The opening round of the 2025 U.S. Chess Championships proved to be a spectacle of both the absurd and the unexpected.
On the men’s side, the day produced an instantly legendary photo when Chief Arbiter Chris Bird was forced to stand over the game between GM Wesley So and GM Hans Niemann, holding an open umbrella to shield the players from the glare of a skylight.
This prompted Niemann to later joke that he felt like the “president of a small country.”
Former World Champion Garry Kasparov weighed in, offering a humorous, centuries-old perspective on the strange spectacle.
Citing the 16th-century Spanish master Ruy López de Segura, Kasparov quipped that “Hans knows the classics!” and the “first rule is… make sure the sun is in the enemy’s face so that it blinds him.”
The Saint Louis Chess Club itself praised Chief Arbiter Chris Bird for acting as a “superhero,” holding the umbrella mid-game until the window was covered.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Women’s Championship delivered genuine seismic shifts, as both the defending champion, IM Carissa Yip, and the tournament’s second seed, IM Alice Lee, suffered shocking defeats, falling to WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan and eight-time champion GM Irina Krush, respectively.
The defeat of the fan-favourites caused some upsets, but the rest of the games kept everyone’s focus intact.
Three-time reigning champion GM Fabiano Caruana got his campaign for a historic fourth consecutive title off to a perfect start, securing a crushing 27-move win against his former second, GM Grigoriy Oparin.
Caruana’s aggressive play with White demonstrated a clear intent to dominate from the outset.
The only other decisive result in the Open section saw GM Levon Aronian gain a measure of revenge, defeating 15-year-old GM Andy Woodward, who had bested him in the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament, ensuring Aronian joins Caruana as an early co-leader.
Rounding out the women’s section highlights, IM Anna Sargsyan also kicked off her tournament with a victory in her first appearance since switching her federation to the U.S., defeating FM Rose Atwell.
The combination of unexpected lighting protection and genuine early-tournament upsets firmly cemented the title for the most chaotic Day One in recent championship memory.
