1845-57 Charles Stanley
1857-71 Paul Morphy
1871-90 George H. Mackenzie
1890-91 Jackson Showalter
1891-94 Solomon Lipschutz
1894 Jackson Showalter
1894-95 Albert Hodges
1895-97 Jackson Showalter
1897-1906 Harry Nelson Pillsbury
1906-09 Jackson Showalter
1909-36 Frank J. Marshall
1936 Samuel Reshevsky
1938 Samuel Reshevsky
1940 Samuel Reshevsky
1942 Samuel Reshevsky
1944 Arnold Denker
1946 Samuel Reshevsky
1948 Herman Steiner
1951 Larry Evans
1952 Larry Evans
1954 Arthur Bisguier
1957-58 Bobby Fischer
1958-59 Bobby Fischer
1959-60 Bobby Fischer
1960-61 Bobby Fischer
1961-62 Larry Evans
1962-63 Bobby Fischer
1963-64 Bobby Fischer
1965 Bobby Fischer
1966 Bobby Fischer
1968 Larry Evans
1969 Samuel Reshevsky
1972 Robert Byrne
1973 John Grefe, Lubomir Kavalek
1974 Walter Browne
1975 Walter Browne
1977 Walter Browne
1978 Lubomir Kavalek
1980 Walter Browne, Larry Evans, Larry Christiansen
1981 Walter Browne, Yasser Seirawan
1983 Walter Browne, Larry Christiansen, Roman Dzindzichashvili
1984 Lev Alburt
1985 Lev Alburt
1986 Yasser Seirawan
1987 Nick de Firmian, Joel Benjamin
1988 Michael Wilder
1989 Roman Dzindzichashvili, Yasser Seirawan, Stuart Rachels
1990 Lev Alburt
1991 Gata Kamsky
1992 Patrick Wolff
1993 Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Shabalov
1994 Boris Gulko
1995 Patrick Wolff, Alexander Ivanov, Nick de Firmian
1996 Alex Yermolinsky
1997 Joel Benjamin
1998 Nick de Firmian
1999 Boris Gulko
2000 Joel Benjamin, Yasser Seirawan, Alexander Shabalov
2001-02 Larry Christiansen
2002-03 Alexander Shabalov
2005 Hikaru Nakamura
2006 Alex Onischuk
2007 Alex Shabalov
Susan: I know that this is Joe’s second norm this year; have you verified that he has now qualified for the IM title?
I just hope USCF can get it’s act together. That and world peace. I think the peace thing is more realistic.
A few minor corrections here.
Pillsbury actually became US Champion in 1898. He beat Showalter in 1897, but refused to take the title, saying that Lasker’s title was the only one he wanted. It was actually Showalter who had challenged Pillsbury to the match, rather than the other way around, as he viewed Pillsbury’s successes as a threat to the credibility of his title. He actually did much better than anyone expected, scoring 8 wins against Pillsbury in a losing effort. When Pillsbury won their rematch in 1898, he agreed to take the US Title that time.
Larry Evans 1952 Match victory over Steiner is listed here, but not Reshevsky’s 1941 victory over Horowitz or Denker’s 1946 victory over Steiner.
Starting with 1973, it’s usually customary to list ties for first with the tiebreak winner (when one existed) in bold. 1973 was the first year there were co-Champions. But there were actually two ties before that. Kashdan tied for first in 1942 and was co-Champion until he and Reshevsky had a playoff match. Reshevsky and Kavalek were co-Champions for a while in 1972 with Byrne. The playoff wasn’t held until 9 months after the tournament, mainly because there were three champions competing for only two interzonal spots.
The whole 1890’s is a very murky period. It’s possible that Max Judd had a brief title reign in there somewhere. There was a match where Judd beat Showalter, but, according to Soltis, he didn’t claim the title. This may not be true, as there’s a second Judd-Showalter match that Soltis didn’t know about, reported in the New York Times of that era, which Judd resigned.
