61st American Open Chess Championship

61st AMERICAN OPEN 

Main Event, Scholastic Tournaments, Chess Camp, Blitz Tournament, Action Tournament

November 23-29, 2026 (Thanksgiving Week)

Hyatt Regency Orange County, California

Event website for details and registration WWW.AMERICANOPEN.ORG 

I. Main Event: Click Here

• Championship Section 

  • NORM possible
  • FIDE and US Chess rated
  • 9 Rounds
  • 6-Days (Tuesday, November 24 - Sunday, November 29)
  • Three of the tournament days have one round only which fulfills FIDE 1.13A requirement for FIDE Title Regulations requiring a minimum of three days with only 1 round

  • Time Control: Game/90 min; +30 seconds (90 minutes plus a 30 second increment from move 1)

     

• Expert, Section A, Section B, Section C, Under 1400 

  • FIDE and US Chess rated for Expert, and Section A (FIDE rated applies only to the 4-day schedule and ONLY Rounds 5-8 for 3-day schedules); US Chess rated for Section B, C, and Under 1400
  • 8 Rounds
  • 4-Day (Thursday, November 26 - Sunday, November 29) or 3-Day (Friday, November 27 - Sunday, November 29) Schedules are available 

  • Time Control

    • 4-day 
      • Rounds 1 to 8: Game/90 min; +30 seconds (90 minutes plus a 30 second increment from move 1)
    • 3-day 
      • Rounds 1 to 4: Game/60 min; delay/5s (then merge with players in 4-day schedule) 
      • Rounds  5 to 8: Game/90 min; +30 seconds (90 minutes plus a 30 second increment from move 1)

     

• PRIZES*
• • Championship Section: Prizes $3500-1500-800-600-400-250; under 2450: $1000-550-250; under 2300: $550-250
  • Expert Section: Prizes $2000-1000-600-400-200 (Top scorer for Under 2100: $1000 - $750)
  • SECTION A: Prizes $2000-1000-600-400-200 (Top scorer for Under 1900: $1000 - $750)
  • SECTION B: Prizes $2000-1000-600-400-200 (Top scorer for Under 1700': $1000 - $750)
  • SECTION C: Prizes $2000-1000-600-400-200 (Top scorer for Under 1500: $1000 - $750)
  • Under1400 SECTION: Prizes $1500-800-600-400-200; (Top scorer for Under 1300: $1000 - $750; Under 1200: $550-250) (Under 1300 and Under 1200 are not separate sections); Unrated: $350-150 (Unrated players in this section are eligible for these prizes only).
  • *PRIZE Limits: Players with Unrated/Provisional ratings (under 26 games) may not win over $300 in under 1400, $400 in Section C, $500 in Section B, $600 in Section A, $700 in Expert Section

  (Under 2450, Under 2300, Under 2100, Under 1900, Under 1700, Under 1500, Under 1300, Under 1200, and unrated are NOT separate sections)

   

• Ratings: November FIDE used in Championship section, November official US Chess in other sections (in Expert section and below; unofficial US Chess ratings or US Chess Online Regular online ratings usually used if otherwise unrated). 

II. Concurrent Events and Tournaments:

• Chess Camp (Mon-Wed)
• Scholastic Tournaments for Novice (Fri), Junior Varsity (Sat or Sun), and Varsity (Sat & Sun) Divisions.
• Blitz (Saturday)
• Action (Sunday)

Venue: Hyatt Regency Orange County, California- 11999 Harbor Boulevard, Garden Grove, CA 92840, USA- reserve online

Hotel rooms at $169/night (plus taxes/fees) with group code "G-KA26"

Questions: Email -  Click here to show mail address

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