Caruana, Abrahamyan Bounce Back To Qualify For American Cup Grand Finals

A day after losing the Champions Final, GM Fabiano Caruana earned his spot in The American Cup Grand Final after all. Caruana beat GM Levon Aronian on Friday in a blitz playoff in the Elimination Bracket Final and will now play GM Hikaru Nakamura once more, this time to decide the tournament altogether.

The Women's American Cup will see a rematch as well because WGM Tatev Abrahamyan defeated GM Irina Krush in both rapid games to qualify for another fight with IM Alice Lee. The Grand Finals will start Saturday, March 22 at 12:00 p.m. CDT / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.

A total of 181 games between Aronian and Caruana could be found in the database before this match and with both players living in St. Louis, they will certainly break 200. Last year, Aronian was victorious in the American Cup and back then he beat Caruana eventually in a blitz playoff, after two draws in both the classical and rapid games. Yesterday, it was the other way around, and we didn't get to see any draws.

Because it was the Elimination Bracket, the players went straight to rapid and it was Caruana who took the lead in what was the most interesting fight of the day. He always had some sort of initiative but Aronian continued to find counterplay and simply defended extremely well, until a final mistake on move 57 was decisive.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.

Aronian managed to win on demand from the white side of a Sicilian. Caruana was doing alright as his bishop pair compensated for his isolated queen's pawn, but one careless move left his a-pawn all alone. Aronian won the pawn and later another one, when the conversion was a matter of technique.

"Of course I wasn't happy that I had lost especially in rapid because you feel like you have very good chances to hold in rapid, but he definitely outplayed me very cleanly in that game," Caruana later said.

You could say that this match was decided at one single moment, which was when Aronian blundered terribly in the first blitz game. When it's not Freestyle Chess, it's very hard these days to win with the black pieces and trying the Philidor Defense wasn't a success for Aronian in the second game – he lost that one as well. Here's what happened in the first:

Caruana thus immediately bounced back into the Grand Final where he'll face Nakamura again, who could enjoy a rest day. The two will play on Saturday and Sunday, and if a playoff is needed, this will happen on Monday.

In explaining what decided Friday's match, Caruana spoke about his previous and next opponent: "I think it very often comes down to these last-second moments and it maybe comes down to some details that we don't really think of, not even the chess moves but let's say not hesitating for even half a second in certain situations, which is one of Hikaru's strengths, for sure, that even if he's losing and he's maybe not even defending in the best way but he's defending super fast, he plays extremely fast and it doesn't give you time to get your bearings." 

Abrahamyan's 2-0 win vs. Krush could be called an upset, especially after her heartbreaking loss to Lee the other day. Abrahamyan said she watched YouTube videos until 4:30 a.m. until she fell asleep. "I was like, I just never want to play chess again, but today when I woke up I really wanted to win so something happened in those five hours!"

I was like, I just never want to play chess again.
—Tatev Abrahamyan

The head-to-head score is heavily in favor of Krush, but it should be noted that Abrahamyan had beaten her five times over the years (since their first game back in 2004!), always in U.S. Women's Championships.

Also here, it was a big advantage to score the first win with the black pieces. Abrahamyan's Na6 King's Indian is known to be a bit better for White, but somehow Krush's play wasn't straightforward enough – she waited too long with the typical c4-c5 break. 

Getting an Open Sicilian wasn't bad for Krush in a must-win situation, but Abrahamyan skillfully avoided complications and always seemed in control. In her mind, it was a bit different, she said: "I was starting to question myself and I got down on time so I started getting nervous today the whole game. I was just reminding myself and I was like, remember what you did yesterday, you know what you're capable of, so you know, stay focused."

She won a game that normally would have ended in a draw because Krush had to try something:

How to watch?

The 2025 American Cup, taking place from March 15-24, is an over-the-board tournament featuring some of the strongest players in the United States. The time control is 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one; rapid games are played at the 15+10 time control. The prize fund is $250,000. 

Previous coverage:

• Day 6: Nakamura Beats Caruana In Blitz Playoffs, Wins Champions Final 
• Day 5: Lee Beats Abrahamyan In Game 1; Nakamura, Caruana Stay Deadlocked
• Day 4: Nakamura, Caruana Advance To Champions Open Final
• Day 3: Lee, Abrahamyan Take Leads Vs. Krush, Yip; Draws In Open Champions Bracket
• Day 2: Nakamura Shuts Down Near-Upset From Mishra
• Day 1: Nakamura, Caruana Miss Wins Vs. Mishra, Robson