The first *Official* US Champion was Lipschutz, who won the title at New York 1889, by virtue of being the top finishing American in the tournament. The idea of the tournament had been that the top American would become US Champion and defend his title in match play thereafter. This tournament also was meant to pick Steinitz’s challenger. Max Weiss should have gotten the title shot, but didn’t want it. Tchigorin didn’t want it either, as it was so soon after his last shot, so Gunsberg got the nod. US Champions before 1889 were mainly informal, all were dominant enough to be recognized by press and peers as America’s best.
Lipschutz won the title and beat Showalter, but went west, and was assumed to have vacated the title, but came back a fewyears later, claiming to still hold it, until another match settled things.
The Capablanca-Marshall Match had actually been intended as a US title defense for Marshall, who many assumed took over the title upon Pillsbury’s death. When Marshall got shellacked, he challenged Capablanca’s right to be playing for the title at all, as he wasn’t a US citizen (fine time to think of that). Capablanca argued that he was a citizen of a (then) US Possession, and was intending to become a citizen when he became old enough. Walter Shipley, asked to mediate the dispute, ruled that Capa couldn’t be US Champion without being a citzen, and that upon Pillsbury’s death the title had reverted to the last living man to hold it (Showalter). Marshall buggered off to Kentucky, challenged Showalter to a match, beat him, and Capa lost interest in becoming a US citizen, depriving America of a world champion.
Thanx for the history lessong Graeme! It was a fascinating read. I never knew many of the things you pointed out. What a shame Capablanca didn’t become a US Citizen before becoming World Champion.
Pillsbury was not “officially” the U.S. Champion, though, he defeated the reigning champ. He wasn’t seeking the U.S. Title…he wanted a match against Lasker for the World Title.
Of all names on the list, Paul Morphy was, in my opinion, the greatest NATURAL chess talent in the history of our sport. When put into context and one examines the strength of the best players in the world during the late 1850’s, Morphy was light years ahead…and proved it by beating the best European players. I wish he would’ve gotten a match with Chigorin.
There is something about Morphy’s abilities that stand out above all his competition. He didn’t study 8-10 hours a day, he didn’t play in every possible tournament, he had an innate ability to “see” a chess position as no one else could.
An amazing feat. Morphy was, indeed, the “Pride and Sorrow of Chess.” But, for a brief time, he ruled the chess world on two continents. I think his natural chess abilities have yet to be matched by any other player (always consider the times in which a player lived and who their competition was, how they trained, etc).
Does anyone know if there is a list of women and junior US champions anywhere? I went to an event in London in 1990 or 1991 where the British Champ (Speelman) played a match with the US champ (Alburt) and the British boy champion played the US boy champion and similarly for the girls. I can remember the US boy and girl were brother and sister and I think they were oriental, but I can’t recall their names.
Personally I think Morphy is overrated. He was certainly the best player of his day, but that is because he was an excellent tactician. Almost all of his games were against considerably weaker opposition, and it’s not surprising that he had so many brilliant wins in those circumstances.
It’s a pity Morphy didn’t play Steinitz when the latter was at his peak as that would have shown us whether Morphy’s style was enough to defeat a world class positional player and expert at defense.
Morphy was not weak. People perceive him as a flashy tactician when in reality he was a conservative, extremely strong positional player. I don’t see how anyone can slight a player that destroyed the rest of the chess world. Someone please back me on this.
I’ll back you, jerry! Morphy was ahead of everyone in his time (with the possible exception of Steinitz) and was an excellent positional player. Trouble was, in America, all everyone knew how to do was attack! Anyone playing white was considered a disgrace if there were still material equality after 15 moves. The mission was to sack and attack, and win brilliantly!
I agree Morphy was one of the all time greats. Just play over the games against Andersson and you will see how he handles the strongest player at the time besides Morphy of course. Staunton did not stand a chance so ducked him just as Karpov ducked Fischer in 1975 (see recent Soviet top secret documents released for proof) when Soviets knew Fischer would have crushed Karpov the way Morphy crushed everyone in his era. Steinitz did not reach his peak until 30 years after Morphy played.