What to Expect at the 124th Annual U.S. Open

The 124th Annual U.S. Open Chess Championship begins Saturday, July 27 at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia. Here is a primer of what to expect and how to follow all the action!

A True Open

As always, the “main event” will be the nine-round tournament that is unique in major American events for being a “true open.” While other tournaments feature top sections that are “open” to any player who chooses to forgo playing in their rating class (and, sometimes, pays an additional “play-up fee”), the U.S. Open is run as one gigantic section. Class players can earn prizes for finishing with the best score in their rating class, but they might have to play down, up, or “way up,” in order to get there.

At the time of writing, 316 players are registered, including 2024 World Open champion GM Awonder Liang and five more grandmasters. As always, a spot in the 2024 U.S. Championship is on the line for the top American player.

Last year's winners were GMs Andrew Tang and Aleksey Sorokin, with the former winning on tiebreaks. Tang is pictured below participating in the 2023 U.S. Championship:

courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC

This year is also the last year of the "traditional" nine-day schedule. With only one round of classical chess played per day over nine days, this format allows players to compete at a leisurely pace while also joining in on all the side events, committee meetings, and more that the tournament has to offer. The six-day caters to players who might have plans that first weekend (more on that below), while the four-day is perfect for speedy players who don’t mind getting some of their games in at a much faster time control (guess which section five of the six grandmasters signed up for).

All rounds can be followed on USChess.live. Stay tuned for more information on our Twitch broadcast of live games.

The Champion(s) of Champions

The first four days of the U.S. Open are, funnily enough, primarily about a number of “closed” championships. Representatives from each state have the opportunity to fight for the title of “champion of champions” in five separate invitationals (and a sixth, inter-invitational blitz tournament).

The 6th Annual John T. Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions will feature a player from each of the 50 states, as well as a second from California and one representing Washington, D.C. According to the roster, IM Nikoloz Managadze (NJ) will seek to defend his title. His 2023 co-champion, GM Jesse Kraai, was busy elsewhere.

The 40th Annual GM Arnold Denker National Tournament of High School State Champions will likewise boast a "full roster" of 52 players. 2022 co-champion and 2023 champion GM Arthur Guo is no longer eligible, but the players finishing second through fifth will all be back this year. In order of 2023 final standings, this group of familiar names is: IM Max Lu (CT), IM Gus Huston (NY), FM Sharvesh Deviprasath (TX), and FM Terry Luo (DE).

The 12th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions features 49 players, including 2023's third-place finisher WFM Megan Paragua (NY), who is coming straight from her first appearance at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship.

That's 12 straight wins in K-8 Championships for Liu! (Photo Caroline King)

The 14th Annual Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions will see 50 states represented. This looks to be the only invitational that does not feature any of the 2023 podium finishers on its roster. This could mean the title is really "up for grabs," but IM Eric Liu (TX) is the back-to-back National Middle School Champion, and has to be considered a front-runner here.

Finally, the 5th Annual John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions will feature exactly 50 participants. 2023 co-champion John Abraham (KY) is back for his final year of eligibility, but the roster is packed with familiar names from the top of recent national and international competitions.

While the games won’t be broadcast online, perhaps the most entertaining part of the invitationals is the 5th Annual FM Sunil Weeramantry National Blitz Tournament of State Champions. This is the only event that is split into sections by rating, rather than age/grade, allowing for some entertaining inter-generational clashes. Currently, almost 200 participants are signed up.

An additional category of competition is the State versus State Championship, which combines all the scores of representatives from a given state to determine which state produced the best overall performance. Last year, we had a tie at the top between "under-dawg" Georgia and perennial favorites New York. The team competition also offers additional prizes for the top state whose participants’ ratings average under 2100, 1900, or 1600.

All information about eligibility, funding, and the prizes for the various invitationals is available on this year’s program.

The schedule for all of the invitationals can be found here. The first round begins Saturday, July 27, at 7 p.m. EDT (alongside the first round of the traditional schedule of the U.S. Open). Sunday, round two will begin at noon and round three at 7 p.m. EDT (along with round two of the U.S. Open). Rounds four and five will begin at the same times on Monday, with the last round taking place Tuesday, July 30, at 10 a.m.

In case it’s not clear, this means that all participants in the invitationals will be free to join the U.S. Open for the six-day schedule, and many of them do just that!

Quick Chess, Served with a Side of Blitz

There are side events every day except August 4 this year, with a number of options ranging from Bughouse to blitz and a multi-day Swiss tournament. Information about all of these events described below can also be found here.

Players who only want to play a “weekender” can fit five rounds of game-in-60-minutes chess with a five-second delay in on Saturday, July 27 and Sunday July 28. There will also be one-day quads, with sections based on rating, every day from Monday, July 29, through Friday August 2. The Tuesday quads will be special, with a slower time control, but every other day features the “action” time control of game-in-30-minutes with the same five-second delay.

For those who prefer faster time controls — or, at least, don’t want to have their standard rating risk taking a hit — the U.S. National G/15 Championship will take place on Wednesday, July 31 beginning at noon. If that’s still too slow for your liking, the U.S. Open National Blitz Championship, played without any delay or increment, will allow participants to enjoy 14 games of five-minute chess on Saturday, August 3.

The U.S. Open Scholastic will be held on Sunday, July 28, and is open to all US Chess members (including new members) in grade 12 or below.

And, before that, don’t forget about Bughouse, which begins on Saturday, July 27 at 10:30 a.m.

Meet, Mingle, Delegate

A number of workshops and meetings will take place from July 31 through August 2. The Annual Delegates Meeting will follow on August 3 and 4. The time and place for the awards ceremony for the 2024 US Chess Awards Recipients is will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, August 2, in the Riverwalk Ballroom.

Quick Links:

Main event page

Round-by-round coverage

Pairings page

Live games on uschess.live

US Chess Twitch channel

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