U.S. chess title hunt under way
By David R. Sands
May 19, 2007
Washington Times
With a new sponsor and yet one more new format, the 2007 U.S. national chess championship got under way this week in the Oklahoma city of Stillwater.
When San Diego-based America’s Foundation for Chess dropped out earlier this year as the tournament’s backer, Southwest organizer Frank Berry stepped in to host the event. Gone is the split-field idea, where the winners of the two flights met in a final minimatch.
Instead, it’s a straight 36-player Swiss event, with reigning champ GM Alex Onischuk and former champ GM Hikaru Nakamura topping a very strong field. Among the missing, unfortunately, is popular New York GM Joel Benjamin, another former U.S. titleholder who is out of the national championship field for the first time in more than two decades.
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The US Championship will continue to change until they hit on the idea of a Match Championship.
Have a tournament winner play the Champion in a Match.
Simple and low cost.
also limit the field to only those who really have a chance to win. They have turned the US Championship into a circus of low rated players. Rediculous. It totally kills the prestige of the event.