San Diego - May 25, 2005 - The U.S. Chess Championship returns to San Diego from February 22 through March 5, 2006 and will be held at its new permanent home at NTC Promenade. The Championship was brought to San Diego last year by America's Foundation for Chess and the NTC Foundation and will be one of the first signature events to inaugurate the new Special Event Center at NTC Promenade.

The tournament will feature a 64-player field, composed of 19 seeded players (as determined by the October 2005 U.S.C.F Rating List), 43 tournament qualifiers (two of which being online) and 2 wild cards selected by the AF4C. The seeded players include the defending U.S. Champion, Hikaru Nakamura; Women's Champion, Rusudan Goletiani; the 2004 Chess Café.com Grand Prix winner, Aleks Wojtkiewicz; the 2005 U.S. Junior Champion; the 2005 U.S. Senior Champion; 8 top-rated Overall players, and 6 top-rated female players from the rating list.

41 players, with 11 spots reserved for woman players, will qualify from 8 top U.S. tournaments in the period March through December 2005. The breakdown of the qualifying spots and the tournaments will be as follows:

23-27 March - Foxwoods Open; 27-30 May - Chicago Open; 10-12 June - National Open; 30 June-4 July - World Open; 6-14 August - U.S. Open; 25-27 November - American Open; 25-27 November - National Congress; 26-29 December - North American Open.

A new, innovative qualifying process will see one spot decided by the player who -- while not qualifying directly-- accumulates the highest score from playing in as many (or all!) of the qualifying tournaments. After each tournament, the latest placing for this Qualifier Grand Prix will be posted on the dedicated U.S. Championship website (www.uschesschampionship.com).

Again there will be an online event of all 2005 US State Champions. The 50 State Champions (split into two conferences of East and West) will compete in an online event held over two weekends -- the first, with each conference split into two zones, being a double-round all-play-all to determine four winner, who will then go forward to the knockout 'Final Four' Weekend, played under supervised conditions.

This event will take place October 2005 in conjunction with State Associations, the AF4C, the USCF and the Internet Chess Club.

A new online event will see the winners of the Denker High School Championship, the Super National Championships, the Polgar Girls Championship and the U.S. Cadet Championship playing a similar styled online event on the ICC for one spot.

In addition to the championship games, there will be other exciting chess-related events & exhibits as part of the US Championship Chess Fest 2006. For more information about the U.S. Chess Championships or the events surrounding the 2006 games, please visit www.uschesschampionship.com.

About America's Foundation for Chess - www.af4c.org
AF4C was founded on the hope of making chess a subject taught in every school classroom (focusing on second and third grade) in the United States. AF4C is a 501[c][3] nonprofit organization, committed to making chess a larger part of America's cultural fabric -- accessible in schools and in popular culture. AF4C hopes to elevate the profile of chess in America so that it will soon become a regular part of every child's classroom experience.

About NTC Foundation- www.ntcpromenade.org
The NTC Foundation, a 501[c][3] nonprofit organization, is responsible for the renovation of the 26 historic buildings on 28 acres at the former San Diego Naval Training Center in Point Loma into a new arts, civic and cultural district called NTC Promenade. NTC Promenade will be the permanent home for the U.S. Chess Championship.

Contact:
Event press officer
John Henderson (AF4C)
(+1) 206-229-9233
info@uschesschampionship.com

John B Henderson
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2011 Fifth Avenue
Apartment 603
Seattle, WA98121
Tel: 206-229-9233