The games are here:
https://www.goldchess.com/en/other/winnerslist.html#g0_wins
Andy Woodward won, remaining undefeated; Abhimanyu Mishra came second, with one loss. Andy, aged 16, with a rating of 2640, finished 79th in the table. Mishra, aged 17, a chess prodigy who became a Grandmaster at the youngest age – at 12 – currently has a rating of 2630 and finished 97th in the table. Future world champions are on the rise.
Third is Tanitoluwa Adewumi, aged 16, with a rating of 2467, also with one loss. We’ll take a look at both losses. Mishra made a ‘youthful mistake’. With a secure draw in hand, he decided to continue playing a knight and a pawn down and, naturally, lost. In the Adewumi–Lee game, Lee, playing Black, played beautifully in the endgame, like a grandmaster.
However, there were still chances to salvage the game. An assessment of the position after 49 moves. The a5 pawn is valuable, but not 50.a6 (?). The correct move was 56 b4. And however Black plays, it’s a draw. White cannot lose here, whereas Black can if they play inaccurately. We present one such winning line. A fine endgame.
USA Girls’ Championship Tournament 2026
Out of the 10 participants in the US Junior Girls’ Championship, only one has a distinctly American-sounding surname. And this is a rare occurrence. Only the winner, Zoel Tang, remained undefeated, whilst the second and third-placed players each suffered three defeats. We’d like to highlight the fourth-placed player, Su, and the fifth, Paragua, who each suffered just one defeat. Winning those games would have secured second place for either of them.
Wu–Paragua 1–0
The mistake was 20…Ng4, sacrificing two minor pieces for a rook. Consequently, White’s gain of a quality ended the game, as they were left with an extra piece. It was difficult to do much in this game, but we have a draw.
2026 USA Girls’ Championship Tournament
Do you know what makes chess so great and effective? It’s the fact that our opponents don’t understand what we’re playing, and so they can’t mount an effective defence. That’s the essence of the Goldchess style. And there was a pleasant surprise in this tournament. Rachael Li played exactly this sort of chess in her game against Su. From move 20, or even earlier, the game was lost for Black. But, playing as Su, we returned the favour in kind. The computer simply cannot figure out what we’re playing. We have a draw, a win involving the sacrifice of a queen (which wasn’t accepted), and a checkmate involving the capture and sacrifice of a queen. Both games are polished diamonds. They’ll feature in one of our tournaments; here we’re showing the draw.
And, as always, we invite you to play and learn with us. Our tournaments against the educational computer: (https://goldchess.com), and the Goldchess Chess Academy (https://learnchess.pl), with courses for all levels.