US Chess Championship 2026

 The field is still very strong even though Nakamura and Dominguez are missing.

2026 US Memory Championship

I was one of 12 who made it through the qualifiers back in July. We were joined by 4 champions: Wes Twiggs, Nelson Dellis, Ron White, and Lance Tschirhart. After my flight was delayed by 4 hours, eventually I made it to Orlando on the night before the competition.

The first event was Long Term Recall. Four weeks earlier, we were given spreadsheets on Preakness winners (horse racing), video games, and signers of the Declaration of Independence. In total, it was about 7 pages. We would have to answer questions about the material; 2 mistakes and you are eliminated. I got a slow start. A few weeks ago, I had memorized a ton of financial regulations for the Security Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, and it takes a while for the images to fade from my memory palaces. So I started preparing about a week late and was still shaky on the video games section. Luckily, the first round of questions was about the Declaration of Independence. Several of my rivals stumbled, and when it was my turn, I nailed it. The next round was about horse racing. Casey Porter, a newcomer, made his second mistake and was eliminated. I had no problems when it was my turn. Then we moved on to the video games. James Cumming made his second mistake and was knocked out. He has been competing for several years and always does very well in the qualifying tournament. Soon it was my turn. Fortunately, I got a question that I knew. We moved on to harder questions about the Declaration of Independence. Sara Morici, competing for her second time, was knocked out. Adam Deng was also eliminated. It was his first time in the championship, but he had made an impression by winning the qualifier. I had talked to newcomer Grace Luo before the event, and she seemed very prepared, but she made her second mistake was knocked out. I advanced to the next round.

Next was words. We had 15 minutes to memorize up to 300 words. I decided to memorize 106. For most of the competition's history, memorizing 100 had always been enough. But a few years ago, I had been knocked out for knowing only 100, so I was a bit more ambitious this year. Competitors are eliminated if they make 2 mistakes. Usually I make 1 error and survive, but this time I was perfect. Dhruv Thogarchedu, competing for his second time, was eliminated quickly. I had met him back at the French Open in March. The rest of the field did very well, but finally they started to crack after about 90 words. Erdem Dulguun has been competing for several years and has done very well in the past, but he was eliminated. We also lost 2-time champion Ron White. Makenna Good (winner of the 2020 online competition) was also knocked out. Meanwhile, former champ Lance Tschirhart flexed his skills by memorizing 166 words. He had come out of retirement but was showing no signs of rust.

The third event was the Tea Party. We watch videos where 5 people introduce themselves, telling us their name, birthday, occupation, etc. This is where I usually stumble; I was eliminated here in 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2024. Finalists are eliminated after 3 mistakes. I trained a bit more this year. There is too much information for me to absorb it all, but now I could handle more of it. I only had to skip about half of it, focusing on memorizing the other half. Then I missed the first question. But I got the next one right. I stumbled on my 3rd question. Reigning champ Wes Twiggs made a few minor mistakes and was knocked out. Newcomers Arnav Ayyalasomayajula and Steve Ruppel were also eliminated. I got my next 2 questions right. However, the remaining finalists were doing very well. Lance had one minor mistake, while Jason Smith and 6-time champion Nelson Dellis had perfect scores. I made my third mistake and was knocked out. I got 3 questions right out of 6, my best performance ever in the Tea Party. Overall I got 4th place, tying my best result ever.

The last event was cards. The remaining finalists were Jason Smith, Lance Tschirhart, and Nelson Dellis. They had 5 minutes to memorize 2 decks of cards. One mistake leads to elimination, and the last man standing is the winner. Jason stumbled early. Nelson was answering quickly and confidently. He and Lance made it through the first deck with no errors. Deep into the second deck, Nelson finally made a mistake and was knocked out. Lance won his second championship.

Congrats Lance!!!

