Knight’s Tour / Tournament Travel 2014 American Open
November 27-30, 2014
AMERICAN OPEN TURNS 50 By RANDY HOUGH
THIS THANKSGIVING MARKS A MAJOR ANNIVERSARY IN U.S. chess. In 1965 the Santa Monica Bay Chess Club decided to utilize the four-day weekend to hold a major tournament. The first American Open drew 121 players, and had a more than worth winner in GM Pal Benko, a two-time world championship candidate. The tournament had been held every year, and its 50th incarnation will take place at the spacious Doubletree Hotel in Orange, near Disneyland, with at least $25,000 guaranteed and relatively low entry fees. The 1965 decision was an especially audacious one since the concepts of half-point byes, alternate schedules, and sudden death were many years in the future. Thanksgiving Day itself is still not utilized for play in many events; southern California’s less tradition-bound culture perhaps helped the concept succeed. (Today many players celebrate the holiday early, take a half-point bye to enjoy that turkey dinner, or play the three-day schedule.) Held in the beachside city of Santa Monica for years and later
in hotels at LAX and Long Beach, the tournament grew continually, peaking between 1987 and 1989 with corporate sponsorship that drew over 700. It became the first event to attain both American Classic (over 400 players for at least three years) and American
50 October 2014 | Chess Life
Laguna Beach is only a 30-minute drive from the tournament site.
Heritage (25 straight years) status. It remains a high prestige event; 28 other grandmasters have won or tied for first over the years (most recently, Timur Gareev and Mackenzie Molner). GMs Walter Browne and Melik Khachiyan and IM David Strauss have been in the winners’ circle most often, seven times. Non-chess celebri ties turn up too; singer Joni Mitchell played in 1972. Alas, when the sponsorship ended the club was no longer
able to provide the financial backing necessary for a guaran - teed prize fund and all the expenses. Jerry Hanken, who played in every Open until his passing in 2009, stepped up to the organizational plate, raising the requisite funds every year and handling hotel negotiations and all the other tasks that go into the making of a class tournament. This writer took over in 2003, and in 2011 passed the torch to Chess Palace, a family-owned (seven USCF members!) store and club in Orange County. They’ve utilized the Doubletree, which has a huge outdoor mall in easy walking distance, four times now. The best news is that the successful scholastic side event,
which monopolized the prime ballroom space for the last two years, has shifted to the prior weekend, leaving plenty of room for both playing schedules and the side events. Lectures (IM Jeremy Silman is a perennial favorite), movies and other chess video material are another standard feature. And for this anniversary, Chess Palace will be pulling out all the stops with enhanced raffles and gifts for the participants. Your reporter, who directed 26 Opens and will be playing in his 15th, looks forward to seeing you!
PHOTO:
WWW.VISITLAGUNABEACH.COM
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