US Chess Championship
The US Chess Championship is an invitational tournament organized by the United States Chess Federation to determine the country's chess champion.
It is the oldest national chess tournament. The event originated as a challenge match in 1845, but the champion has been decided by tournament play under the auspices of the USCF since 1936. The tournament has fluctuated between a round-robin tournament and a Swiss system. From 2000 to 2006, the championship was sponsored and organized by the Seattle Chess Foundation ; starting in 2002 it featured a larger body of competitors, made possible by the change to a Swiss-style format. After the Foundation withdrew its sponsorship, the 2007 and 2008 events were held in Stillwater, Oklahoma, still as a Swiss system, under tournament director Frank K. Berry. The Saint Louis Chess Club has hosted the championship since 2009. Since 2014, the championship has used a round-robin format. The event is often a Zonal tournament for the United States Chess Federation, providing qualifier spots to the Chess World Cup.
As of 2023, twelve players are invited to compete: the reigning US champion, as well as the respective winners of the US Open Chess Championship and the US Junior Championship. The remaining players are chosen by highest invitational rating, in addition to one organizer wildcard. Fabiano Caruana is the current US chess champion.
By acclamation (1845–1891)
Match format (1891–1935)
George Henry Mackenzie died in April 1891 and, later that year, Max Judd proposed he, Jackson Showalter and S. Lipschütz contest a triangular match for the championship. Lipschütz withdrew so Judd and Showalter played a match which the latter won. A claim by Walter Penn Shipley that S. Lipschütz became US Champion as a result of being the top-scoring American at the Sixth American Chess Congress, New York 1889, is refuted in a biography of Lipschütz.The following US Champions until 1909 were decided by matches.
Round-robin format (1936–1998)
Swiss format (1999–2013)
Round-robin format (2014–present)
Players by number of championships
| Name | Total Victories | Tournament Victories | Match Victories | Years |
| Bobby Fischer | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1957/8 1958/9 1959/60 1960/1 1962/3 1963/4 1965/6 1966/7 |
| Samuel Reshevsky | 8 | 6 | 2 | 1936 1938 1940 1941 1942 1946 1957 1969 |
| Walter Browne | 6 | 6 | 0 | 1974 1975 1977 1980 1981 1983 |
| Larry Evans | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1951 1952 1961/2 1968 1980 |
| Gata Kamsky | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1991 2010 2011 2013 2014 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2005 2009 2012 2015 2019 |
| Jackson Showalter | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1891–92 1894 1895 1896 1896 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 5 | 5 | 0 | 2016 2022 2023 2024 2025 |
| Yasser Seirawan | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1981 1986 1989 2000 |
| Alexander Shabalov | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1993 2000 2003 2007 |
| Lev Alburt | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1984 1985 1990 |
| Joel Benjamin | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1987 1997 2000 |
| Larry Christiansen | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1980 1983 2002 |
| Nick de Firmian | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1987 1995 1998 |
| Wesley So | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2017 2020 2021 |
| Arnold Denker | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1944 1946 |
| Roman Dzindzichashvili | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1983 1989 |
| Boris Gulko | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1994 1999 |
| Lubomir Kavalek | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1973 1978 |
| Frank Marshall | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1909 1923 |
| Harry Pillsbury | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1897 1898 |
| Patrick Wolff | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1992 1995 |
| Alex Yermolinsky | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1993 1996 |
| Arthur Bisguier | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1954 |
| Robert Byrne | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1972 |
| John Grefe | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1973 |
| Albert Hodges | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1894 |
| Alexander Ivanov | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1995 |
| Samuel Lipschütz | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1892 |
| Alexander Onischuk | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2006 |
| Stuart Rachels | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1989 |
| Samuel Shankland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2018 |
| Yury Shulman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2008 |
| Herman Steiner | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1948 |
| Michael Wilder | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1988 |