Three Winners Crowned, One Playoff Looms in Junior and Senior Championships

Tang, Belakovskaia, and Woodward Win Titles, Onischuk Forces Playoff with Akopian

All good things must come to an end. The quote is sometimes attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer, which would make sense, since they didn’t have playoffs in the 1300s.

Three of the four national championships were decided on Thursday in St. Louis, but the U.S. Senior Championship will go to a playoff tiebreaker beginning Friday at noon CDT.

Girls’ Junior Championship: Tang Clinches, Wu Rises

Zoey Tang did it again, winning this year's U.S. Girls' Junior Championship by a two-point margin. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

She only needed a draw to clinch, but that didn’t stop WGM Zoey Tang from punctuating her excellent event with another win.

In the battle for second place, WIM Rachael Li needed only a draw against CM Irene Jiao Fei to clinch clear second, but the Iowan had other plans.

Rochelle Wu's win over Rose Atwell vaulted her into a share of second place. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Li’s loss meant a victor in the game between IM-elect Rose Atwell and WGM Rochelle Wu could tie for second. Wu emerged victorious:

With a draw, FM jasmine Su also joined Li and Wu in the tie for second place.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC.

Tang won $15,000 for her victory, and the players tied for second earned $6,583.33 apiece. Tang also qualified for the U.S. Women’s Championship this October.

Senior Women’s Championship: Belakovskaia Clinches, Tsodikova Escapes With Second

Anjelina Belakovskaia is our 2026 U.S. Senior Women's champion. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia also just needed a draw to clinch her second U.S. Senior Women’s championship (and first since 2023). In a first for this year's event, all four games actually ended up peacefully, giving Belakovskaia the trophy.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC.

The battle for second place was again hotly contested, with WFM Natalya Tsodikova attempting to protect her half-point lead over WFM Chouchanik Airapetian in her game against none other than Airapetian!

Natalya Tsodikova escaped with a draw against Chouchanik Airapetian to claim outright second. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

As it turns out, Airapetian had a way to play for a win at the end. But, to put it mildly, it wasn’t an obvious sequence.

Belakovskaia won $17,500 for her victory, with Tsodikova taking home $10,000 for second and Airapetian $7,500 for third.

Junior Championship: Woodward Completes Comeback, Mishra Can’t Convert

Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes.

The U.S. Junior Championship was the only event where multiple players led entering the final round. With both GM Andy Woodward and GM Abhimanyu Mishra playing as White, it was clear that each player was going to push for a win and dare the other to keep up.

Tani Adewumi (L) and Andy Woodward loosen up before the final round. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Against GM Kirk Ghazarian, Woodward’s strategy appeared to be a success out of the opening. He managed to create a material imbalance with strong winning chances. But Woodward began to drift, and at one point was in danger of losing. But he found some brilliant complications that culminated in a tactical knockout:

Against IM Bach Ngo, Mishra also had good attacking chances out of the opening.

Everything was going Mishra's way for most of Thursday's game. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Ngo defended actively and accurately, but Mishra kept pushing, eventually getting as close as one accurate move away from having a winning sequence. But it was not to be, and Ngo defended perfectly from there to pull out the win.

Graphic courtesy of SLCC.

Mishra’s loss opened the door for IM Tanitoluwa Adewumi to catch up and tie for second place. Woodward earned $23,000 and a spot in the U.S. Championship for his victory, while Mishra and Adewumi each won $11,000.

Ngo’s win moved him up to clear fourth place with a positive score, making his debut in this event a smashing success. IM Alice Lee’s 4½/9 score is the best score a female player has put up in this tournament since Saint Louis Chess Club began hosting it in 2010. According to this thread, Lee also boasted the best performance rating ever of a female player in the U.S. Junior championship.

Senior Championship: Onischuk Forces Playoff

GM Vladimir Akopian led GM Alexander Onischuk by a half-point entering the final round of play. But all momentum had been on Onischuk’s side as he rode a 2½/3 streak into Thursday’s game.

Onischuk completed a great second half of the tournament with his third win in four games. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Akopian, in contrast, raced out to a 5/6 start but entered Thursday on a three-game drawing streak.

Onischuk’s good preparation in the Caro-Kann (an opening he rarely plays) took him to a comfortable position out of the opening. He eventually reached a strategically winning rook-and-pawn endgame and took over from there.

Onischuk’s opponent, GM Alexander Fishbein, also trailed Akopian by a half-point entering the round, so there was functionally no difference between a draw or a loss. But the loss allowed GM Alexander Shabalov to join Fishbein for a share of third place.

Alexander Fishbein had to navigate a difficult position against Onischuk while also keeping an eye on Vladimir Akopian (R)'s board. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Akopian had small chances to play for an advantage against GM Jesse Kraai, but he found himself having to defend a pawn-down endgame that he eventually held.

Akopian and Jesse Kraai analyze after a long battle ended peacefully. (Photo courtesy SLCC/Lennart Ootes)

Graphic courtesy of SLCC.

With these results, it’s playoff time! The players will play a pair of 15-minute games with a 10-second increment beginning at noon CDT. If the players are still tied after those two games, they will play a pair of three-minute blitz games with a two-second increment. There is no Armageddon, and if the players are still tied after the blitz match, they will continue playing two-game blitz matches until somebody emerges victorious.