Wesley So wins 4th US Chess Championship

MANILA, Philippines – 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...