U.S. Open Chess Championship

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

History

Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation (1934–1938). The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has run the tournament since 1939.

In the early years of the tournament, the number of entrants was small, and play was conducted as round robins with preliminaries, Championship Finals, and Consolation Finals.

It remained a round robin through a semi-invitational phase, but gradually introduced preliminary and final sections to accommodate more players.

An important innovation came in 1946, as the Swiss System was used for the first time to determine placement from the preliminary to the various final sections.

Starting in 1947, there have not been preliminary rounds; the U.S. Open has been 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 9 rounds; the 2015 tournament was 9 rounds in 9 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 1990's.

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 $1000, 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 $8000 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 Edward F. Schrader
7 1906 Chicago George H. Wolbrecht
8 1907 Excelsior, Minnesota Einar Michelsen
9 1908 Excelsior, Minnesota Edward P. Elliot
10 1909 Excelsior, Minnesota Oscar Chajes
11 1910 Chicago George. H. Wolbrecht
12 1911 Excelsior, Minnesota Charles Blacke
13 1912 Excelsior, Minnesota Edward P. Elliot
14 1913 Chicago Bradford B. Jefferson
15 1914 Memphis, Tennessee Bradford B. Jefferson
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 Albert Charles Margolis
29 1928 South Bend, Indiana Leon Stolzenberg
30 1929 St. Louis, Missouri Herman H. Hahlbohm
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
56 1955 Long Beach, California Nicolas Rossolimo
57 1956 Oklahoma City Arthur Bisguier
58 1957 Cleveland, Ohio Bobby Fischer
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
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 Norman Weinstein
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, Timothy Taylor
79 1978 Phoenix, Arizona Joseph Bradford
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, John Meyer
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, Leo Kaushansky, Albert Chow
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,
Alexander Stripunsky, 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, Andranik Matikozian, Renier González, Marcel Martinez
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, Anton Paolo Del Mundo
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, John Daniel Bryant
114 2013 Madison, Wisconsin Josh Friedel, Mackenzie Molner, Julio Sadorra
115 2014 Orlando, Florida Conrad Holt
116 2015 Phoenix, Arizona Alexander Shabalov
117 2016 Indianapolis, Indiana
118 2017 Norfolk, Virginia

See also

References

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