Monday, April 27, 2009

2009 US Chess Championships

Over the weekend I received an email from the US telling me about the upcoming US Chess Championships to be held from 7 to 17 May. It will be a 24-player field with more than US$200,000 in prize money. The venue will be the brand new facilities at The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, in Missouri.

When looking at the website I was very impressed, especially, by this "Press Kit". It's something that organisers of major events should emulate for it has just about all the basics down pat and them some. For example, there are some historical tidbits, a list of famous people who played chess and a bio of players. Very useful for non-chess educated MSM journos! Most of all I quite like the site itself. It's simple and elegant, very unlike some of these ridiculous ones you see with heavy images or, worse, non-accessible flash components.

By the way, of interest to our Pinoy readers is that ex-RP man IM Enrico Sevillano, born in my beloved province of Cebu, will also be competing. We'll certainly be barracking for this guy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The facts on your link to the US Championship website are inaccurate. Bobby Fischer didnt win 8 straight US championships. He didnt play in the 1961/62 US Championship which was won by Larry Evans and Reshevsky won the 1957 US Championship which isnt noted as well. The article looks good, however it is oversensational at the expense of being historically accurate.

Chess Coroner said...

The Press Kit also omits the 1981 Championship (held in South Bend, Indiana) which was won by Browne & Seirawan.