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 2000 to 2006, the championship was sponsored and organized by the Seattle Chess Foundation (later renamed America's Foundation for Chess); starting in 2002 it 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) {| class="sortable wikitable" ! 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.Davies, pp. 196–99 The following US Champions until 1909 were decided by matches.

{|class="sortable wikitable" ! !! Year !! Winner !! Loser !! Result !! Notes |- | 1 || 189192 || || || +7−4=3 || The final game was delayed until January 1892 because Judd was ill. |- | 2 || 1892 || || || +7−1=7 || |- | 3 || 1894 || (2) || || +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 || || || +5−3=1 || Can be considered a match extension or a new match. |- | 5 || 1895 || (3) || || +7−4=3 || |- | 6 || 1896 || (4) || || +7−4=4 || |- | 7 || 1896 || (5) || || +7−2=4 || |- | 8 || 1897 || || || +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".Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 32. |- | 9 || 1898 || (2) || || +7−2=2 || Contrary to the 1897 match, the title of US champion was clearly at stake in 1898.Andrew Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, Second Edition, McFarland, 1997, p. 33. |- | 10 || 1909 || || || +7−2=3 || Title reverted to Showalter after Pillsbury's death in 1906. |- | 11 || 1923 || (2) || || +5−4=9 || Marshall declined to play in the invitational tournament that began in 1936.

Round-robin format (1936–1998) {| class="sortable wikitable" ! № !! Year !! Winner(s) !! Notes |- | 1 || 1936 || || |- | 2 || 1938 || (2) || |- | 3 || 1940 || (3) || |- | - || 1941 || (4) || Match victory over I.A. Horowitz |- | 4 || 1942 || (5) || An erroneous ruling by the director allowed Reshevsky to tie for first with Isaac Kashdan.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. . Arnold S. Denker, My Best Chess Games 1929–1976, Dover, 1981, p. 121. . Reshevsky won a playoff match against Kashdan 6 months later. |- | 5 || 1944 || || |- | - || 1946 || (2) || Match victory over Herman Steiner |- | 6 || 1946 || (6) || |- | 7 || 1948 || || |- | 8 || 1951 || || |- | - || 1952 || (2) || Match victory over Herman Steiner |- | 9 || 1954 || || |- | - || 1957 || (7) || Match victory over Arthur Bisguier.The title was not at stake - Bisguier remained champion. |- | 10 || 1957/8 || || At 14, the youngest champion ever |- | 11 || 1958/9 || (2) || |- | 12 || 1959/0 || (3) || |- | 13 || 1960/1 || (4) ||

| 14 || 1961/2 || (3) || Bobby Fischer did not enter |- | 15 || 1962/3 || (5) || |- | 16 || 1963/4 || (6) || The only perfect score in US Championship history |- | 17 || 1965/6 || (7) || |- | 18 || 1966/7 || (8) || A record eighth win (out of eight attempts) |- | 19 || 1968 || (4) || |- | 20 || 1969 || (8) || |- | 21 || 1972 || || Playoff held 9 months after the tournament, with Byrne winning over Reshevsky and Kavalek |- | 22 || 1973 || || |- | 23 || 1974 || || |- | 24 || 1975 || (2) || |- | 25 || 1977 || (3) || |- | 26 || 1978 || (2) || |- | 27 || 1980 || (4) (5) || |- | 28 || 1981 || (5) || |- | 29 || 1983 || (6) (2) || |- | 30 || 1984 || || |- | 31 || 1985 || (2) || |- | 32 || 1986 || (2) || |- | 33 || 1987 || || |- | 34 || 1988 || || |- | 35 || 1989 || (2) (3) || |- | 36 || 1990 || (3) || Knockout tournament |- | 37 || 1991 || || Knockout tournament |- | 38 || 1992 || || |- | 39 || 1993 || || |- | 40 || 1994 || || The only person to have held both the US and Soviet championships |- | 41 || 1995 || (2) (2) || |- | 42 || 1996 || (2) || |- | 43 || 1997 || (2) || |- | 44 || 1998 || (3) ||

