U.S. Women's Open Chess Championship

The U.S. Women's Open Championship is an open chess tournament that has been held irregularly. From 1934 through at least 1966 it was held in conjunction with the annual U.S. Open Chess Championship. After some years of inactivity, the event was reinstituted in 2009.

History

From 1934 through 1950 and in 1954, the women's tournaments were held as a round-robin tournament in conjunction with the U.S. Open. From 1951 through at least 1966, with the exception of 1954, the women played in the U.S. Open with the title U.S. Women's Open Champion being awarded to the woman with the highest score.

The title was not awarded for some time. In 2009 the event was held again, with sixteen players in a six-round tournament, but not in conjunction with the U.S. Open. It was held in conjunction with the U.S. Senior Chess Championship and two other tournaments. Chess Life incorrectly called it the first U.S. Women's Open Championship. The highest-placing US citizen qualifies for the U.S. Women's Chess Championship.

Winners

Complete records of the Women's Open Championship are not available.


No.	Year	Location	Champions
1	1934	Chicago, Illinois	Virginia Sheffield
2	1937	Chicago, Illinois	Jean M. Grau
3	1938	Boston, Massachusetts	Mona May Karff
4	1939	New York, New York	Mona May Karff[1]
5	1948	Baltimore, Maryland	Mona May Karff
6	1950	Detroit, Michigan	Mona May Karff and Lucille Kellner
7	1951	Fort Worth, Texas	Maxine Cutlip
8	1953	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Eva Aronson
9	1954[2]	New Orleans, Louisiana	Gisela Kahn Gresser
10	1955	Long Beach, California	Sonja Graf
11	1956	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Sonja Graf
12	1957	Cleveland, Ohio	Sonja Graf
13	1958	Rochester, Minnesota	Kathryn Slater
14	1959	Omaha, Nebraska	Sonja Graf
15	1960	St. Louis, Missouri	Lisa Lane
16	1961	San Francisco, California	Eva Aronson
17	1962	San Antonio, Texas	Kathryn Slater
18	1963	Chicago, Illinois	Kate Sillars
19	1964	Boston, Massachusetts	Kathryn Slater and Cecilia Rock
20	1965	Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico	Mary Bain and Kathryn Slater
21	1966	Seattle, Washington	Mary Bain
22	1969	Lincoln Nebraska	Eva Aronson
23	1972	St. Petersburg, Florida	Eva Aronson and Marilyn Braun
24	1973	Chicago, Illinois	Eva Aronson
25	2009	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Saheli Nath (WFM)[3]

Notes

1939 was a three-way tie, Karff won playoff over Mary Bain and Dr. Helen Weissenstein.
1954 was a separate round robin of 11 players, and the women's zonal tournament for that year. Gresser won 8–2. Mona Karf and Sonja Graf tied at 7–3, but Karff had more Sonnenborn-Berger points and qualified with Gresser to play in the Women's World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament.
Sixteen players participated in a six-round Swiss-system tournament. First-place finisher Saheli of India is not eligible to play in the U.S. Women's Championship so the qualifying spot went to second-place finisher WFM Iryna Zenyuk.

References

Harkness, Kenneth (1967). Official Chess Handbook. David McKay. p. 287. LCCN 66013085. (History and winners list of the tournament through 1966.)
Root, Alexey (January 2010). "2009 U.S. Women's Open: Opening Up". Chess Life (1): 34–36.

External links

2009 website

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[1] 1939 was a three-way tie, Karff won playoff over Mary Bain and Dr. Helen Weissenstein.

[2] 1954 was a separate round robin of 11 players, and the women's zonal tournament for that year. Gresser won 8–2. Mona Karf and Sonja Graf tied at 7–3, but Karff had more Sonnenborn-Berger points and qualified with Gresser to play in the Women's World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament.

[3] Sixteen players participated in a six-round Swiss-system tournament. First-place finisher Saheli of India is not eligible to play in the U.S. Women's Championship so the qualifying spot went to second-place finisher WFM Iryna Zenyuk.