Oparin Defeats Zhou in Armageddon, Wins U.S. Open

GM Grigoriy Oparin (MO) defeated GM Jianchao Zhou (MA) in Armageddon to win the 2026 U.S. Open title and clinch a spot in this October’s U.S. Championship.

Entering the final round, Oparin and IM Jason Liang (OH) led with 7/8 scores. When their game ended peacefully, that opened the floodgates and, when all was said and done, we had eight players tie for first with a 7½/9 score.

Those players are, in tiebreak order: Oparin, Zhou, GM Christopher Yoo (CA), IM Bohdan Bilovil (UKR), Liang, IM Julian Colville (CA), GM Rahul Srivatshav Peddi (IND), and IM Sebastian Kostolansky (SVK).

As per the tournament regulations, the top two players on tiebreaks play an Armageddon game for the title of U.S. Open champion and a $200 bonus. If the top two finishers are not both FIDE-flagged as American players, a separate Armageddon between the top two American finishers on tiebreaks would also be held to determine who qualifies for this October’s U.S. Championship. This latter point was moot as both Oparin and Zhou play for USA.

Oparin won $3,950 and the other seven players tied for first each pocketed $3,750. Full standings and prize breakdowns are available here.

Keep an eye out for more reporting from this event in the coming days (including a spectacular game in Wednesday’s membership newsletter). For now, enjoy Sunday’s highlights, once again annotated by the hardest-working broadcaster in chess, WGM Sabina Foisor.

Sabina spent most nights this week broadcasting past midnight (and sometimes past 1 a.m.) until the final games on the 24 DGT boards were done. With Sunday’s final round beginning at 3 p.m., any hopes of an early night were dashed once it was clear we were headed to Armageddon. Once again, Sabina worked tirelessly.

You would think we’re going to start with Armageddon. But, before we could get there, we had to wait for the final game of Round 9 to end. Clocking in at well over six hours, Sabina’s audience was following the below game with great anticipation:

And then, almost immediately after the players reached the well-known “king-versus-king” endgame, the fireworks were off. Zhou and Oparin each bid on how low they were willing to go as Black, and Zhou won by bidding lower, taking eight minutes (to Oparin’s 10) and the black pieces in order to claim draw odds.

On Board 1, the engine kept insisting Oparin had slight chances against Liang. Can you find them? If so, you might be the only one who can.

On Board 2, Yoo came out with a sharp opening as Black, but it was not enough.

Colville and Kolstolansky also delivered some moments of intrigue:

Eleven players tied for ninth with 7/9 scores just a half-point behind the co-winners. Of them, seven split the four Under-2400 prizes, netting $900 each. But, impressively, two additional players from this group split the top two Under-2200 prizes! Both were coming straight from the Rockefeller, too! Srihas Sai Sarvesh Maddipati (TX) and Landon Meadors (GA) each had fantastic events to earn $1,675 apiece, with Meadors crossing 2200 as well.

In the last round, Maddipati was even able to play a slight spoiler role, keeping FM Ryan Amburgy (OK) from being co-winner number nine:

With a peak FIDE rating of 2687 (in June of 2023), Oparin has been a longtime fixture on the world’s top 100 active players list. He is currently 84^th in the world with a FIDE rating of 2638. It’s hard to believe, but a top 100 world ranking doesn’t guarantee a rating-based spot in the U.S. Championship these days. Maybe he would have liked to compete more to try and clinch a ratings spot for October, but his work schedule is relentless.

In March, Oparin guided the University of Missouri to its second President’s Cup in three years as an Assistant Coach. Next month, he will travel to Uzbekistan for the 46^th FIDE Chess Olympiad as the official Trainer for Team USA.

And, minutes after defeating Zhou, Oparin had to race back to St. Louis. The Sinquefield Cup was set to begin in just over 12 hours, and his boss — GM Fabiano Caruana — needed his second!

Caruana indeed won his game today (as White against GM Jorden van Foreest), and Oparin will have his hands full over the next ten days. Maybe he can get some rest in late October, after the U.S. Championship!