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U.S. CHESS CHAMPS

HOME OF U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP CHESS & THE COUNTRY’S TOP PLAYERS

The Commentators

GM Ben Finegold
2587 (USCF) | 2500 (FIDE)
U.S. Open Champion

Grandmaster Ben Finegold learned the rules of chess at age 5 and received his first USCF rating at age 6. It wasn’t long, around his mid-teens, until he realized he wanted to play chess professionally. GM Finegold’s first major tournament win came in 1989 when he finished in a first-place tie at the U.S. Junior Closed Championship. Also in 1989, Finegold scored his biggest victory to date with a win against Boris Gelfand at the Euwe Memorial tournament in Amsterdam, Holland.

According to Finegold, this was the most famous player he had beaten at the time, and the fact that it was a Swiss tournament and he was unable to prepare for Gelfand specifically made the win that much more exciting. Finegold said he played an excellent tactical game to secure the victory. He obtained his first IM norm at the event, gained 40 FIDE points and eventually earned the title of International Master in 1990.

In 1991 Finegold won his first major, international, Swiss-paired tournament in Antwerp, Belgium. He was just 21 years old. From 1988 to 1992

Finegold lived in Brussels, Belgium. He returned to the U.S. in 1992 and, in 1993, was awarded the Samford Chess Fellowship.

The Samford Chess Fellowship is awarded each year to the most talented chess player in the United States under the age of 26. At that time, the fellowship gave Finegold a $1,200 per month stipend and also paid for all things chess related. During that time, he worked with Gregory Kaidanov, played in a number of strong tournaments, and began utilizing chess software on is computer to improve his game.

In 1994, Finegold finished in a six-way tie for first place at the U.S Open in Chicago, and then in 2002 he finished in a first-place tie with eight players at the World Open in Philadelphia where he secured his first GM norm. He won the Chicago Spring Invitational in 2005 to earn his second GM norm, and then achieved his third GM norm at the 2009 Spice Cup Chess Festival in Lubbock, Texas.

Serious chess players are divided by the question of whether it’s better to study a narrow set of openings in great depth, or play a wide variety of systems, to keep opponents wondering. Finegold falls somewhere in between. He’s been playing 1.d4 his whole life but with Black he’s more flexible and can play numerous defenses against both 1.e4 and 1.d4. Ben isn’t afraid of trading Queens early in the game, and wins a lot of half points from endgame technique.

A familiar face around the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and a popular name within the Club’s Resident Grandmaster rotation, Finegold has offered outstanding commentary – both live and on the broadcast – for several of the Club’s elite events, including the U.S. Championships, the U.S. Junior Championships and the Sinquefield Cup.


aviv, friedman, chess, junior, closed, saint, louisFM Aviv Friedman
2407 (USCF) | 2359 (FIDE)
FIDE Senior Trainer

FM Aviv Friedman is a well-known coach and author, and he has worked with a number of the competitors for the U.S. Junior Championship at various chess summer camps and instructional venues throughout his career.

In 2009, Aviv won the USCF Scholastic Service Award and was later awarded the FIDE Senior Trainer title — the highest title FIDE bestows on coaches. He has been the U.S. Youth team coach and head of delegation in many world events for almost 20 years including:

  • The 1999 Pan-American Youth Championship, where he was the lone coach for seven players, resulting in five gold medals and one silver medal.
  • In 2002, coached Dmitry Schneider to a gold medal at the Pan-American Junior Championship.
  • In 2005, coached Alex Lenderman to a gold medal at the World Under 16 Championships.
  • Coached teams that received approximately two dozen medals in several other World Youth and Pan-American Youth competitions.

Aviv also helped improve the standards of international scholastic tournaments by showing leadership in protesting the inadequate conditions at the 2005 WYCC in Belfort. (see http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2557) Aviv’s letter eventually led to FIDE issuing sanctions to prevent this from occurring in the future.

He He has written numerous articles about scholastic chess for Chess Life and Chess Life for Kids.

