U.S. Women's Open Chess Championship
The U.S. Women's Open Championship is an open chess tournament that has been held irregularly. From 1934 through at least 1966 it was held in conjunction with the annual U.S. Open Chess Championship. After some years of inactivity, the event was reinstituted in 2009.
History
From 1934 through 1950 and in 1954, the women's tournaments were held as a round-robin tournament in conjunction with the U.S. Open. From 1951 through at least 1966, with the exception of 1954, the women played in the U.S. Open with the title U.S. Women's Open Champion being awarded to the woman with the highest score.
The title was not awarded for some time. In 2009 the event was held again, with sixteen players in a six-round tournament, but not in conjunction with the U.S. Open. It was held in conjunction with the U.S. Senior Chess Championship and two other tournaments. Chess Life incorrectly called it the first U.S. Women's Open Championship. The highest-placing US citizen qualifies for the U.S. Women's Chess Championship.
Winners
Complete records of the Women's Open Championship are not available.
See also
Notes
- ^ 1939 was a three-way tie, Karff won playoff over Mary Bain and Dr. Helen Weissenstein.
- ^ 1954 was a separate round robin of 11 players, and the women's zonal tournament for that year. Gresser won 8–2. Mona Karf and Sonja Graf tied at 7–3, but Karff had more Sonnenborn-Berger points and qualified with Gresser to play in the Women's World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament.
- ^ Sixteen players participated in a six-round Swiss-system tournament. First-place finisher Saheli of India is not eligible to play in the U.S. Women's Championship so the qualifying spot went to second-place finisher WFM Iryna Zenyuk.
References
- Harkness, Kenneth (1967). Official Chess Handbook. David McKay. p. 287. LCCN 66013085. (History and winners list of the tournament through 1966.)
- Root, Alexey (January 2010). "2009 U.S. Women's Open: Opening Up". Chess Life (1): 34–36.