2021 US Chess Championships Opening Ceremony Streamed Live

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The opening ceremony of the 2021 US Chess Championships will be held the evening of Tuesday, October 5, though chess fans nationwide are invited to join the private event online. While 24 of America’s strongest players reunite in the St. Louis MUNY, an outdoor Municipal Opera Theatre in the city's Forest Park, the championship host Saint Louis Chess Club will stream the ceremony live beginning at 7:15 p.m. central. 

Tuesday’s opening event will feature the drawing of lots for both the 2021 U.S. Championship and the U.S. Women’s Championship, as well as the inductions of Rex Sinquefield and Dr. Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. The philanthropist couple, who among many other things that credit a rapid resurgence of American chess over the past decade, built the Saint Louis Chess Club as host of the national championships for 13 consecutive years, as well as relocate the World Chess Hall of Fame to help convert St. Louis into the nation's chess capital. 

Previously finding a home in New York, Washington D.C. and then Miami, the World Chess Hall of Fame is now parked in a three-floor, 15,000-square-foot gallery museum across the street from the club, and contains both the U.S. and the World Chess Halls of Fame. Both Halls are active this October; the U.S. will catch pace tonight with the Sinquefields -- 2020 nominees who missed induction due to the pandemic – while the World Chess Hall of Fame has its inductions planned during the national championship closing ceremonies on October 19. The 2021 World inductees will be Grandmaster legends Judit Polgar, Miguel Najdorf and Eugene Torre. 

“Each and every induction into the Chess Halls of Fame has always deeply moved me, but seeing Jeanne and Rex, the founders of the Saint Louis Chess Campus now join the ranks of other chess legends is certainly an honor,” said Shannon Bailey, chief curator of the WCHOF. “They are truly deserving of the recognition and are responsible for rejuvenating both national and global interest in chess.” 

The opening ceremony of the 2021 U.S. Championships will stream live Tuesday evening, beginning at 7:15 p.m. St. Louis time. The event may be viewed on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube channel or the official website of the U.S. Championships, www.uschesschamps.com. 

Both national championships will see their first moves pushed on Wednesday, October 6 at 1:00 p.m. central and may be viewed live on the same channels, along with the GM commentary team including GM Maurice Ashley and four-time US Chess Champion GM Yasser Seirawan.

Check back with CLO for daily coverage of the 2021 US Chess Championships through October 19.