Caruana, Yip Repeat as U.S. Champions (Again!)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: GM Fabiano Caruana and IM Carissa Yip are this year’s U.S. champions.

Yip — Photos courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes.

The win makes it four years in a row (five overall) for Caruana and three years in a row (four overall) for Yip. It should be noted, though, that it’s sort of “four in a row” for Yip, too, as, after winning in 2021, she skipped the 2022 event before winning in each 2023, 2024, and now 2025.

Both Caruana and Yip entered the final day looking to protect a half-point lead, but took different paths from there. Caruana played out a forced drawing line against GM Levon Aronian, having the rest of the afternoon to watch whether GM Wesley So could take down GM Grigoriy Oparin (one of Caruana’s seconds) and force a playoff.

So was able to create some slight pressure out of the opening against Oparin’s Sveshnikov, but was unable to find all the precise moves to maximize his chances. Instead, he settled for a pawn-up endgame that Oparin was able to draw without much bother.

Yip, in contrast, had three players on her tail, including two (IMs Alice Lee and Anna Sarksyan) paired against each other. Either a decisive result in Lee – Sarksyan or a GM Irina Krush win over IM Anna Zatonskih would be enough to trigger a playoff with a draw, so Yip pushed for a win as Black against WGM Thalia Cervantes. And it worked.

After a draw in Zatonskih – Krush, it looked like Lee and Sarksyan were headed down a similar path. But after getting away with a little recklessness a few moves earlier, Lee missed a tactic that netted Sargsyan clear second in her first U.S. Women’s Championship.

Anna Sargsyan was thrilled with finishing clear second in her first U.S. Women's Championship. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Caruana and Yip won $62,000 and $40,000 respectively, with Yip also taking home the $5,000 Finish Strong bonus prize for her 5½/6 score over the final six rounds.

This article will be updated shortly with more photos and a full list of final standings and prizes.

Next up at the Saint Louis Chess Club is Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, from Oct. 27 through 29. The format, explained in this article, pits Caruana against GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen, and Gukesh Dommaraju in a series of matches designed to facilitate comebacks and dramatic finishes.

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