Uzchess Cup Masters

 Abdusattorov is the top seed in the 10-player round robin

MinStrength - Candidates update

Sindarov finished with 10/14,  which is the 6th best performance in history. MinStrength methodology 

1. Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2014: MinStrength = 2830

2. Gukesh, Olympiad 2024: MinStrength = 2758

3. Carlsen, Nanjing 2009: MinStrength = 2755

4. Fischer, Candidates 1971 match against Larsen: MinStrength = 2737

5. Karpov, Linares 1994: MinStrength = 2736

6. Sindarov, Candidates 2026: MinStrength = 2718

7. Topalov, San Luis 2005: MinStrength = 2699

8. Fischer, Candidates 1971 match against Taimanov: MinStrength = 2697

9. Kasparov, Linares 1997: MinStrength = 2668

Candidates Update - Is Sindarov the GOAT?

 Halfway through the Candidates Tournament, Sindarov leads with 6.0/7. This is an incredible score against such a strong field. Here is how it compares with other great performances.

A few years ago, I developed MinStrength as an improvement over performance ratings. The updated list of top MinStrengths:

1. Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2014: MinStrength = 2830

2. Gukesh, Olympiad 2024: MinStrength = 2758

3. Carlsen, Nanjing 2009: MinStrength = 2755

4. Sindarov, Candidates 2026: MinStrength = 2741*

*After 7 games

5. Fischer, Candidates 1971 match against Larsen: MinStrength = 2737

6. Karpov, Linares 1994: MinStrength = 2736

7. Topalov, San Luis 2005: MinStrength = 2699

8. Fischer, Candidates 1971 match against Taimanov: MinStrength = 2697

9. Kasparov, Linares 1997: MinStrength = 2668

Surviving against a GM

 I went to the St. Louis Chess Club on Friday and played in the rapid quads. After losing to a 2400, I faced former US champ GM Alexander Yermolinsky:

[Event "Friday Action Quads"] [Site "St. Louis"] [Date "2026.04.03"] [Round "2"] [White "Wilson, Matthew"] [Black "Yermolinsky, GM Alex"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B42"] [WhiteElo "2108"] [BlackElo "2442"] [Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"] [PlyCount "79"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Qe2 Bc5 $6 {Mixing up the move order} 7. Nb3 Be7 8. O-O $6 { Soon we transpose back into the main line} ({ I trusted my opponent and didn't seriously consider} 8. e5 { . Stockfish thinks White is clearly better after} Nd5 9. c4 Nb4 10. Be4 d5 11. exd6 Qxd6 12. Nc3 $16) 8... d6 9. c4 Qc7 10. Nc3 b6 11. Bd2 Bb7 12. f4 Nbd7 13. Rae1 Rd8 14. Kh1 ({Stockfish wants to play} 14. g4 $1 { even though Black hasn't castled yet. This felt too aggressive to me.}) ({ The point of Black's move is that it tactically prevents} 14. e5 $4 { since that loses to} dxe5 15. fxe5 Nxe5 16. Qxe5 Qxe5 17. Rxe5 Rxd3 $19) 14... O-O 15. Nd4 Rfe8 16. b4 (16. f5 { is Stockfish's suggestion. It thinks it can put pressure on Black with} Bf8 17. fxe6 fxe6 18. Bc2 {followed by Bg5 and possibly Bb3}) (16. g4 $6 Nc5 17. Bc2 d5 18. cxd5 exd5 19. e5 Nfe4 {is good for Black}) 16... d5 $2 {During the game, I felt this was incorrect. However, I thought he might play it anyways, since otherwise Black just suffers.} ({Stockfish calmly plays} 16... g6 { and claims White is only slightly better after} 17. Nf3 Bf8 18. a3) 17. cxd5 exd5 (17... Bxb4 18. Ncb5 axb5 19. Bxb4 exd5 20. e5 {transposes into the game}) 18. e5 Bxb4 19. Ncb5 $1 (19. Rc1 { was my first instinct, but Black can plug the c-file with} Bc5) 19... axb5 20. Bxb4 Ne4 21. Nxb5 Qc6 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Nd6 Re6 24. Nxb7 $2 { I jumped at the chance to get a risk-free advantage against a GM} ({After} 24. Qh5 $1 {Stockfish thinks White's attack is so strong that Black should sacrifice the rook for the knight immediately}) 24... Qxb7 25. Qxe4 Qxe4 26. Rxe4 Nc5 27. Bxc5 bxc5 28. Rc4 Ra6 29. a4 (29. Rxc5 Rxa2 {and maybe in my time trouble he would find a way to double rooks on the 2nd rank. My move is safer}) 29... g6 30. g3 Rd4 31. Rfc1 Rxa4 32. Rxc5 Rd2 33. R5c2 Ra2 34. Rxa2 Rxa2 35. h3 h5 36. Rg1 f6 37. exf6 Kf7 38. Rg2 Ra1+ 39. Kh2 Kxf6 40. Re2 {We played a few more moves before agreeing to a draw. My first draw against a GM in rapid!!!} 1/2-1/2

