U.S. Open Chess Championship

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The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900.

History[]

The tournament was originally the championship of the , and was called the Western Open. In 1934 the Western Chess Association became the and the tournament became the American Chess Federation congress. In 1939, that organization merged into the United States Chess Federation (USCF) and the tournament became the U.S. Open.

In early years the tournament was usually small, and most years play was conducted as round robin. In some years it had to be divided into preliminary and final sections. It grew larger starting in 1934, necessitating use of different formats. In 1946 the Swiss System was used for preliminary rounds, and in 1947 and subsequent years the tournament was held as a single section paired by the Swiss System.

For many years, the tournament had 12 or 13 rounds and lasted two weeks. After experimentation with various less-demanding formats, in recent years it has usually been nine rounds; the 2015 tournament was nine rounds in nine days.

Tournament participation grew through the 1950s and 1960s. Milwaukee 1953 had 181 entrants, setting a new record for the tournament. Cleveland 1957 had 184 players, and San Francisco 1961 set another attendance record with 198 players. The 1963 Open at Chicago had 266 entries, making it the largest chess tournament held in the United States to that time. The tourney was slightly smaller at Boston in 1964, with a field of 229.

The 1983 Open at Pasadena was the largest ever, at 836 official entries; it also featured the participation of Viktor Korchnoi, who had played in the last two World Championship matches.

In the 2000s, the fields were over 400 to 500 entries. The tournament began in some editions to decline both in attendance and importance, and often many winners are involved in a tie for first, especially since the mid 1990s.

The cash prizes awarded were large for their time and added to the tournament's popularity. In 1962, the entry fee was $20, with a first prize of $1,000, second prize $500, third $300, fourth $200, fifth $100, sixth through tenth $50 and eleventh through fifteenth $25. The Women's Open Champion won $200, and the women's runner-up $100. Additional cash prizes were awarded to the top women, the top junior, and for the best scores in the Expert, A, B, and C classes. The 2016 guaranteed prize fund was $40,000, with $8,000 for first place.

Winners[]

