Rachael Li's chess, by the numbers
October 16, 2026 · Updated October 23, 2026 · 95 classical games, 2024 to 2026, among them all 11 of the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship
Li's 95 classical games from the last two years, from the 2026 World Youth Championship to the U.S. Women's Championship they won, every move checked by Stockfish, counted the way anyone's games are. Here is what the count found.
Li is 16, a Woman International Master, and the 2026 U.S. Women's Champion. In their first appearance in St. Louis they clinched the title with a last-round draw against Anna Zatonskih on October 21, ahead of Alice Lee, whom they had beaten with the black pieces in round 6 (Chess.com's report, by Anthony Levin). Chess.com calls them the event's youngest first-time winner. "I feel really relieved, actually," Li said. At 9 they became the youngest female U.S. Chess master on record.
This page counts how they play: 95 classical games from the last two years, mostly open tournaments against grown-up masters, every move checked by the engine, with the same questions a club player's games get asked.
How they play
Every player gets one of four profiles from two measures: how often they force matters with a check or a capture, against what the position asks for, and how rarely one of their pieces is left loose. Li's pieces are rarely loose (93 of 100; the line is at 64), and on forcing they sit under the line at 46: the Steady Hand. The other scores: closing 97, accuracy 85.
When a game is lost, they play it to the end.
23 of 33 classical losses ended in checkmate on the board
Of Li's 33 classical losses from 2024 to 2026, 23 ended in checkmate on the board; 10 were resigned. Strong players almost always resign first: of the other classical sets counted for these pages, Alice Lee was mated in 1 of 19 losses, Carissa Yip in 1 of 24, Caruana in none of 11. The losses themselves were slow ones: 30 of the 33 had no single move that cost 30 points of winning chances.
30 of 33 losses had no blunder in them.
30 of 33 classical losses had no blunder in them
Of the 33 losses, 30 have no single move that cost 30 or more points of winning chances: outplayed a little at a time, 91% of the time, against a field that is often stronger. 32 of the 95 games were against opponents rated 100 or more points higher, where Li scored 33%; against players within 100 points, 59%; against players 100 or more points weaker, 70%. Eight moves in the 95 games cost 30 points or more.
Once meaningfully up: 37 of 38.
97% of decisive advantages converted in classical
Li was meaningfully up, three pawns' worth or more by the engine, in 38 classical games and won 37 of them; the other was drawn. None was lost. Carlsen's classical rate from the same kind of source is 100% on fewer games; Lichess blitz players rated 2000 and up convert 79% in blitz.
Their cleanest event was the one they won.
1.2 mid-sized mistakes per 100 moves at the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship, against 2.6 in their other games
Across ten events of five games or more, Li made the fewest mistakes at the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship: 1.2 moves in every 100 cost 10 or more points of winning chances, by the engine, against 2.6 in their other 84 games; the next-best event, at 1.7, was the Cornerstone Holidays of 2025. Their average loss a move was the lowest too, 0.17 of a pawn against 0.23, narrowly ahead of the 2026 World Open. The field was stronger than at most of those events: a median opponent of 2332, where at the 2026 World Youth, also 8½ of 11, it was 2167. Across their classical games Alice Lee, second in St. Louis, makes 1.9 such mistakes per 100 moves and Carissa Yip 2.4, so in the event that mattered most Li played cleaner than either. For scale, the 2700s are lower again: So 0.4, Caruana 0.6, Carlsen 1.1.
1.e4, and the Closed Sicilian against 1…c5.
77% of 52 classical games as White opened with e4
As White, Li opened 1.e4 in 40 of 52 classical games, 1.Nf3 eight times, 1.b3 twice. When the answer was 1…c5, they chose the Closed Sicilian 18 times in 25, their most-played line as White, scoring 58%. As Black, 1…c5 against 1.e4 in 10 of 19, and 1…Nf6 against 1.d4 in 18 of 19.
The full reports
- Li's classical report
95 classical games, 2024 to 2026: the FIDE World Youth 2026 (11), the 1000GM Las Vegas norms (9), the AGCA Invitational (9), Cornerstone Holidays (9), the Washington International 2025 and 2026, the North American, Chicago and World Opens, the U.S. Masters, the American Cup 2026 and others, from Lichess's broadcasts, and the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship (11) from chess.com's event page. 38 wins, 24 draws, 33 losses. Download the games (PGN)
Each report opens as a deck of slides, one finding to a slide, with the positions behind every number. A blunder is a move that cost 30 or more points of winning chances; winning chances are the engine's estimate of how likely a player is to win, from 0 to 100.
How this was measured
Plysight analyzes games the same way for everyone: Stockfish evaluates every move, and the findings are counted from those evaluations. Advice lines, written for a player reading their own report, are left out. Li has no public chess.com account we could confirm, so the page stands on classical games only. The six house words the reports use are defined on the report's last slide.
Classical games from Lichess's broadcasts, 2024 to 2026, among them the 2026 World Youth Championship, and the 11 games of the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship from chess.com's event page. Plysight is independent of Lichess, chess.com and Li. Li's FIDE profile. Published October 16, 2026; updated October 23, 2026.
Piece art by Cburnett, CC BY-SA 3.0.