What to Expect at the 126th U.S. Open

The 126th Annual U.S. Open Chess Championship begins Monday, August 3 at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, MI. 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, 485 players are registered, including the three-time reigning Grand Prix champion GM Jianchao Zhou, seven more grandmasters, and nine IMs. As always, a spot in the 2026 U.S. Championship is on the line for the top American player.

Last year's winner was GM Darius Swiercz.

This year is also the second year of the new seven-day "slow" schedule. Those who compete in the seven-day schedule will have double-round days on Tuesday and Wednesday. The five-day schedule begins Wednesday, while those who dare take on the breakneck pace of the four-day join us Thursday afternoon.

Follow along each day with WGM Sabina Foisor on our Twitch channel, and keep an eye out for daily recaps on Chess Life Online.

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 six separate invitationals (and a seventh, inter-invitational blitz tournament).

The 9th Annual John T. Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions will feature 51 players. According to the roster, neither of last year's co-champions will seek to defend their title this year. But two of the players who tied for third with 4½/6 return; FM Robby Adamson (AZ) and IM Tim Taylor (CA-N).

The 42nd Annual GM Arnold Denker National Tournament of High School State Champions will boast a "full roster" of 53 players (one per state, a second for California, one for Washington, D.C., and an alternate for the host state). Last year's co-champions, GM-Elect Liam Putnam and IM Bach Ngo, are not back to defend their titles, either. In fact, only three players who finished with a positive score in 2025 — Aayush Wadhwa (KS), Noah Van Vugt (NH), and Chris Ping Liu (KY), who each scored 3½/6 — are back this year. In other words, this race is wide open!

Haring champion Irene Fei (Photo by David Llada)

The 14th Annual WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions features 49 players, including last year's winner CM Irene Jiao Fei of Iowa, who just competed in her first U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Fei is the only "defending champion" playing in any of this year's invitationals!

The 16th Annual Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions will see 52 players compete for the title. Andrew Wu (NC) finished clear second in 2025 and returns this year, as does John Abraham (KY), who tied for third.

The 7th Annual John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions will feature 51 participants, but, again, there will be a new champion. The top returning players are CM Aiden Li (IL), who finished in a tie for fifth with 4½/6 last year, and Siddharth Parthasarathy (NE), who tied for seventh last year with 4/6.

Finally, the 1st Annual GM Maurice Ashley National Tournament of K-3 State Champions rounds out the invitational field. 50 players will compete in this event's inaugural iteration. Reigning National K-3 champion Mehmet Yilanli (OH) jumps out as one of the players to beat.

While the games won’t be broadcast online, perhaps the most entertaining part of the invitationals is the 7th 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, well north of 200 participants are already 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, Texas finished ahead of the other traditional powerhouses. Will we see a repeat? The team competition also offers additional prizes for the top state whose participants’ ratings average under 2100, 1900, or 1600.

The invitationals begin Monday, August 3, at 7 p.m. EDT (except the Ashley, which begins an hour earlier). The invitationals end Thursday afternoon. All participants in the invitationals will be free to join the U.S. Open for the four-day schedule, and many of them do just that!

Quick Chess, Served with a Side of Blitz

There are side events every day this year, with a number of options ranging from blitz to quick to a two-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, August 8 and Sunday, August 9. There will also be one-day quads, with sections based on rating, every day from Monday, August 3, through Friday August 7. 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, August 5 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 8.

The U.S. Open Scholastic will be held on Sunday, August 9, and is open to all US Chess members (including new members) in grade 12 or below.

Meet, Mingle, Delegate

A number of workshops and meetings will take place on Thursday, August 6 and Friday, August 7. The Annual Delegates Meeting will follow on August 8 and 9. The 2026 US Chess Awards reception will be held at 4 p.m. on Friday, August 7, in the Ambassador Ballroom.

Support Team USA, Get Your Portrait Taken

We are thrilled to have David Llada on site taking photos for all seven days of this event. His photos have often appeared in Chess Life and he has taken chess photos around the world in such exotic locations as Shanghai, Las Vegas, New York, Moscow, Istanbul, and Zurich.

Many of Llada's photos will be shared during the event on Chess Life Online, US Chess's social media accounts, and Llada's X account. More will be shared after the event on our website and in Chess Life magazine.

Llada will primarily be taking photographs of players on the top board, plus anything else that catches his eye. But if you want to guarantee that you get your photo taken during one of the rounds of the U.S. Open, read on here.

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