Caruana Cleans up at Champions Showdown

Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC

GM Fabiano Caruana was the top earner at the Champions Showdown: The Kings presented by the Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC). As explained in a previous article, the experimental event served as a sort of appetizer to the American Cup, beginning March 15.

Six of the eight Open participants in the Cup competed in the mixed-format Showdown, with the $250,000 prize fund distributed based on players’ results in blitz, rapid, and “semi-classical” games.

🎉🏆 Huge congratulations to the one and only Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana on winning the Champions Showdown: The Kings ! 🏅 #ChampionsShowdown #Grandmaster #FabianoCaruana pic.twitter.com/Ytc3j5aSib
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) March 6, 2025

Caruana was undefeated over the course of nine games, winning two of his three semi-classical games (against GM Hikaru Nakamura in round 1 and against GM Ray Robson in round 3), as well as his second-round rapid game against So and his blitz game against Robson.

Wesley So observes the end of Caruana – Robson (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

The other biggest winners were So and GM Levon Aronian, who each earned over $40,000 for their performances. The full prize distribution is below:

Graphic courtesy of SLCC

After losing 2½–½ to So on Tuesday, Aronian bounced back with a semi-classical victory over GM Leinier Dominguez in round two. While he did lose his blitz game on Thursday to Nakamura, he finished the tournament with a second semi-classical win.

A semi-classical victory over Nakamura solidified Aronian's comeback after a tough first round (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

The victory put Aronian in good spirits, although he still wouldn't share all of his secrets with IM Eric Rosen in the post-game interview:

Aronian: My Secrets Wouldn’t Be Secrets if I Shared Them! | D3 The Kings... https://t.co/cSvGP5z2ns via @YouTube #ChampionsShowdown @LevAronian
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) March 6, 2025

While So’s final semi-classical game against Dominguez ended quickly and peacefully, his blitz win from earlier in round 3 helped him finish second in the standings.

Nakamura’s two semi-classical losses moved him to fourth in the standings, but his second-round rapid victory over Robson was certainly a highlight:

More coverage of the event, including excellent daily video recaps from the SLCC team, is available here. The American Cup begins Saturday, March 15, with the six Kings participants being joined by GMs Abhimanyu Mishra and Sam Sevian in the Open.

In the Women’s section of the Cup, IMs Carissa Yip and Alice Lee enter ahead of GM Irina Krush as the highest-rated players. WGM Thalia Cervantes, WGM Tatev Abrahamyan, IM Anna Zatonskih, WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan, and IM Nazi Paikidze round out the Women’s section.