Fabiano Caruana and Carissa Yip won the 2024 US chess championships in men’s and women’s categories separately . Both players successfully defended their titles, winning their fourth and third overall, respectively.
The U.S. Chess Championship and U.S. Women’s Chess Championship took place in the Saint Louis Chess Club from October 10 to 24. The format included 12-player round-robins with classical time control. The tournament carried a combined prize money of $250,000, Players were not allowed to offer draws.
2024 US Chess Championships: As it happened
Fabiano Caruana seized the lead in Round 4 after defeating Abhimanyu Mishra, and maintained his top position until the very end.Entering into the final round with a leader of half-point ahead of Awonder Liang and Ray Robson, he gradually outplayed Sam Shankland in the Sicilian Defense, finishing with a solid 7/10 to secure his fourth national title.
Awonder Liang was looking good to win silver when he achieved a very promising position against Leinier Dominguez, while Ray Robson had a bye . However, Liang eventually overstretched and faced defeat. As a result, six players tied for second place, sharing the prize money equally.
Carissa Yip dominated the women’s event, starting with eight back-to-back wins, reminiscent of Bobby Fischer’s incredible performance in the 1963/1964 U.S. Championship. Although Carissa did not manage to match Fischer’s record of 11/11, she gave a dominant performance, claiming her third title with a round to spare.
Begim Tokhirjonova earned the silver medal by pulling off a crucial victory over Tatev Abrahamyan in the last round of the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. As a result she also qualified for the FIDE Women’s World Cup.
Alice Lee, who shared second place with Tokhirjonova entering into the final round, managed only a draw against the champion, which left her to settle for the bronze medal.
Also Read: Why do men and women have different competitions in Chess?
The tournament was marked by a row following disqualification of Christopher Yoo. According to an official statement from the Saint Louis Chess Club: “After his game against Fabiano Caruana, Yoo crumpled his scoresheet, stormed out of the tournament hall, and struck a videographer from behind. Chief Arbiter Chris Bird expelled Yoo for gross violations of our Code of Conduct and the US Chess Play Safe Policy.”
Thereafter, Yoo’s results from Rounds 1-5 were declared void, and the tournament standings were adjusted accordingly.