No. Year Location Champions
1 1900 Excelsior, Minnesota Louis Uedemann
2 1901 Excelsior, Minnesota Nicholas MacLeod
3 1902 Excelsior, Minnesota Louis Uedemann
4 1903 Chicago Max Judd
5 1904 St. Louis, Missouri Stasch Mlotkowski
6 1905 Excelsior, Minnesota
7 1906 Chicago
8 1907 Excelsior, Minnesota
9 1908 Excelsior, Minnesota
10 1909 Excelsior, Minnesota Oscar Chajes
11 1910 Chicago
12 1911 Excelsior, Minnesota Charles Blake
13 1912 Excelsior, Minnesota
14 1913 Chicago
15 1914 Memphis, Tennessee
16 1915 Excelsior, Minnesota Jackson Showalter
17 1916 Chicago Edward Lasker
18 1917 Lexington, Kentucky Edward Lasker
19 1918 Chicago Bora Kostić
20 1919 Cincinnati Edward Lasker
21 1920 Memphis, Tennessee Edward Lasker
22 1921 Cleveland, Ohio Edward Lasker
23 1922 Louisville, Kentucky Samuel Factor
24 1923 San Francisco Stasch Mlotkowski, Norman Whitaker
25 1924 Detroit Carlos Torre
26 1925 Cedar Point, Ohio Abraham Kupchik
27 1926 Chicago Leon Stolzenberg
28 1927 Kalamazoo, Michigan
29 1928 South Bend, Indiana Leon Stolzenberg
30 1929 St. Louis, Missouri
31 1930 Chicago Samuel Factor, Norman Whitaker
32 1931 Tulsa, Oklahoma Samuel Reshevsky
33 1932 Minneapolis Reuben Fine
34 1933 Detroit Reuben Fine
35 1934 Chicago Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky
36 1935 Milwaukee Reuben Fine
37 1936 Philadelphia Israel A. Horowitz
38 1937 Chicago David Polland
39 1938 Boston Israel A. Horowitz, Isaac Kashdan
40 1939 New York City Reuben Fine
41 1940 Dallas Reuben Fine
42 1941 St. Louis, Missouri Reuben Fine
43 1942 Dallas Herman Steiner, Daniel Yanofsky
44 1943 Syracuse, New York Israel A. Horowitz
45 1944 Boston Samuel Reshevsky
46 1945 Peoria, Illinois Anthony Santasiere
47 1946 Pittsburgh Herman Steiner
48 1947 Corpus Christi, Texas Isaac Kashdan
49 1948 Baltimore Weaver W. Adams
50 1949 Omaha, Nebraska Albert Sandrin Jr.
51 1950 Detroit Arthur Bisguier
52 1951 Fort Worth, Texas Larry Evans
53 1952 Tampa, Florida Larry Evans
54 1953 Milwaukee Donald Byrne
55 1954 New Orleans Larry Evans, Arturo Pomar
56 1955 Long Beach, California Nicolas Rossolimo, Samuel Reshevsky (Rossolimo awarded title on tie-break)
57 1956 Oklahoma City Arthur Bisguier
58 1957 Cleveland, Ohio Bobby Fischer, Arthur Bisguier (Fischer awarded title on tie-break)
59 1958 Rochester, Minnesota Eldis Cobo Arteaga
60 1959 Omaha, Nebraska Arthur Bisguier
61 1960 St. Louis, Missouri Robert Byrne
62 1961 San Francisco Pal Benko
63 1962 San Antonio, Texas Antonio Medina Garcia
64 1963 Chicago William Lombardy, Robert Byrne
65 1964 Boston Pal Benko
66 1965 Río Piedras, Puerto Rico Pal Benko, William Lombardy
67 1966 Seattle Pal Benko, Robert Byrne
68 1967 Atlanta Pal Benko
69 1968 Aspen, Colorado Bent Larsen
70 1969 Lincoln, Nebraska Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier, Milan Vukcevich
71 1970 Boston Bent Larsen
72 1971 Ventura, California Walter Browne, Larry Evans
73 1972 Atlantic City, New Jersey Walter Browne
74 1973 Chicago , Duncan Suttles, Walter Browne,
Greg DeFotis, Ruben Rodríguez (Weinstein awarded title on tie-break)
75 1974 New York City Pal Benko, Vlastimil Hort
76 1975 Lincoln, Nebraska Pal Benko, William Lombardy
77 1976 Fairfax, Virginia Anatoly Lein, Leonid Shamkovich
78 1977 Columbus, Ohio Leonid Shamkovich, Andy Soltis,
79 1978 Phoenix, Arizona
80 1979 Chicago Florin Gheorghiu
81 1980 Atlanta John Fedorowicz, Florin Gheorghiu
82 1981 Palo Alto, California Florin Gheorghiu, Larry Christiansen, Jeremy Silman,
Nick de Firmian,
83 1982 St. Paul, Minnesota Andrew Soltis, William Martz
84 1983 Pasadena, California Larry Christiansen, Viktor Korchnoi
85 1984 Ft. Worth, Texas Roman Dzindzichashvili, Sergey Kudrin
86 1985 Hollywood, Florida Yasser Seirawan, Boris Spassky, Joel Benjamin
87 1986 Somerset, New Jersey Larry Christiansen
88 1987 Portland, Oregon Lev Alburt
89 1988 Boston Dmitry Gurevich
90 1989 Chicago Lev Alburt
91 1990 Jacksonville, Florida Yasser Seirawan
92 1991 Los Angeles Michael Rohde, Vladimir Akopian
93 1992 Dearborn, Michigan Gregory Kaidanov
94 1993 Philadelphia Alexander Shabalov
95 1994 Chicago Georgi Orlov, Dmitry Gurevich, Ben Finegold,
Smbat Lputian, ,
96 1995 Concord, California Alex Yermolinsky
97 1996 Alexandria, Virginia Gabriel Schwartzman
98 1997 Kissimmee, Florida Alex Yermolinsky
99 1998 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Judit Polgár, Boris Gulko
100 1999 Reno, Nevada Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Goldin, Eduardas Rozentalis,
Alexander Shabalov, Gabriel Schwartzman, Michael Mulyar
101 2000 St. Paul, Minnesota Alex Yermolinsky
102 2001 Framingham, Massachusetts Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Joel Benjamin,
 [ru], Fabian Doettling
103 2002 Cherry Hill, New Jersey Gennadi Zaichik, Evgeniy Najer
104 2003 Los Angeles Alexander Shabalov
105 2004 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Alexander Onischuk, Rodrigo Vásquez, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz,
Ildar Ibragimov,  [hy],  [es],
106 2005 Phoenix, Arizona Vadim Milov, Joel Benjamin
107 2006 Oak Brook, Illinois Yury Shulman
108 2007 Cherry Hill, New Jersey Boris Gulko, Sergey Kudrin, Benjamin Finegold, Alexander Shabalov,
Michael A. Rohde, Michael A. Mulyar,
109 2008 Dallas Alexander Shabalov, Rade Milovanović, Enrico Sevillano
110 2009 Indianapolis Dmitry Gurevich, Sergey Kudrin, Alex Lenderman, Alex Yermolinsky, Jacek Stopa, Jesse Kraai
111 2010 Irvine, California Alejandro Ramirez
112 2011 Orlando, Florida Aleksandr Lenderman
113 2012 Vancouver, Washington Manuel León Hoyos, Dmitry Gurevich,
114 2013 Middleton, Wisconsin Josh Friedel, Mackenzie Molner, Julio Sadorra
115 2014 Orlando, Florida Conrad Holt
116 2015 Phoenix, Arizona Alexander Shabalov
117 2016 Indianapolis, Indiana Alexander Shabalov
118 2017 Norfolk, Virginia Aleksandr Lenderman
119 2018 Middleton, Wisconsin Timur Gareyev
120 2019 Orlando, Florida Illia Nyzhnyk
121 2021 Cherry Hill, New Jersey Aleksandr Lenderman

See also[]

References[]

  • Harkness, Kenneth (1967), Official Chess Handbook, David McKay, pp. 276–278, LCCN 66013085 (History and winners list of the tournament through 1966.)
  • "2016 US Chess Yearbook" (PDF). uschess.org. 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2018. (winners list)
  • (1979), "The U.S. Opens A Rich Tradition", Chess Life & Review, vol. July 1979, p. 400 (winners and location list 1939-1979)
  • "US Open Tournament Index". Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  • Chess Life, vol. 17, no. 6, pp. 128–129, June 1962 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) (details of the 1962 Open)
  • 2007 results at uschess.org
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