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US Chess Championship

Fabiano Caruana, the current US champion
Awarded for	Winner of the US Championship
Country	United States
Presented by	United States Chess Federation
History
First award	1891
Most recent	Fabiano Caruana (2024)

The US Chess Championship is an invitational tournament organized by the United States Chess Federation to determine the country's chess champion. It is the oldest national chess tournament. The event originated as a challenge match in 1845, but the champion has been decided by tournament play under the auspices of the USCF since 1936. The tournament has fluctuated between a round-robin tournament and a Swiss system. From 1999 to 2006, the championship was sponsored and organized by the Seattle Chess Foundation (later renamed America's Foundation for Chess) and featured a larger body of competitors, made possible by the change to a Swiss-style format. After the Foundation withdrew its sponsorship, the 2007 and 2008 events were held in Stillwater, Oklahoma, still as a Swiss system, under tournament director Frank K. Berry. The Saint Louis Chess Club has hosted the championship since 2009. Since 2014, the championship has used a round-robin format. The event is often a Zonal tournament for the United States Chess Federation, providing qualifier spots to the Chess World Cup.

As of 2023, twelve players are invited to compete: the reigning US champion, as well as the respective winners of the US Open Chess Championship and the US Junior Championship. The remaining players are chosen by highest invitational rating, in addition to one organizer wildcard. Fabiano Caruana is the current US chess champion.

By acclamation (1845–1891)

Years	Champion	Notes
1845–1857	Charles Stanley	Defeated Eugène Rousseau in a match in 1845
1857–1871	Paul Morphy	Won the first American Chess Congress in 1857
1871–1891	George Henry Mackenzie	Won the 2nd, 3rd and 5th American Chess Congress

Match format (1891–1935)

George Henry Mackenzie died in April 1891 and, later that year, Max Judd proposed he, Jackson Showalter and S. Lipschütz contest a triangular match for the championship. Lipschütz withdrew so Judd and Showalter played a match which the latter won. A claim by Walter Penn Shipley that S. Lipschütz became US Champion as a result of being the top-scoring American at the Sixth American Chess Congress, New York 1889, is refuted in a biography of Lipschütz. The following US Champions until 1909 were decided by matches.

	Year	Winner	Loser	Result	Notes
1	1891–92	Jackson Showalter	Max Judd	+7−4=3	The final game was delayed until January 1892 because Judd was ill.
2	1892	Samuel Lipschütz	Jackson Showalter	+7−1=7
3	1894	Jackson Showalter (2)	Albert Hodges	+7−6=4	Prior to the last game the players agreed to extend the match. Many sources classify this as the first of two matches instead of one extended match.
4	1894	Albert Hodges	Jackson Showalter	+5−3=1	Can be considered a match extension or a new match.
5	1895	Jackson Showalter (3)	S. Lipschütz	+7−4=3
6	1896	Jackson Showalter (4)	Emil Kemény	+7−4=4
7	1896	Jackson Showalter (5)	John Barry	+7−2=4
8	1897	Harry Pillsbury	Jackson Showalter	+10−7=3	Pillsbury added to the conditions of the match : "... even if I should win, I shall leave Showalter the possession of his championship title".
9	1898	Harry Pillsbury (2)	Jackson Showalter	+7−2=2	Contrary to the 1897 match, the title of US champion was clearly at stake in 1898.
10	1909	Frank Marshall	Jackson Showalter	+7−2=3	Title reverted to Showalter after Pillsbury's death in 1906.
11	1923	Frank Marshall (2)	Edward Lasker	+5−4=9	Marshall declined to play in the invitational tournament that began in 1936.

Round-robin format (1936–1998)

№	Year	Winner(s)	Notes
1	1936	Samuel Reshevsky
2	1938	Samuel Reshevsky (2)
3	1940	Samuel Reshevsky (3)
-	1941	Samuel Reshevsky (4)	Match victory over I.A. Horowitz
4	1942	Samuel Reshevsky (5)	An erroneous ruling by the director allowed Reshevsky to tie for first with Isaac Kashdan. Reshevsky won a playoff match against Kashdan 6 months later.
5	1944	Arnold Denker
-	1946	Arnold Denker (2)	Match victory over Herman Steiner
6	1946	Samuel Reshevsky (6)
7	1948	Herman Steiner
8	1951	Larry Evans
-	1952	Larry Evans (2)	Match victory over Herman Steiner
9	1954	Arthur Bisguier
-	1957	Samuel Reshevsky (7)	Match victory over Arthur Bisguier. The title was not at stake, Bisguier remains champion.
10	1957/8	Bobby Fischer	At 14, the youngest champion ever
11	1958/9	Bobby Fischer (2)
12	1959/0	Bobby Fischer (3)
13	1960/1	Bobby Fischer (4)
14	1961—62	Larry Evans (3)
15	1962—63	Bobby Fischer (5)
16	1963—64	Bobby Fischer (6)	The only perfect score in tournament history
17	1965—66	Bobby Fischer (7)
18	1966—67	Bobby Fischer (8)	A record eighth win (out of eight attempts)
19	1968	Larry Evans (4)
20	1969	Samuel Reshevsky (8)
21	1972	Robert Byrne	Playoff held 9 months after the tournament, with Byrne winning over Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek
22	1973	Lubomir Kavalek John Grefe
23	1974	Walter Browne
24	1975	Walter Browne (2)
25	1977	Walter Browne (3)
26	1978	Lubomir Kavalek (2)
27	1980	Walter Browne (4) Larry Christiansen Larry Evans (5)
28	1981	Walter Browne (5) Yasser Seirawan
29	1983	Walter Browne (6) Larry Christiansen (2) Roman Dzindzichashvili
30	1984	Lev Alburt
31	1985	Lev Alburt (2)
32	1986	Yasser Seirawan (2)
33	1987	Joel Benjamin Nick de Firmian||
34	1988	Michael Wilder
35	1989	Roman Dzindzichashvili (2) Stuart Rachels Yasser Seirawan (3) ||
36	1990	Lev Alburt (3)	Knockout tournament
37	1991	Gata Kamsky	Knockout tournament
38	1992	Patrick Wolff
39	1993	Alexander Shabalov Alex Yermolinsky
40	1994	Boris Gulko	The only person to have held both the US and Soviet championships
41	1995	Nick de Firmian (2) Patrick Wolff (2) Alexander Ivanov
42	1996	Alex Yermolinsky (2)
43	1997	Joel Benjamin (2)
44	1998	Nick de Firmian (3)

