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 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 $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, Arturo Pomar |
56 | 1955 | Long Beach, California | Nicolas Rossolimo |
57 | 1956 | Oklahoma City | Arthur Bisguier |
58 | 1957 | Cleveland, Ohio | Bobby Fischer, Arthur Bisguier |
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 | 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 | Alexander Shabalov |
118 | 2017 | Norfolk, Virginia | |
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.)
- USCF (2007), "2006 Yearbook" (PDF), Chess Life, April 2007 (winners list)
- Verber, Richard (1979), "The U.S. Opens A Rich Tradition", Chess Life & Review, July 1979, p. 400 (winners and location list 1939-1979)
- "US Open Tournament Index". Retrieved January 31, 2016.
- Chess Life, 17 (6), pp. 128–129, June 1962 (details of the 1962 Open)
- 2007 results at uschess.org
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