The American Cup Ends—Now The Cold War Before The Candidates Begins

So that's it. Three major tournaments were already done and dusted this year: Tata Steel Chess, the Freestyle World Championship, and the Prague Masters.

Now, with The American Cup also drawing to a close in Saint Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, the last elite event before the 2026 FIDE Candidates has also finished.

It's finally full steam ahead for Cyprus, when the most tense tournament in chess kicks off in a little over two weeks.

This year's The American Cup winner wasn't one of the candidates getting ready to compete—it was GM Wesley So, who seems to have dropped out of the spotlight lately.

Not this time though as the Filipino-born American was crowned champion for the first time after losing just one game in 14.

So beat GM Levon Aronian in the Grand Final of the esports-style double-elimination event hosted at the Saint Louis Chess Club having already disposed of the only current candidate in the field, GM Fabiano Caruana, by 2.5-1.5 in the previous round.

Last year's winner. GM Hikaru Nakamura declined his invitation to defend his title in order to prepare for the Candidates. He and Caruana are gearing up to face each other in an all-American encounter in the opening round on March 29.

So picked up the $75,000 top prize plus a $15,000 bonus for his troubles and it was widely-acknowledged as a welcome return to form for the world number-nine.

So had a lot to prove. The 32-year-old hasn't been a candidate himself since his debut in 2018 and in recent months has has complained of being left out of closed invite tournaments, claiming he's not part of the popular Carlsen club of players.

His comments on X thanking the Saint Louis benefactor Rex Sinquefield appeared to be a nod to that:

For Caruana, the tournament saw him play his last classical games before the Candidates start. After losing to So, Caruana lost again to the runner-up Aronian in the Losers Bracket final by the same score. But for Caruana everything is about the Candidates now.

How much we can glean from Caruana's performance before the tournament that names the next world title challenger begins is anyone's guess. Caruana was surely playing his cards close to his chest.

Meanwhile, FIDE has been releasing details of its upcoming flagship tournament. The world governing body has revealed its choice to lead proceedings in the commentary box: popular GMs Peter Svidler and Jan Gustafsson.

All road lead to Cyprus right now. We can't wait.

You can find more details on the 2026 FIDE Candidates tournament at the event website here.