Swiss format (1999–2013)

№	Year	Winner(s)	Notes
45	1999	Boris Gulko (2)
46	2000	Joel Benjamin (3) Alexander Shabalov (2) Yasser Seirawan (4)
47	2002	Larry Christiansen (3)
48	2003	Alexander Shabalov (3)
49	2005	Hikaru Nakamura	Tournament was played in 2004, but called the 2005 Championship for legal reasons
50	2006	Alexander Onischuk
51	2007	Alexander Shabalov (4)
52	2008	Yury Shulman
53	2009	Hikaru Nakamura (2)
54	2010	Gata Kamsky (2)	Kamsky won an Armageddon tie-break playoff against Yury Shulman
55	2011	Gata Kamsky (3)
56	2012	Hikaru Nakamura (3)	Switched to a round-robin tournament for this year only
57	2013	Gata Kamsky (4)	Kamsky won an Armageddon tie-break playoff against Alejandro Ramírez

Round-robin format (2014–present)

№	Year	Winner(s)	Notes
58	2014	Gata Kamsky (5)	Kamsky won a playoff rapid against Varuzhan Akobian after Akobian qualified by beating Aleksandr Lenderman on an Armageddon tie-break
59	2015	Hikaru Nakamura (4)
60	2016	Fabiano Caruana
61	2017	Wesley So	Wesley So won a rapid playoff against Alexander Onischuk
62	2018	Samuel Shankland
63	2019	Hikaru Nakamura (5)
64	2020	Wesley So (2)	Tournament held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted online via Lichess.
65	2021	Wesley So (3)	So won a rapid playoff against Fabiano Caruana and Samuel Sevian
66	2022	Fabiano Caruana (2)
67	2023	Fabiano Caruana (3)
68	2024	Fabiano Caruana (4)

Players by number of championships

See also

• US Women's Chess Championship
• US Open Chess Championship
• US Women's Open Chess Championship
• American Chess Congress

Notes

1. "FISCHER, SMYSLOV PLAY IN DEADLOOK; American and Russian Draw in 7th-Round Adjourned Game of Chess Event". New York Times. Bobby Fischer, United States chess champion, played to a draw with Vassily Smyslov of the Soviet Union in their seventh-round adjourned game in the challengers' tournament at Bled yesterday.
2. ^ Soltis, Andy (2012). The United States Chess Championship, 1845–2011. US: McFarland. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7864-6528-6.
3. https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/D0102
4. "The United States Chess Federation - US Chess Invitational Requirements". www.uschess.org. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
5. Davies, pp. 196–99
6. Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 32.
7. Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 33.
8. In an objectively drawn endgame against Arnold Denker, the flag on Reshevsky's clock fell, which should have resulted in his losing on time. The tournament director Walter Stephens, who was standing behind the clock, flipped it around and, looking at Reshevsky's side of the clock (which he mistakenly thought was Denker's), announced "Denker forfeits!" He refused to correct his error, explaining, "Does Kenesaw Mountain Landis reverse himself?" William Lombardy and David Daniels, U.S. Championship Chess, David McKay, 1975, p. 22. ISBN 0-679-13042-X. Arnold S. Denker, My Best Chess Games 1929–1976, Dover, 1981, p. 121. ISBN 0-486-24035-5.
9. "U.S. Chess Championship (23 November- 5 December)". www.thechessdrum.net. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
10. Kamsky reigns supreme

References

• Soltis, Andy; McCormick, Gene H. (1997). The United States Chess Championship 1845–1996 (2nd ed.). McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0248-2.
• Isaac Kashdan (1933). History of the United States Chess Championship. Chess Review, November–December, 1933, reprinted in The Best of Chess Life & Review 1933–1960. ISBN 0-671-61986-1.

External links

• Official US Chess Championship Site
• St. Louis Chess Club, St. Louis, Missouri

• United States Chess Championships
• Chess in the United States