Caruana Wins Titled Tuesday on a U.S. Championship Rest Day

Fabiano Caruana won Titled Tuesday on October 13 on what was an off day in the 2026 U.S. Championship, where he currently shares the tournament lead. He finished on 9.5 points, outright first.

The decisive game came in round 10, when Caruana defeated GM Nihal Sarin in a key matchup. Caruana then only drew in the final round, which would normally leave the door open.

It stayed shut because of GM Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura beat Nihal in the last round, finishing second on tiebreaks with nine points. Nihal came in third.

Nihal’s tournament until the end

Nihal dominated the storyline for much of the event. There was an even $5,000 on offer to anyone who managed a perfect score, and he stayed in line for it for nine rounds. Losing to Caruana ended that, and the final-round loss to Nakamura cost him the top spot as well.

Think about the swing. A player chasing a perfect score for nine rounds ends up third, behind the one opponent who beat him and the one who beat him next. Caruana’s own half point in round 11 was enough only because of that result.

Who was in the early mix

Seventeen players began with 4/4. All of the eventual top three were among them, as were the previous four Titled Tuesday winners: GM Sina Movahed (four weeks ago), GM Alireza Firouzja (three), GM Wesley So (two) and last week’s winner, GM Vladislav Artemiev.

So, like Caruana but not Nakamura, is playing in the U.S. Championship. That makes a Titled Tuesday on a rest day a fairly specific test of stamina, since the event is a weekly online blitz fixture that a classical tournament player can choose to skip.

Only five of the 17 reached 5/5: Nihal, Movahed, So, GM Rohith Krishna and FM Behzad Salimiyan. Salimiyan was perhaps the most surprising name, and he got there by crushing Firouzja.

He would go on to finish 35th, enough for this week’s under-16 prize.

What it means for Saint Louis

It was not a smooth ride. Caruana beat Kacper Piorun on time from a hopeless position, with 0.7 seconds left on his own clock, and two rounds later Praggnanandhaa lost on time to him as well. Commentator GM Robert Hess said he was “stretching his luck.” Against Nihal he never had a real advantage on the board; Nihal ran out of time.

It was Caruana’s first Titled Tuesday win since February 17. He returns to Saint Louis chasing a fifth straight U.S. title and Reshevsky’s record, where the classical rounds resume on Wednesday.