U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the United States chess champion.[1] Begun as a challenge match in 1845, the U.S. Championship has been decided by tournament play for most of its long history.[2] Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size. From 1999 to 2006, the Championship was sponsored and organized by the Seattle Chess Foundation (later renamed America's Foundation for Chess [AF4C]) as a large Swiss system tournament. AF4C withdrew its sponsorship in 2007. The 2007 and 2008 events were held (again under the Swiss system) in Stillwater, Oklahoma, under the direction of Frank K. Berry. The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis in St. Louis has hosted the annual event since 2009.
| US Chess Championship | |
|---|---|
 Wesley So, the current US champion | |
| Given for | Winner of the US Championship |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | United States Chess Federation |
| History | |
| First award | 1891 |
| Most recent | Wesley So |
The U. S. Chess championship is the oldest national chess tournament.[2]
Wesley So is the current champion.
Champions 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 Champions 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.[3] 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 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 S. Lipschütz +7−4=3 6 1896 Jackson Showalter Emil Kemény +7−4=4 7 1896 Jackson Showalter 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".[4] 9 1898 Harry Pillsbury Jackson Showalter +7−2=2 Contrary to the 1897 match, the title of U.S. champion was clearly at stake in 1898.[5] 10 1909 Frank Marshall Jackson Showalter +7−2=3 Title reverted to Showalter after Pillsbury's death in 1906. 11 1923 Frank Marshall Edward Lasker +5−4=9 Marshall declined to play in the invitational tournament that began in 1936.
Tournament champions since 1936
See also
Notes
- "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.
- Soltis, Andy (2012). The United States Chess Championship, 1845–2011. US: McFarland. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7864-6528-6.
- Davies, pp. 196–99
- Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 32.
- Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 33.
- 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.
- 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.