Drawing an IM and almost beating a GM

On Friday nights, the St. Louis Chess Club hosts a rapid tournament. Sometimes I get a chance to face titled players. In Round 1, I was black against former US champ GM Alex Yermolinsky. He's also the author of "The Road to Chess Improvement," which is an excellent book. He was winning for most of the game, and we reached this position:

Obviously, the knight is immune (white would win with either Qd8+ or Qc8+). I was under 10 seconds and blitzed out 27...Qb8 as I was about to flag. But if I had a bit more time, I would have found 27...Nf6! After the queen escapes, the f7-knight can be captured safely: 28.Qc7 Qxf7 29.Qd8+ and now I have 29...Ne8 and I'm up a piece. White's best chance was 28.Qa4 Qxf7 29.Qxc4 Qxd5 and I am up two pawns for nothing.

In the next round, I had the white pieces against IM Kostya Kavutskiy. In my notes, "(SF)" means that Stockfish suggested this move.

[Event "Friday Action Quads"] [Site "St. Louis"] [Date "2026.03.27"] [Round "2"] [White "Wilson, Matthew"] [Black "Kavutskiy, IM Kostya"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2108"] [BlackElo "2390"] [Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"] [PlyCount "65"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 { In our previous game, he played the Najdorf and I held a draw.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8. Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nd5 Bg7 12. Bd3 Ne7 13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. O-O O-O 15. c3 f5 16. Nc2 Bb7 17. exf5 e4 18. Be2 Qe5 $146 19. a4 ({I rejected} 19. Ne3 { because of} b4 {, but I missed} 20. Qb3 $1 { (SF). White wins a pawn thanks to the pin:} a5 21. a3 {and if Black tries} Rab8 {, it only gets worse.} 22. axb4 axb4 23. Ra4 bxc3 24. Rb4 Qe7 25. bxc3 { . Reinforcements are coming to the b-file, so Black will lose a piece. But my move is about equally good.}) 19... Qxf5 $6 (19... d5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8 Rxa8 22. Bxb5 Qxf5 $16 {was the lesser evil}) 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8 Bxa8 22. Qxd6 Be5 23. Qd2 Kh8 24. f4 $6 ({ Stockfish doesn't fear ghosts and confidently plays} 24. Rd1 { . I was spooked by ...Rg8 followed by ...Qh3.} Rg8 25. Ne3 Qh3 26. g3 Bxg3 27. fxg3 Rxg3+ 28. hxg3 Qxg3+ 29. Ng2 e3 30. Qd4+ $1 Kg8 31. Qg4+ {and White wins.} ) 24... Bf6 25. Nd4 $2 ({The engine fearlessly goes pawn-hunting:} 25. Qd6 Rd8 26. Qb6 $18) 25... Qc5 $2 (25... Qd5 $142 $14) 26. b4 $1 {Otherwise Black will play ...b4, liquidating his weakness and undermining my knight.} Qb6 27. Kh1 $2 {It is more accurate to play Rd1 first.} Rd8 28. Rd1 Bxd4 29. cxd4 {We were bot h in time pressure and I am not entirely sure about the remaining moves} Bd5 30. Bf1 Ra8 31. Qc1 Rd8 32. Qd2 Qd6 33. Bxb5 {In the time scramble, we eventually found ourselves in a dead equal rook ending. I offered a draw, and he accepted.} 1/2-1/2