WR Chess Comes to America: USA Edge Uzbekistan 14–10

Team USA beat Uzbekistan 14–10 in the first WR Chess event held on American soil, winning the rapid day 5–3 and the blitz day 9–7. The scoreline undersells how close it was: Uzbekistan tied the match after the first blitz round and again after the fifth, before the Americans pulled ahead for good in rounds six and seven.

The format was a Scheveningen match, four boards, every American facing every Uzbek, with Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian and captain Leinier Dominguez for the USA against Uzbekistan's full national team: Javokhir Sindarov, the 2026 World Championship challenger, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov and Mukhiddin Madaminov.

Levon Aronian was the best individual performer of the rapid day, scoring 2.5/3, while Abdusattorov's 3/4 kept Uzbekistan in touch without ever levelling the match. The U.S. led from the first round and had its closest call in round two, when Uzbekistan needed just a draw on the last relevant board to tie the score, Nakamura had already lost to Sindarov in a swift 22 moves, a game Sindarov called simple preparation: "I think he knows everything, but he forgot this line." Wesley So saved the round for the Americans, and Nakamura summed up the near-miss himself: a "slight mishap, but Wesley saved us." Uzbekistan won the final round of the day, but the U.S. had already banked enough to close it out 5–3.