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.

Contents

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. Starting in 1947, the Swiss system has been used to accommodate a large number of players. Through 1966, the tournaments had 12 or 13 rounds and lasted nearly two weeks. The 2006 tournament had 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. In 2005 and 2006, the fields were over 500.

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 2006 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, Illinois Max Judd
5 1904 St. Louis, Missouri Stasch Mlotkowski
6 1905 Excelsior, Minnesota Edward F. Schrader
7 1906 Chicago, Illinois 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, Illinois George. H. Wolbrecht
12 1911 Excelsior, Minnesota Charles Blacke
13 1912 Excelsior, Minnesota Edward P. Elliot
14 1913 Chicago, Illinois Bradford B. Jefferson
15 1914 Memphis, Tennessee Bradford B. Jefferson
16 1915 Excelsior, Minnesota Jackson Showalter
17 1916 Chicago, Illinois Edward Lasker
18 1917 Lexington, Kentucky Edward Lasker
19 1918 Chicago, Illinois Bora Kostic
20 1919 Cincinnati, Ohio Edward Lasker
21 1920 Memphis, Tennessee Edward Lasker
22 1921 Cleveland, Ohio Edward Lasker
23 1922 Louisville, Kentucky Samuel Factor
24 1923 San Francisco, California Stasch Mlotkowski, Norman Whitaker
25 1924 Detroit, Michigan Carlos Torre
26 1925 Cedar Point, Ohio Abraham Kupchik
27 1926 Chicago, Illinois 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, Illinois Samuel Factor, Norman Whitaker
32 1931 Tulsa, Oklahoma Samuel Reshevsky
33 1932 Minneapolis, Minnesota Reuben Fine
34 1933 Detroit, Michigan Reuben Fine
35 1934 Chicago, Illinois Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky
36 1935 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Reuben Fine
37 1936 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Israel A. Horowitz
38 1937 Chicago, Illinois David Polland
39 1938 Boston, Massachusetts Israel A. Horowitz, Isaac Kashdan
40 1939 New York, New York Reuben Fine
41 1940 Dallas, Texas Reuben Fine
42 1941 St. Louis, Missouri Reuben Fine
43 1942 Dallas, Texas Herman Steiner, Daniel Yanofsky
44 1943 Syracuse, New York Israel A. Horowitz
45 1944 Boston, Massachusetts Samuel Reshevsky
46 1945 Peoria, Illinois Anthony Santasiere
47 1946 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Herman Steiner
48 1947 Corpus Christi, Texas Isaac Kashdan
49 1948 Baltimore, Maryland Weaver W. Adams
50 1949 Omaha, Nebraska Albert Sandrin Jr.
51 1950 Detroit, Michigan Arthur Bisguier
52 1951 Fort Worth, Texas Larry Evans
53 1952 Tampa, Florida Larry Evans
54 1953 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Donald Byrne
55 1954 New Orleans, Louisiana Larry Evans
56 1955 Long Beach, California Nicolas Rossolimo
57 1956 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Arthur Bisguier
58 1957 Cleveland, Ohio Bobby Fischer
59 1958 Rochester, Minnesota E. Cobo Arteaga
60 1959 Omaha, Nebraska Arthur Bisguier
61 1960 St. Louis, Missouri Robert Byrne
62 1961 San Francisco, California Pal Benko
63 1962 San Antonio, Texas Antonio Medina Garcia
64 1963 Chicago, Illinois William Lombardy
65 1964 Boston, Massachusetts Pal Benko
66 1965 Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico Pal Benko, William Lombardy
67 1966 Seattle, Washington Pal Benko, Robert Byrne
68 1967 Atlanta, Georgia Pal Benko
69 1968 Aspen, Colorado Bent Larsen
70 1969 Lincoln, Nebraska Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier, Milan Vukcevich
71 1970 Boston, Massachusetts Bent Larsen
72 1971 Ventura, California Walter Browne, Larry Evans
73 1972 Atlantic City, New Jersey Walter Browne
74 1973 Chicago, Illinois Norman Weinstein
75 1974 New York, New York 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, Illinois Florin Gheorghiu
81 1980 Atlanta, Georgia 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, Massachusetts Dmitry Gurevich
90 1989 Chicago, Illinois Lev Alburt
91 1990 Jacksonville, Florida Yasser Seirawan
92 1991 Los Angeles, California Michael Rohde, Vladimir Akopian
93 1992 Dearborn, Michigan Gregory Kaidanov
94 1993 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Alexander Shabalov
95 1994 Chicago, Illinois 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, California Alexander Shabalov
105 2004 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Alexander Onischuk, Rodrigo Vasquez, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz,
Ildar Ibragimov, Andranik Matikozian, Renier Gonzalez, 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, Texas Alexander Shabalov, Rade Milovanovic, Enrico Sevillano
110 2009 Indianapolis, Indiana Dimitry Gurevich, Sergey Kudrin, Alex Lenderman, Alex Yermolinsky, Jacek Stopa, Jesse Kraai
111 2010 Irvine, California Alejandro Ramirez
112 2011 Orlando, Florida Aleksandr Lenderman

See also

References