Caveman Chess Festival: Champions and Camaraderie

The Caveman Chess Festival ran from July 12 through 14 at the Hilton Chicago/Northbrook hotel. The festival featured several national championship events, including the U.S. Senior Open, U.S. Junior Open, and U.S. Blind Open, along with accompanying blitz and rapid tournaments. Additionally, the festival hosted the Caveman Medior Open for players ages 21 to 49.

The marquee events had a time control of G/90+30. GM Alex Fishbein earned a spot in the 2025 U.S. Senior Championship and WIM Alexey Root earned a spot in the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship. While the U.S. Junior Open is also a qualifier for the following year’s U.S. Junior Championship, it does not look like there will be a qualifier this year. Read on below to find out why!

As a note, this year’s U.S. Junior and Senior championships began yesterday in St. Louis, with GM Jesse Kraai and Nicholas Ladan participating as the 2023 U.S. Senior and U.S. Junior (respectively) Open champions.

U.S. Senior Open

The highest rated player on the pre-registered list for the U.S. Senior Open was IM Sal Matera, a former U.S. Junior Champion. Second on the pre-registered list was GM Alex Fishbein. The next highest-rated players on the pre-registered lists were FMs.

On the first day of the U.S. Senior Open, two GMs joined the hunt for first place. Nikola Mitkov and Dmitry Gurevich appeared, respectively, on boards three and four for round one.

Gurevich tied for first in the U.S. Senior Open, finishing second on tiebreaks (Photo by Alexey Root)

Fishbein and Gurevich tied for first and second places with 5/6 scores. They split $3,500, as first prize was $2,000 and second prize was $1,500. Fishbein’s tiebreaks were better, and he earned the invitational spot for the 2025 U.S. Senior Championship. Results, including tiebreak order, are available here. Below is Gurevich’s sixth-round win:

I was ranked 26th at the start of the U.S. Senior Open, and I finished in 26th place on tiebreaks, scoring an even 3/6. I tied for the first and second women’s prizes with Carla Naylor, who finished 30th on tiebreaks. Since my tiebreaks were better, I earned a spot in the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Championship.

Naylor and I split $900 ($500 for first women’s prize; $400 for second women’s prize) and WCM Natasha Christiansen took the third women’s prize of $300 for her score of 2½/6. The guaranteed prize fund for the U.S. Senior Open was $13,000 overall.

The author in action (courtesy Grant Perks)

I won in round three against Mark Lencho. Lencho finished in the money with a 4/6 score.

Not everyone was in it to win it. Michael Mulford, Chair of the US Chess Senior Committee, considers the U.S. Senior Open a social event. He drove seven hours to play in the Reserve (Under-1800) Section of the U.S. Senior Open. Mulford said, “Any senior I get a chance to talk to, it’s worth it.”

Another highlight was a clash between FM Bruce Leverett and national master James Altucher in round two. Leverett lost, but provided the game because he admired the combination that Altucher played, which began on move 30 (see diagram below).

Position after 29. ... a4. See annotated game for solution.

Altucher posted on X about his sixth round win and finished with a 3/6 score as well. Leverett finished a half-point ahead, with 3½/6.

James Altucher before his first round (Photo by Alexey Root)

Caveman Medior Open

GM Alex Fishbein told me that his son, Mitch, convinced him to play in the U.S. Senior Open so that they could be roommates over the tournament weekend. Last year, Mitch Fishbein was the 2023 Caveman Medior Open winner. This year, Mitch, who is rated 2274, ended up in a three-way tie for first alongside Justin Storn (2305) and Zachary Nudo (rated 1910).

Like father, like son: GM Alex Fishbein (L) tied for first in the U.S. Senior Open, while Mitch tied for first in the Medior (Photo by Alexey Root)

Unlike the 2024 U.S. Senior Open (for age 50 and older as of July 12, 2024) and the 2024 U.S. Junior Open (for players born after January 1, 2003), the 2024 Caveman Medior Open was for players born on or before January 1, 2003 and after July 11, 1974. The Caveman Medior Open offered a guaranteed prize fund of $10,000, but attracted only 10 entrants.

U.S. Blind Open Championship

The U.S. Blind Open Championship had $5,000 in prizes and six entrants, who played a round robin. Jessica Lauser (pronounced law-sir), is the first, and thus far the only, woman to win the U.S. Blind Open Championship.

The six-time U.S. Blind Champion, Jessica Lauser, with TD Glenn Panner (Photo by Alexey Root)

Before 2024, she had won it five times, in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. In 2023, Lauser finished third. Lauser is now a six-time U.S. Blind Champion, having scored 4½/5 in 2024.

U.S. Junior Open

Fresh from winning the World Open, top seed GM Awonder Liang looked on track to win the U.S. Junior Open too, beginning the tournament with four consecutive victories.

Awonder Liang started out with a perfect 4/4, but two half-point byes on the final day saw him finish a half-point behind Yesuntumur (Photo by Alexey Root)

Instead, Liang took two half-point byes on the last day, to finish with a 5/6 score. This paved the way for FM Tugstumur Yesuntumur to win the U.S. Junior Open outright with a 5½/6 score.

Tugstumur Yesuntumur won the U.S. Junior Open with a 5½/6 score (Photo by Alexey Root)

The Caveman Chess Festival rules state that one must win first or tie for first in the 2024 U.S. Junior Open to be eligible for its qualifying spot to the 2025 U.S. Junior Championship. However, to play in national invitationals, such as the U.S. Junior Championship, players “must be registered with FIDE as a USA player to participate in these events and the date of eligibility to participate under the USA flag must be prior to the date the invitation is issued.”

Yesuntumur’s federation is listed as Mongolia. Thus, it appears that there will not be a qualifier from the 2024 U.S. Junior Open to the 2025 U.S. Junior Championship.

Editor’s note: This article will be updated with more information about regulations for qualifying spots pending confirmation from the organizers.