Generations Converge as 2022 U.S. Championships Open in St. Louis

It was a star-studded affair at the St. Louis Aquarium, just steps from the new US Chess offices at Union Station, as lots were drawn and greats were honored at the opening ceremony for the 2022 U.S. Championships.

https://youtu.be/0OPH7VT7AJY

Twenty-eight of America’s best players were in attendance, eagerly waiting to find out who they would meet in Wednesday’s first rounds of the Open and Women’s Championships.

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Image Caption

courtesy WCHOF

They were also witness to the induction of six players into the U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame. Daniel Willard Fiske, GM James Tarjan, and IM (and current Chess Life columnist) John Watson were welcomed into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame. GMs Miguel Najdorf and Eugene Torre entered the World Chess Hall of Fame, while GM Judit Polgar’s induction was announced, to be fulfilled at a later date.

Tarjan and Torre were on-hand to speak, while Watson, who was unable to attend due to health issues, recorded a message. All players were gaveled into the Halls by US Trust Director Al Lawrence, using a gavel that honored the late, former Trust Chairman Harold Winston.

Of course the main purpose of the night was to kick off the U.S. Open and Women’s Championships, the two flagship events on the American chess calendar. US Chess was represented by Executive Director Carol Meyer and EB President Randy Bauer, both of whom spoke as part of the program. Earlier in the day, the players had their “players meeting” in the new US Chess offices, giving them a chance to see where their Federation is now housed.

The traditional drawing of lots was, for this night, achieved through each player’s choosing of stuffed otters and sharks from the Aquarium gift shop. (Why not penguins? It would have made at least one of the players happy!) Here’s the result for the first day’s matchups:

Open:

Lenderman – Aronian
Sevian – Moradiabadi
Liang – So
Yoo – Niemann
Xiong – Swiercz
Shankland – Robson
Caruana – Dominguez

Women:

Zatonskih – Yu
Abrahamyan – Krush
Foisor – Paikidze
Lee – Wu
Eswaran – Lee
Tokhirjonova – Morris-Suzuki
Cervantes Landerio – Yan

The tournament runs from October 5-20, with rounds beginning at 1 p.m. daily except for the rest days on October 10 and 16. The livestream will begin half an hour later at 1:30 p.m., with the delay in place as a fair play precaution.

US Chess will have daily coverage of the event, featuring some of your favorite Chess Life and Chess Life Online writers. Among those currently scheduled are new Hall of Famer IM John Watson, 2022 Chess Journalist of the Year nominee FM Alex King, and newly minted IM Robert Shlyakhtenko.

Visit our event webpage for all of our reports and a list of quick links.

Quick links:

Daily Livestream (1:30pm Central)

YouTube

Twitch

U.S. Championship

Main page

Field

Pairings and results

US Women’s Championship

Main page

Field

Pairings and results

Live Games

Lichess

Open | Women

Chess.com

Open | Women

Chess24

Open | Women