This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2023) |
![]() 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 (2023) |
The US Chess Championship is an invitational tournament organized by the United States Chess Federation to determine the country's chess champion.[1] It is the oldest national chess tournament.[2] 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.[2] 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. Rex Sinquefield's Saint Louis Chess Club has hosted the championship since 2009. Since 2014, the championship has used a round-robin format.
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, the US Junior Championship, and the US Senior Open Championship, with the remaining players chosen by highest invitational rating, in addition to wildcards chosen by the organizer.[3] Fabiano Caruana is the current US chess champion.
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.