2009 U.S. Chess Championship in Saint Louis - Winner: Hikaru Nakamura
Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura is the winner of the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship in Saint Louis (May 2009) winning $40,000 first prize. This is the largest prize in the history of this tournament.
The US Championship is an invitational tournament where selected players are invited to participate and determines the national chess champion of the United States since 1936.
The Championship was held at the modern Chess Club of Saint Louis, which was founded 2008 by retired investment manager Rex Sinquefield.
The winners since 2006 were:
2006 Alexander Onischuk
2007 Alexander Shabalov
2008 Yury Shulman
2009 Hikaru Nakamura