
For a second match in a row, Caruana won the first game but wasn’t able to follow through. The same thing happened against So in the Champions Final, where he lost game two of both the classical and blitz portions.
“My goal was to enjoy and so far I’m enjoying!” said a delighted Aronian after winning the match, saying that reaching the Grand Final is just a bonus. He’s having a great time.
He probably wasn’t having a great time in game one, however, where Caruana won a full piece. Even still, with what’s normally a decisive material disadvantage, Aronian managed to defend tenaciously and pose practical problems. But Caruana didn’t let this one slip.
“I’m very happy with the way I played after losing that first game,” said Aronian about the rest of the match. The highlight of game two was 21.Bf6!, an unusual tactic that simply won him a second pawn. With this game, Aronian tied the match 1-1.
Game three was a hectic draw as both players scrambled while playing on the increment. The middlegame featured a strange case of mutual blindness as both players, for two moves, missed a back rank tactic that could have won White (Aronian) the game.
Finally, Aronian won the match in the second blitz game. Regretting playing a move on a single second in the last one, Aronian told himself, “No matter what happens: play fast!” He also shared the following bit of his strategy: “I try to create some irrational position and hope that my opponents will go astray. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t!”
I try to create some irrational position and hope that my opponents will go astray.
—Levon Aronian
GMÂ Rafael Leitao takes us through the full Game of the Day below.
At minimum, Aronian will pick up the $55,000 prize for second place, with a chance at the $75,000 for first. If he wins the first match of the Grand Final, he will have to beat So again in a second rapid match—or the Grand Final Reset. So, because he has not yet lost a single match, will have two lives.
Women’s Elimination Final: Yip Dominates & Advances
Lee has been the queen of The American Cup, having reached the Grand Final in every single edition since 2022. She lost to GM Irina Krush the first two times, but then has won the two years since—and she’s looking to win a third time.
For Yip, who participates in the event for the second time, this is the furthest she’s gotten. In 2025, she was eliminated in the Elimination Quarterfinals.
Yip 2-0 Abrahamyan
The match against Abrahamyan ended much faster than the one in the Open tournament. Yip won both games, though she was on the verge of losing in the second.
The first game was a 27-move demolition, a game she was “pretty proud of.” She said, “The first game was very nice. I thought just after queenside castling, you know, this inclusion of a3 a5 I think is just not that great for her… I have a hook to latch onto.” Indeed, the white attack was much faster—the black one hardly ever got started.
The match seemed about to swing the other way in the time scramble of the second rapid game. Yip thought she had tactically prevented 33.Nc4, so it appearing on the board was quite a cold shower. In a desperate situation—she was lost—she set up a cheapo with 35…Qc7, the move that won her the match when her opponent walked into the trap.
In the last match against Lee, Yip held her own in the classical portion—two draws—but lost both blitz games. She said about her friend, “I love that kid, she’s great,” but said about the games, “Blitz was pretty rough for me yesterday, Yeah, I had my chances, but I kind of blew them, so I played kind of bad.”
Like Aronian, she will have to win two matches if she’s to win her maiden title. The first prize is $40,000, with $30,000 going to the player that finishes second.
How To Review
The American Cup 2026, which takes place from March 3 to 12 in St. Louis, brings together the United States’ strongest players to battle in a high-stakes double-elimination knockout bracket across classical and rapid time controls. There is an open tournament and a women’s tournament, with the two time controls of 90+30 and 25+10 (with 3+2 blitz and potential armageddon as tiebreakers). The prize fund is $250,000 in the open and $150,000 in the women’s.
Previous coverage:
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- Day 6: Wesley So, Alice Lee Reach Grand Finals
- Day 5: Caruana Wins Game 1 Vs. Wesley So; Dominguez, Sevian, Tang, Li Eliminated
- Day 4: So Vs. Caruana, Yip Vs. Lee In Champions Finals
- Day 3: Robson, Mishra, Krush, Zatonskih Eliminated On Day 3
- Day 2: Liang Beats Aronian, Tang Reverses Match Vs. Krush In Early Upsets
- Day 1: Caruana Scores 1st Win In Open; Krush, Lee Lead In Women’s