Rachael Li at 16: The Record Breaker Who Stopped Alice Lee's Streak

Illustration of Rachael Li at the chessboard. This is not a real picture of Rachael Li, and the pieces shown are not a position from her games.

Before Round 6 of the 2026 U.S. Women's Championship, Alice Lee had won four games in a row. She was 17, an International Master, and a full point ahead of everyone. Her opponent was 16-year-old Rachael Li, with the black pieces. Li won. The streak was over, and the championship had three leaders instead of one.

Who is Rachael Li? Her story starts in Texas, with a record that still stands.

A chess family

Rachael Li was born on January 6, 2010, and grew up in Plano, Texas. Her older brother is Grandmaster Ruifeng Li. She began playing in tournaments at four years old, and played her first World Open, one of the biggest open tournaments in America, at four and a half.

Records at eight and nine

At eight, Li became the youngest female Expert in U.S. chess history. An Expert is a player with a U.S. Chess rating of 2000 or more, a level most adult tournament players never reach. Her brother, who became a grandmaster, earned his Expert rating at nine.

At nine, in November 2019, she went past 2200 at the 3rd Annual Winter Open at the North Texas Chess Academy in Carrollton, Texas. That made her a National Master, and the youngest female master in U.S. history. The record she broke belonged to Carissa Yip, who became a master at 11 in 2015. Yip came into this year's championship as the defending U.S. Women's Champion.

That same year Li won a bronze medal in the Girls Under 10 section at the World Cadet Championships in China. The gold in that section went to another nine-year-old American: Alice Lee.

A long break, then a fast climb

Then her results stop. Her FIDE record, the international rating list, shows no rated games for more than three years, from early 2020 to the middle of 2023. We do not know why, and this article will not guess.

When she came back, she climbed quickly. Her FIDE rating was 1939 before the break. By March 2024 it was 2190. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, gave her the Woman FIDE Master title in 2024 and the Woman International Master title in 2025. WIM is a lifetime title, one step below Woman Grandmaster.

In July 2026 she tied for second place at the U.S. Junior Girls' Championship in Saint Louis, behind the winner Zoey Tang. On the October 2026 FIDE list her rating is 2380, the highest it has ever been.

The 2026 U.S. Women's Championship

Li started this championship well. In Round 1 she beat eight-time champion Irina Krush. By the end of Round 5 she had 3.5 points out of 5. Lee had 4.5. After a draw with Yip in Round 1, Lee won four games in a row, and after Round 5 she was alone in front.

On Thursday, 15 October, the two met in Round 6. Lee had White. Li won in 60 moves, and both players moved to 4.5 out of 6. Thalia Cervantes beat Nazi Paikidze in the same round, so three players shared first place with five rounds to go.

The puzzle

Here is a moment from the game. It is Black to move, on move 29. Li is already a pawn up. One of White's pawns has no defender at all, and Black can take it. Which pawn, and which piece takes it? The answer is at the end.

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Black to move. Find the pawn with no defender.

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The Game: Lee vs Li, Round 6

Alice Lee 0-1 Rachael Li, 2026 U.S. Women's Championship, Saint Louis, Round 6, 15 October 2026. White: IM Alice Lee (2467). Black: WIM Rachael Li (2380).

The opening: White builds a big pawn wall

The game began 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6. This is the Queen's Indian Defense. Black puts the bishop on b7, where it looks down the long diagonal at the center, instead of filling the center with pawns. After 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 Ne4 6.Nxe4 Bxe4 7.Nd2 Bb7 8.e4 d6 9.Bd3 Nd7 10.O-O g6 the position was about equal. Our Stockfish 17.1 run gave White a small edge, less than half a pawn.

Then White started pushing pawns. 11.f4 Bg7 12.Nf3 O-O 13.b4 put five white pawns side by side, from b4 to f4. It looks strong. But pawns cannot move backward, and a long pawn wall has a problem: the pawns in front of the pieces are hard to protect. Our engine liked this for Black. The evaluation went from a small White edge to more than half a pawn in Black's favor, and for the rest of the game Black was never worse.

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After 13.b4. Five white pawns stand in a row. Black strikes at them with 13...c5, which attacks both b4 and d4.

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Li hit the wall at once. 13...c5 14.Bb2 cxd4 15.Bxd4 e5 broke it in the middle. 16.fxe5 Nxe5 17.Bxe5 Bxe5 18.Ra2 left Black with two bishops against White's bishop and knight. Two bishops working together are often stronger than a bishop and a knight in an open position, because bishops cover long lines.

The middlegame: count the attackers

For a while both players moved their pieces into place. 18...Qe7 19.Qb3 Bg7 20.Kh1 h6 21.Rd2 Rac8 22.Rfd1 Rfd8 23.Rf1 Qe6 24.Qa4 a6 25.h3 Rc7 26.Qd1. That last move left the pawn on e4 with only one defender.

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After 26.Qd1. The pawn on e4 is attacked twice, by the bishop on b7 and the queen on e6. Only the bishop on d3 defends it.

