U.S. Championship Online Qualifier Advances to Experts This Weekend

The US Championship Online Qualifier began last weekend for players rated under 2000, and this weekend will find the top-20 qualifying players to compete in a Final Swiss on December 5.  

Both days last weekend saw its own qualifying event, the first in a series of online tournaments that will ultimately lead to a seat in the live 2021 U.S. Chess Championship. On Saturday, 362 US Chess members competed in a 12-round Swiss tournament of rapid G/10 games on Chess.com. Winners of the U1600 qualifier were:  

Havish Sripada, 11.5/12   

Alicia Paans, 10/12   

Jack Hamilton, 9.5/12   

Toby Fischer, 9.5/12   

Douglas Staab, 9.5/12   

Jason Metpally, 9.5/12   

Louie G. Rivera, Jr., 9/12  

Those top players qualified for the next stage on Sunday afternoon, joining 199 players rated 1601-2000 for another 12-round Swiss of rapid games. Winners of Sunday’s U2000 qualifier event were:    

Austin Mei, 10/12    

Vikram Oberai, 9.5/12    

Jacob Chiang, 9.5/12    

Vsevelod Kamyshenko, 9.5/12    

Kevin Leong Fung, 9/12    

Arun Manukonda, 9/12  

Aleksandr Gutnik, 9/12    

Michael Lei Wang, 9/12    

Liam Chesemore, 9/12    

Those nine players have qualified for the next event this Saturday, where they will join a pool of players rated 2001-2400 for another 12-round rapid Swiss. The top 8 qualifiers on Saturday will advance to Sunday for one last 12-round swiss, this time for players rated above 2400. Sunday's event will produce 20 players to qualify for a Final Swiss on December 5, and then on to a knockout bracket that will whittle down a final two qualifiers. 

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Along with last weekend's winners, any US Chess member rated above 2000 is qualified to join the events this weekend. Here are key details:  

• Entry is free to all current US Chess Members.    
• All qualifier events start at 2pm Pacific Time on their designated date (see schedule below).    
• Players should join sections based on their chess.com rapid rating NOT US Chess rating.    
• All players should familiarize themselves with the Technical Guide, which includes a full explanation of the rules and fair play procedures.  

Here are the direct links to the qualifying tournaments. Keep in mind: you won’t be able to join them unless you are already a member of the US Chess Members Only club on chess.com:  

2001-2400 Qualifier

2400+ Qualifier

All you need to do to play is make sure you have joined the US Chess Members Only club and are online on the chess.com live server before the tournament starts. The tournament “join” button will activate 1 hour before tournament start.