Swiss format (1999–2013) {| class="sortable wikitable" |- ! № !! Year !! Winner(s) !! Notes |- | 45 || 1999 || (2) || |- | 46 || 2000 || (3) (2) (4) || |- | 47 || 2002 || (3) || |- | 48 || 2003 || (3) || |- | 49 || 2005 || || Tournament was played in 2004, but called the 2005 Championship for legal reasons |- | 50 || 2006 || || |- | 51 || 2007 || (4) || |- | 52 || 2008 || || |- | 53 || 2009 || (2) || |- | 54 || 2010 || (2) || Kamsky won an Armageddon tie-break playoff against Yury Shulman |- | 55 || 2011 || (3) || |- | 56 || 2012 || (3) || Switched to a round-robin tournament for this year only |- | 57 || 2013 || (4) || Kamsky won an Armageddon tie-break playoff against Alejandro Ramírez

Round-robin format (2014–present)

{| class="sortable wikitable" |- ! № !! Year !! Winner(s) !! Notes |- | 58 || 2014 || (5) || Kamsky won a playoff rapid against Varuzhan Akobian after Akobian qualified by beating on an Armageddon tie-break |- | 59 || 2015 || (4)|| |- | 60 || 2016 || || |- | 61 || 2017 || || Wesley So won a rapid playoff against Alexander Onischuk |- | 62 || 2018 || || |- | 63 || 2019 || (5) || |- | 64 || 2020 || (2) || Tournament held online via Lichess due to the COVID-19 pandemic. |- | 65 || 2021 || (3) || So won a rapid playoff against Fabiano Caruana and Samuel Sevian |- | 66 || 2022 || (2) || |- |67 |2023 |Fabiano Caruana (3)

|68 |2024 |Fabiano Caruana (4)

|69 |2025 |Fabiano Caruana (5) |Caruana ties Fischer's record of 4 consecutive US Championship wins

Players by number of championships

Name Total Victories Tournament Victories Match Victories Years Bobby Fischer 8 8 0 1957/8 1958/9 1959/60 1960/1 1962/3 1963/4 1965/6 1966/7 Samuel Reshevsky 8 6 2 1936 1938 1940 1941 1942 1946 1957 1969 Walter Browne 6 6 0 1974 1975 1977 1980 1981 1983 Larry Evans 5 4 1 1951 1952 1961/2 1968 1980 Gata Kamsky 5 5 0 1991 2010 2011 2013 2014 Hikaru Nakamura 5 5 0 2005 2009 2012 2015 2019 Jackson Showalter 5 0 5 1891–92 1894 1895 1896 1896 Fabiano Caruana 5 5 0 2016 2022 2023 2024 2025 Yasser Seirawan 4 4 0 1981 1986 1989 2000 Alexander Shabalov 4 4 0 1993 2000 2003 2007 Lev Alburt 3 3 0 1984 1985 1990 Joel Benjamin 3 3 0 1987 1997 2000 Larry Christiansen 3 3 0 1980 1983 2002 Nick de Firmian 3 3 0 1987 1995 1998 Wesley So 3 3 0 2017 2020 2021 Arnold Denker 2 1 1 1944 1946 Roman Dzindzichashvili 2 2 0 1983 1989 Boris Gulko 2 2 0 1994 1999 Lubomir Kavalek 2 2 0 1973 1978 Frank Marshall 2 0 2 1909 1923 Harry Pillsbury 2 0 2 1897 1898 Patrick Wolff 2 2 0 1992 1995 Alex Yermolinsky 2 2 0 1993 1996 Arthur Bisguier 1 1 0 1954 Robert Byrne 1 1 0 1972 John Grefe 1 1 0 1973 Albert Hodges 1 0 1 1894 Alexander Ivanov 1 1 0 1995 Samuel Lipschütz 1 0 1 1892 Alexander Onischuk 1 1 0 2006 Stuart Rachels 1 1 0 1989 Samuel Shankland 1 1 0 2018 Yury Shulman 1 1 0 2008 Herman Steiner 1 1 0 1948 Michael Wilder 1 1 0 1988

See also US Women's Chess Championship US Open Chess Championship US Women's Open Chess Championship American Chess Congress

Notes

References

External links Official US Chess Championship Site St. Louis Chess Club, St. Louis, Missouri