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Here is a habit worth learning. Count how many of your pieces attack a pawn, and how many of the other side's pieces defend it. Two attackers against one defender means you can usually take it. Li took it: 26...Bxe4 27.Re2 Bxf3 28.Rxf3 Be5. Black was now a pawn up.

Two chances missed

Then came the puzzle position. White played 29.Be4, and the pawn on c4 was left with no defender. The black queen on e6 and the rook on c7 both attacked it. The strongest move was 29...Rxc4, winning a second pawn. Our engine, at depth 22, rated that at about one and a half pawns for Black.

Li did not take it. She played 29...Kg7, a safe king move. Black was still better, but the engine's number dropped below one pawn.

This is a very human moment. Even in one of the biggest wins of her career, Li missed a free pawn. What matters is what came next. She kept making good moves.

30.g4 Qe7 31.Bd5 Qg5 32.Qg1 gave her a second chance. The engine's top choice was 32...b5, a pawn push that attacks the c4 pawn again. Li played 32...Rb8 instead, and Black's edge shrank to about half a pawn. Two chances missed, and Black was still better. That is what a good position gives you: more chances.

The pawn on c4 falls

White now went for the attack. 33.Qf2 f6 34.Qe1 h5 35.h4 gave up another pawn to open lines toward the black king, and Li took that one: 35...Qxg4 36.Rg2 Qd4. Black was two pawns up.

Then 37.Rf1 let Black's advantage grow to about three pawns, and after 37...Kh7 38.Be4 it was nearly five. The pawn on c4 had no defender again, and this time Li took it: 38...Rxc4. It was the same rook capture she had missed nine moves earlier. She had less than seven minutes left on her clock when she played it, against Lee's 15.

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After 38...Rxc4. The rook finally takes the pawn on c4. Black is three pawns up.

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The finish: take away the defenders

White took a pawn back with 39.Bxg6+, but after 39...Kh6 40.Rff2 Qxh4+ Black was three pawns up, and White's king had no shelter. 41.Kg1 Rg8 42.Qe3+ Bf4 43.Qd3 Rc1+ 44.Rf1 followed.

Now look at the white bishop on g6. Two pieces guarded it: the rook on g2 and the queen on d3. Li got rid of both. 44...Bh2+ gave a check with the bishop. After 45.Rxh2 the rook had left g2. Then 45...Rxf1+ 46.Qxf1 pulled the queen away from d3. Now nothing guarded g6, and 46...Rxg6+ took the bishop.

The rest was careful technique. 47.Rg2 Qd4+ 48.Kh2 Qe5+ 49.Kg1 b5 50.Qc1+ Rg5 51.Qc6 Qd5 52.Qxd5 Rxd5. The queens were gone, and Black had a rook ending three pawns up.

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After 52...Rxd5. A rook ending with three extra pawns for Black. Rook endings can be hard to win, but three pawns is a lot.

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53.Rc2 Rd3 54.Rc6 Rxa3 55.Rxd6 Kg5 56.Kg2 f5 57.Rd4 Ra4 58.Rd6 Kg4 59.Rd4+ f4 60.Rd8 Rxb4. Lee resigned. Black had four pawns against none, and her king was ready to walk them forward.

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The final position. White resigned. Black has four pawns and White has none.

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What to Learn from Rachael Li

1. Pawns cannot move backward. White's big pawn wall on move 13 looked strong, but every pawn that moves forward leaves squares behind it. Before you push a pawn, ask what it stops guarding.

2. Hit the weakness right away. After 13.b4, Li did not follow some plan of her own. She played 13...c5 and attacked the pawns White had just pushed. When your opponent makes a weakness, go after it.

3. Count attackers and defenders. On move 26 the pawn on e4 had two attackers and one defender, so Li won it. On move 29 the pawn on c4 had two attackers and no defender. Make counting a habit on every move.

4. A good position gives second chances. Li missed 29...Rxc4 and 32...b5, and still won. Build a better position first, and the tactics will often come back.

5. Remove the guards. On move 44 the bishop on g6 had two defenders. Li used a check and a trade to pull both of them away, and then took it. When a piece is guarded, ask whether you can make the guards leave.

6. Breaks are not the end of the story. Li's FIDE record shows more than three years without a rated game. She came back, earned the WIM title, and at 16 beat the tournament leader with Black.

Puzzle answer

29...Rxc4. The rook takes the pawn on c4. No white piece can take back, because nothing guards c4. In the game Li played 29...Kg7, and the same capture came nine moves later.

What comes next

The championship has eleven rounds, and Li is not slowing down. On Friday, in Round 7, she beat Megan Paragua.

At nine she broke a national record. At 16 she has beaten an eight-time champion and the tournament leader in the same national championship. The next titles on her road are Woman Grandmaster and, beyond it, International Master.

Update: Alice Lee's story, including the 2019 World Cadets, where she won gold and Li won bronze.