In 2008, Aviv started the Schein-Friedman Scholastic Recognition Project, which awards scholarships annually of over $10,000 to leading juniors.

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Past Events

2025
  • 2025 Spring Chess Classic
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  • 2025 Champions Showdown: The Kings
2024
  • 2024 U.S. National Championships
  • 2024 Spring Chess Classic
  • 2024 Cairns Cup
  • 2024 Summer Chess Classic
  • 2024 American Cup
  • Today in Chess: 2024 FIDE Candidates
2023
  • 2023 American Cup
  • 2023 Cairns Cup
  • 2023 Saint Louis Super Swiss
  • 2023 Spring Chess Classic
  • 2023 Summer Chess Classic
  • 2023 U.S. Championships
  • 2023 U.S. National Championships
  • 2023 Winter Classic
2022
  • 2022 U.S. Championships
  • 2022 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX
  • 2022 Fall Chess Classic
  • 2022 U.S. Senior Championship
  • 2022 U.S. Junior Championship
  • 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
  • Today in Chess: 2022 FIDE Candidates
  • 2022 Summer Chess Classic
  • 2022 Saint Louis Norm Congress
  • 2022 American Cup
  • 2022 Spring Chess Classic
2021
  • 2021 U.S. Championships
  • 2021 U.S. Senior Championship
  • 2021 U.S. Junior Championships
2020
  • Today in Chess: 2020 FIDE Candidates
  • 2020 U.S. Championships
  • 2020 Champion Showdown: Chess 9LX
  • 2020 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
  • 2020 Clutch Chess: International
  • 2020 Clutch Chess: USA
  • 2020 Cairns Cup
2019
  • 2019 Saint Louis Invitational
  • 2019 Winter Chess Classic
  • 2019 Midwest Collegiate
  • 2019 Fall Chess Classic
  • 2019 Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX
  • 2019 U.S. Senior Championship
  • 2019 U.S. Junior Championship
  • 2019 U.S. Girls Junior Championship
  • 2019 Summer Chess Classic
  • 2019 Saint Louis Norm Congress
  • 2019 U.S. Championships
  • 2019 US Collegiate Rapid & Blitz
  • 2019 Spring Chess Classic
  • 2019 Champions Showdown: The Kings
  • 2019 Cairns Cup
2018
  • 2018 TiC: World Championship
  • 2018 Saint Louis Invitational
  • 2018 Winter Classic
  • 2018 Fall Chess Classic
  • 2018 Champions Showdown
  • 2018 U.S. Junior Championships
  • 2018 Summer Chess Classic
  • 2018 U.S. Championships
  • 2018 Today in Chess: Candidates
  • 2018 Spring Chess Classic
  • 2018 Saint Louis Norm Congress
2017
  • 2017 Winter Chess Classic
  • 2017 Saint Louis Winter Invitational
  • 2017 Saint Louis Invitational
  • 2017 Champions Showdown
  • 2017 Fall Chess Classic
  • 2017 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
  • 2017 Sinquefield Cup
  • 2017 Match of the Millennials
  • 2017 U.S. Junior Championship
  • 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship
  • 2017 Your Next Move
  • 2017 Paris GCT
  • 2017 Spring Chess Classic
  • 2017 U.S. Championship
  • 2017 U.S. Women's Championship
2016
  • 2016 Saint Louis Autumn Invitational
  • 2016 Champions Showdown
  • 2016 Sinquefield Cup
  • 2016 U.S. Junior Closed
  • 2016 Saint Louis Invitational
  • 2016 U.S. Championships
  • 2016 U.S. Women's Championship
2015
  • 2015 Showdown in Saint Louis
  • 2015 U.S. Championships
  • 2015 U.S. Junior Closed Championship
  • Kasparov vs Short
2014
  • 2014 Sinquefield Cup
2013
  • 2013 Sinquefield Cup
  • 2013 U.S. Championships
  • 2013 U.S. Junior Closed Championship

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