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Day four of the U.S. Open saw the end of the invitational tournaments, the first master-on-master match-ups of the traditional open schedule, and the first round of the six-day Open as well. Let's get caught up!

In many sports, halftime is a great time for players to reset, gather their bearings, and map out their plans for the rest of the event. In the U.S. Invitationals, with its intensive two-round days, players get only one brief night to rest before the next day, and the fatigue players acquire towards the end of the tournament is a testament to how physically taxing chess can be. After the first double-round day, multiple players finished close to or even past midnight, and the field was all set f...

The first thing chess players will notice when they arrive at the U.S. Open? This place is huge!

38 years ago in 1985, the first Denker Tournament of High School State Champions was held: a melting pot for strong chess players all over the nation. Since then, multiple other tournaments emerged like flowers in a blossoming garden, including the Barber Tournament for Middle School Champions, the Haring Tournament for Girls Champions, the Irwin Tournament for Senior Champions, the Rockefeller Tournament for Elementary Champions, and the Weeramantry tournament for Blitz Champions.

The first thing chess players will notice when they arrive at the U.S. Open? This place is huge!

With a nod to the Bard, we will once again look at games that involve attacks against the king. In response to last month’s column, I was sent our first game, with notes, by the winner. Patrick Walsh, also known as Konchog, describes himself as, “a deaf-blind chess player whose first tournament was the 1972 Texas Open – the tournament where Ken Smith introduced the Smith-Morra Gambit, and the tournament that also produced one of the finest endgames ever played, a masterpiece by Botvinnik a...

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As the 2023 U.S. Championships wound down, we had some great games to cap off a great tournament. The players in the Junior and Girls’ junior sections showcased why they are great torchbearers for the next generation of American chess, and the Seniors reminded us just how strong they really are.  

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Round six of the U.S. Championships saw a mix of crushing attacks and subtle endgames, with the leader(s) in all three sections remaining unchanged.