The 1997 Interplay U.S. Chess Championship
Finals - Sept. 7 - 12

New! Webcast with Commentary by Grandmaster Michael Rohde
Benjamin wins the title 3.5 - 2.5

Who:

The two SemiFinals winners, GM Joel Benjamin of New York and GM Larry Christiansen of Massachusetts, faced off in a best of six game Finals for the title. Player Bios available.

Christiansen and Benjamin tied for first in their division in the Preliminaries. Kaidanov and Seirawan tied for first in division 2. Benjamin defeated Kaidanov, in the first semi-finals match while Christiansen emerged from a 12 hour, 11 game marathon with GM Yasser Seirawan as the winner from semi-finals 2.

In the last year, Benjamin was the GM "trainer" for Deep Blue, the computer that beat World Champion Garry Kasparov earlier this year. Christiansen is an experienced match player, who has recently returned to the US after several years in Europe. Both are former US Champions, and both are invitees to the 1997 FIDE World Championship Tournament later this year. But only Benjamin will take home the championship ring.

What:

The best of the best meet in the quest for the national title. Time controls: 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 in 1, then Game in 60 minutes, for a maximum of 8 hours per game.

Title Sponsor

The 1997 Interplay U.S. Championship is made possible through the generosity of Interplay Productions, Inc., of Irvine, Calif. Interplay is the world's source for innovative gaming software, including "USCF Chess."

Local Underwriters