Wesley So wins 4th US Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines, October 24 ------ Filipino-American chess Grandmaster Wesley So topped the 2026 United States Chess Championship for the fourth time, beating top American players, including world-ranked number three and five-time US champion Fabiano Caruana, who ruled the four previous tournaments.

In the final tie-break game that was livestreamed, Caruana made a risky, if not dubious, move by advancing his bishop too early and leaving a central pawn exposed. So immediately took the free pawn and with it, a lot of territory on the chess board. So castled his king on the queen-side and advanced his king-side pawns toward Caruana’s castled king. Caruana attempted to counter-attack on the queen-side, but So continued to push his pawns forward and threatened to expose Caruana’s king.

Caruana resigned after So’s 33rd move. So’s journey to glory was not without glitches, however, as he unexpectedly lost to tail-ender Sam Sevian in the penultimate 11th round. A draw would have been enough to clinch the championship but the loss enabled Fabiano Caruana, who played well in the second half of the tournament, to catch up with So.

So and Caruana then met in a “tie-breaker” where they played two games with quicker thinking time – forcing more errors and increasing psychological pressure for both players. In the first two rounds of the tournament, So was on fire as he won against 2018 US champion Sam Shankland and Jeffrey Xiong. Then So beat up-and-coming young grandmasters Andy Woodward and Ray Robson in dramatic come-from-behind victories.

Caruana won the US Chess Championship in 2016, and 2022 to 2025. So won the US Championship in 2017, 2020, and 2021. The US Chess Championship is considered the “toughest tournament” in the world today, with the strongest players from all over the world gravitating toward the United States. In August, So had also won the prestigious Sinquefield Cup participated by top grandmasters from all over the world. Then in September, he played in the World Chess Olympiad as part of the United States team.

Source: manilatimes.net