The US Chess Championship 2026 begins tomorrow at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri, USA. The event runs from October 9 to 21, and first matches start at 5:00 PM UTC. The tournament features 12 American players.

Tournament lineup:

  • 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana (2784)
  • 🇺🇸 Wesley So (2770)
  • 🇺🇸 Levon Aronian (2725)
  • 🇺🇸 Hans Moke Niemann (2717)
  • 🇺🇸 Samuel Sevian (2708)
  • 🇺🇸 Awonder Liang (2685)
  • 🇺🇸 Ray Robson (2659)
  • 🇺🇸 Jeffery Xiong (2656)
  • 🇺🇸 Sam Shankland (2646)
  • 🇺🇸 Grigoriy Oparin (2638)
  • 🇺🇸 Abhimanyu Mishra (2636)
  • 🇺🇸 Andy Woodward (2619)

The event features a 90+30 time control for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game over one Round-Robin between 12 players. In case of a tie for first place, the winner will be determined by tiebreak on October 22. The tournament prize fund is $250,000, with $55,000 for first place.

The US Chess Championship is an annual national chess tournament held in Saint Louis since 1936. The event is organized by the United States Chess Federation alongside the Saint Louis Chess Club. The tournament is supported by philanthropists Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield. The 2025 edition of the event was won by Fabiano Caruana.

Credit: Lennart Ootes