Golden Knights (chess)
The Golden Knights is the United States open correspondence chess championship. It is held annually by the United States Chess Federation (USCF), and is open to all members of the USCF residing in the United States or who have an APO or FPO address. It was first held in 1943 under the name Victory Tournament, the next year it was called the Postal Chess Championship and in 1945 it was finally renamed as the Golden Knights tournament. The 69th annual Golden Knights tournament began in 2016. About 200 players typically participate in each tournament.
The tournament is played in three stages: the preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals. At each stage, the participants are divided into a number of seven-player sections, with each participant playing one game (three with White, three with Black) against every other player in the section. Each participant plays in the preliminaries, playing in a section with players having a wide range of ratings. The top finishers in the preliminaries advance to the semi-finals. The top players in the semi-finals advance to the finals. A score of 5-1 or better was previously required to advance from the preliminaries to the semi-finals, or from the semi-finals to the finals, but since at least the 2001 tournament, 4.5 points has been sufficient.[1] A player's score is determined by her weighted-point total, which is determined by multiplying her score at each stage by a coefficient that weighs later results more heavily than earlier results. The coefficient used for each point in the finals (4.5) is slightly more than twice that used for each point in the semi-finals (2.2), which is slightly more than twice that used for each point in the preliminaries (1).[2] Thus, a player who wins all of his games except for one draw in the preliminaries will have a higher weighted-point total (45.70) than a player who won all of his games except for a draw in the semi-finals (45.10), and both of those players will have a lower weighted-point total than a player who won all of his games except for a draw in the finals (43.55). The weighted-point system ensures that no player will be able to coast home with a series of draws, and enables a player who is behind to make up a lot of ground with a strong result in the finals.[3]
Golden Knights Champions
# Year Winner - 1943 John H. Staffer - 1944 Marvin C. Palmer 1 1945 Charles F. Rehberg 2 1946 Richard L. Aikin 3 1947-1948 Leon Stolzenberg 4 1949 James T. Sherwin 5 1950 Leon Stolzenberg 6 1951 John H. Staffer 7 1952-1953 Ignaz Zalys 8 1954 Reuben Klugman 9 1955 Hans Berliner 10 1956 Hans Berliner 11 1957 Raymond Doe 12 1958 J. Whiteczak 13 1959 Hans Berliner 14 1960 Leon Stolzenberg 15 1961-1962 Lionel B. Joyner 16 1963 Gary R. Abram 17 1964 Anton Sildmets 18 1965 Brian E. Owens 19 1966 Harry Mayer 20 1967 William F. Gray 21 1968 Kenneth Collins 22 1969 Robert H. Burns 23 1970 Juris Jurevics 24 1971 Robert G. Cross 25 1972 Richard A. Cayford 26 1973 Bill Maillard
Richard Cayford
George Krauss27 1974 Ben Bednarz 28 1975 Rob Salgado 29 1976 K. Redinger 30 1977 Tom Sweeney 31 1978 Richard Aiken
Walter Milbratz32 1979 Tom Friedel 33 1980 Gary Kubach 34 1981 Tom Friedel 35 1982 S. Kowalski
S. Sinding
Meeks Vaughan36 1983 Rob Salgado 37 1984 Edmund Hermelyn 38 1985 Andre Reichman 39 1986 Mike Colucci
George Kirby
J. Timms40 1987 Stanley J. Elowitch 41 1988 Michael P. Decker 42 1989 Jon Applebee 43 1990 Murray Kurtz
John Penquite44 1991 Joseph A. Schwing 45 1992 Edward P. Duliba
Charles Van Buskirk46 1993 Anthony D. Eaker 47 1994 Robert B. Ilderton 48 1995 Robert F. Keating 49 1996 Robert F. Keating 50 1997 Chris O'Connell 51 1998 Leonard "Corky" Schakel 52 1999 John Burton 53 2000 Abe Wilson 54 2001 John Burton 55 2002 Chuck Cullum[4] 56 2003 John Menke 57 2004 Chuck Cullum 58 2005 Abe Wilson 59 2006 Michael Buss James Tracz
60 2007 Daniel Woodard 61 2008 James Rhodes
References
Notes
- ↑ Alex Dunne, 2001 Golden Knights, Chess Life, October 2009, p. 28.
- ↑ Dunne 2009, pp. 28-29.
- ↑ Dunne 2009, p. 29.
- ↑ Alex Dunne, "All Chess Players Should Have a Hobby," Chess Life, March 2010, p. 38