2025 US Masters Kicks Off in Charlotte!
The strongest open chess tournament in the United States, the US Masters, kicked off on Wednesday at the Hilton Charlotte University Place!
The US Masters is hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center, and follows the recently-completed Fall Norm Invitational at the same site. With a whopping $25,000 prize fund up for grabs and 38 Grandmasters participating, competition is fierce! All participants are titled-strength players, with full eligibility rules spelled out on our website.
Many of the country’s top players are participating in this year’s US Masters, including four with ratings over 2600 FIDE. The top seeded player overall is GM Awonder Liang, currently 28th in the world rankings. Facing NM Steve Wongso in the first round, Awonder’s 17. Nd5 was the key to a big advantage:
Most of the highest-rated players secured wins in round one, but that’s not to say there were no upsets! GMs Gleb Dudin and Viktor Gazik lost to NM Mitch Fishbein and WFM Martyna Starosta respectively, while local NM Andrew Wu also scored an upset win against IM Gauri Sinkar. The event’s second seed, GM Jeffery Xiong, avoided that fate with a clean win as black in a Tartakower Caro-Kann.
Another pre-tournament favorite, GM Olexander Bortnyk, faced an early challenge against CM Joshua Altman. Bortnyk, likely playing with a heavy heart following the passing of his close friend GM Daniel Naroditsky, gradually applied pressure in the endgame until finally breaking through with a passed e-pawn:
With only one round completed so far, there's lots left to be decided, so make sure to check this blog throughout the tournament for updates. In the meantime, games are viewable live on the "events" tab right here on chess.com.
A big thanks as always to the players, the organizers and TDs, and to Kelly Centrelli for the photographs used in this report. Happy Thanksgiving to all, and good luck to the participants!
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NM Dennis Norman
Chess Coach - Club Journalist
