The American Cup is an annual invitational

double-elimination A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost ''two'' games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimina ...

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition amo ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, United States.

Format

The tournament is 8 player double elimination tournament, featuring 8 of the strongest players in the United States. The championship bracket is played with a time control of 90 minutes, with a 30 second increment throughout for 2 games. The elimination bracket is played with a time control of 25 minutes and a 10 second increment for 2 games. If needed two tiebreak games of 10 minutes with a 5 second increment are played followed by an

Armageddon According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...

game if necessary. The 2023 edition had 2 blitz games after the initial 10 minute rapid games if still tied before going to Armageddon.

Tournament

2022 Bracket

The inaugural edition was held from April 20–28, 2022.

Levon Aronian Levon Grigori Aronian ( hy, Լևոն Գրիգորի Արոնյան, Levon Grigori Aronyan; born 6 October 1982) is an Armenians, Armenian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, who currently plays for the United States Chess Federation. A ches ...

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

, Lenier Dominguez,

Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster and 3-time U.S. Chess Champion (in 2017, 2020, and 2021). He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 2017 FIDE rating list, he was ran ...

Sam Shankland Samuel L. Shankland (born October 1, 1991) is an American chess grandmaster. He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2018. Shankland was California State Champion in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012, and Champion of State Champions in 2009. He won bron ...

, Sam Sevian,

Jeffery Xiong Jeffery Xiong (born October 30, 2000) is an American chess prodigy. He earned the Grandmaster title in September 2015 at the age of fourteen, the fourth youngest player to qualify in the US. Chess career Xiong was aged seven when he played in ...

, and

Ray Robson Ray Robson (born October 25, 1994) is an American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2010. Robson fulfilled the requirements for the title in 2009 at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 16 days, making him the young ...

participated in the inaugural event. The tournament was won by

2023 Bracket

The 2nd edition of the tournament was held from March 17th-March 26th.

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraFabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

, Lenier Dominguez,

, Sam Sevian and

participated in this edition. The tournament was won by Hikaru Nakamura.

Women's American Cup

Running simultaneously with the main tournament a

women's tournament A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

is held, featuring 8 of the strongest women in the United States.

2022 Women's Tournament Bracket

Irina Krush Irina Borisivna Krush ( uk, Ірина Борисівна Круш; born December 24, 1983) is an American chess Grandmaster. She is the first woman, and as of August 2022 the only woman, to earn the GM title while playing for the United States ...

Anna Zatonskih Anna Zatonskih ( uk, Ганна Затонських; July 17, 1978) is a Ukrainian American chess player who holds the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a four-time U.S. women's champion, as well as a former Uk ...

, Stavroula Tsolakidou, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Katerina Nemcova, Alice Lee, Tatev Abrahamyan, and Ruiyang Yan. The inaugural Women's tournament was won by Irina Krush. 12-year-old Alice Lee finished as the runner-up.

2023 Women's Tournament Bracket

The women's field for the 2023 edition includes

, Alice Lee,

, Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, Katerina Nemcova, Nazi Paikidze,

Atousa Pourkashiyan Atousa Pourkashiyan ( fa, آتوسا پورکاشیان; born 16 May 1988) is an Iranian-American chess player. She holds the title of Woman Grandmaster, which FIDE awarded her in 2009. Pourkashiyan is Seven-time Iranian women's champion (2005 ...

, and Tatev Abrahamyan. Again, Irina Krush won before Alice Lee. https://www.chess.com/news/view/the-american-cup-2023-day-9 Krush Extends Queenship, Wesley So Defeats Nakamura In Tiebreaker

References

2022 in chess Chess competitions Chess in the United States Events in St. Louis Recurring sporting events established in 2022 {{Chess-stub