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US Championship (1974) The US Championship came to the City of the Big Shoulders in 1974, continuing the Any Place But New York trend which began at El Paso the previous year. In the absence of Bobby Fischer, the players represented the usual mix of Old Guard and Impudent Youngsters, to wit: Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier, Walter Shawn Browne, Kim S Commons, Larry Melvyn Evans, Lawrence C Gilden, John Alan Grefe, Andrew Karklins, Samuel Reshevsky, Kenneth Rogoff, Anthony Saidy, Andrew Soltis, Norman Weinstein, Bernard Zuckerman. The story here was Old Six-Time, Walter Browne, winning his first US Championship in commanding fashion. He led from the start, never even sharing the top spot after the first round. The famous game Browne vs Bisguier, 1974 in round 9 gave him a 1.5 point lead with four rounds to go, and when nobody showed an inclination to make up ground he coasted home with four draws. Benko tied Evans for second place by beating him in the last round. Saidy had a chance to join them, but took a short draw instead. That tendency was endemic throughout the tournament. While having 55% of the games winding up drawn wasn't that bad, having nearly half of the draws go only 20 moves or less shows a certain lack of enterprise, or perhaps boredom. Some of these guys had been playing against each other in the US Championship for fifteen or twenty years. Thing was, the youngsters caught Draw Fever as well. The Fischer boom was bringing in some new blood, but can close with a quick mention of the old blood of Samuel Reshevsky. Aged sixty-two, he showed there was still a little fire in the tank. He started +1 -1 =6, then lost two in a row. Instead of limping home, he won his last three games to finish with a plus score. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Pts 1 Browne * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 9.5 2 Benko ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 8.0 3 Evans ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 8.0 4 Saidy ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 7.5 5 Reshevsky 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 7.0 6 Bisguier 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 7.0 7 Grefe 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7.0 8 Rogoff 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 7.0 9 Weinstein ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 0 0 1 6.0 10 Zuckerman ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 1 0 5.5 11 Soltis 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 5.5 12 Commons ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 0 * 1 0 5.0 13 Karklins ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * 1 4.5 14 Gilden 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 * 3.5 There were a number of mistaken results in the database, and the biographers have hoped to have caught them all, but if you spot one, please use Error Correction Form or let them know. The US Championship (1973) was the previous tournament. Original collection: Game Collection: US Championship 1974 by User: Phony Benoni.  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. N Weinstein vs Benko   ½-½ 16 1974 US Championship B08 Pirc, Classical 2. K Rogoff vs Soltis   ½-½ 14 1974 US Championship E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto 3. Saidy vs Reshevsky   ½-½ 9 1974 US Championship A37 English, Symmetrical 4. Larry Evans vs Zuckerman   ½-½ 64 1974 US Championship E46 Nimzo-Indian 5. A Karklins vs L C Gilden   1-0 32 1974 US Championship B06 Robatsch 6. J A Grefe vs Browne 0-1 41 1974 US Championship B99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line 7. K Commons vs Bisguier ½-½ 19 1974 US Championship C69 Ruy Lopez, Exchange, Gligoric Variation 8. Larry Evans vs N Weinstein   ½-½ 68 1974 US Championship A37 English, Symmetrical 9. L C Gilden vs Saidy 0-1 55 1974 US Championship B57 Sicilian 10. Benko vs K Commons 1-0 60 1974 US Championship E08 Catalan, Closed 11. Bisguier vs J A Grefe   ½-½ 30 1974 US Championship B06 Robatsch 12. Browne vs K Rogoff 1-0 41 1974 US Championship B60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 13. Zuckerman vs Reshevsky   ½-½ 21 1974 US Championship C78 Ruy Lopez 14. Soltis vs A Karklins   ½-½ 15 1974 US Championship C85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD) 15. Reshevsky vs L C Gilden 1-0 43 1974 US Championship A07 King's Indian Attack 16. A Karklins vs Browne   ½-½ 40 1974 US Championship B99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line 17. K Rogoff vs Bisguier   ½-½ 77 1974 US Championship E08 Catalan, Closed 18. Saidy vs Soltis   ½-½ 22 1974 US Championship E92 King's Indian 19. J A Grefe vs Benko   ½-½ 13 1974 US Championship C42 Petrov Defense 20. N Weinstein vs Zuckerman   ½-½ 12 1974 US Championship B52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 21. K Commons vs Larry Evans 0-1 43 1974 US Championship B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 22. N Weinstein vs K Commons   0-1 35 1974 US Championship B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 23. Larry Evans vs J A Grefe   ½-½ 29 1974 US Championship E99 King's Indian, Orthodox, Taimanov 24. Soltis vs Reshevsky   ½-½ 12 1974 US Championship C85 Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation Doubly Deferred (DERLD) 25. Benko vs K Rogoff ½-½ 30 1974 US Championship B30 Sicilian  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 91    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   TIP: You can make the above ads go away by registering a free account! Feb-25-14    optimal play: <<<<Chess title to Browne> CHICAGO, Sunday (AAP). — > Walter Browne, 25, an international grandmaster and twice Australian champion, won the title of US Chess Champion on Friday when he finished with a draw in his 13th and final round of the national tournament, Associated Press reported. He was competing against the 13 top players in the nation, excluding Bobby Fischer who declined to enter. Browne's attitude about beating Fischer? "I wouldn't beat him right now", he said. "I think I could beat him in an odd match, but he's better".> - The Canberra Times (ACT) issue Monday 5 August 1974> NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! If you already have an account, you should login now. 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