So and Liang Lead Open at 2/2, Bottom Seeds Top the Women

Round two of the 2026 U.S. Championships thinned the leaders in both sections. In the Open, GMs Wesley So and Awonder Liang both won again and sit on 2/2, down from three co-leaders after round one. Half the games were decisive.

Liang buries Sevian

Liang was the first to finish, winning with Black in a King’s Indian Attack against GM Sam Sevian. It is Sevian’s second loss in two rounds. Liang pointed to the opening move order as the key: “I think Sam probably confused himself a little bit in the opening and just got a very bad position almost immediately.”

He added that Sevian was probably fine for a long time before “all of a sudden I was winning, and he had no defense.” Black was better throughout, usually only slightly, until the slow 32.Kg2?? lost on the spot.

Liang then converted with some flair. He sacrificed his knight and then his rook to clear the way for connected passed pawns.

So survives, Caruana gets off the mark

So was much worse against GM Jeffery Xiong but turned the game around. “I was just trying to survive the entire game,” So said, until Xiong got low on time and blundered. It is a familiar trait for a player who rarely lets a bad position become a lost result.

GM Fabiano Caruana scored his first win of the event against GM Grigoriy Oparin, in the last game to finish after 73 moves. He is now the only player half a point behind the leaders. As he chases a fifth straight title, he has time, but not unlimited room for draws.

The three draws

An Exchange Slav between GM Andy Woodward and GM Abhimanyu Mishra was the most solid game, with 99 accuracy for both. GM Sam Shankland tried an early 9.Ng5 against GM Ray Robson, borrowing an idea from Matthias Bluebaum vs. Anish Giri at the 2026 FIDE Candidates. The game was complicated but simmered down.

GM Levon Aronian played the Jaenisch Gambit with Black against GM Hans Niemann, and neither side made a serious mistake on the board. The ending was odd. Aronian made an incorrect draw claim in a dead-equal position and laughed as play continued. A few moves later Niemann claimed the draw, correctly.

Women: the bottom seeds lead

The two lowest seeds in the Women’s Championship are the only players on 2/2. FM Megan Paragua found a queen sacrifice to finish off IM Carissa Yip. WGM Thalia Cervantes played a counter-exchange sacrifice to beat WIM Rachael Li.

Two winners came back from early trouble. IM Anna Sargsyan blundered a pawn in the opening against IM Tatev Abrahamyan but won anyway, and IM Alice Lee beat WGM Jennifer Yu.

GM Irina Krush recovered from Friday’s queen blunder with a fierce attack against IM Rose Atwell. IM Nazi Paikidze vs. IM Anna Zatonskih was the round’s only draw.

What’s next

Round three of both events is on Sunday, October 11, starting at 1 p.m. ET (19:00 CEST, 10:30 p.m. IST). The marquee game is So against Liang, the two co-leaders, while Caruana has Black against Mishra.