The National Open, the Queen’s Gambit and the 1960s Tournament Boom

By the 1960s, as Las Vegas boomed, chess organizers recognized the city’s potential as a venue. In 1965, Ed Edmondson – then Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), a former military officer and one of the key figures in American chess – founded the National Open, establishing Las Vegas’s first recurring major chess event. The inaugural National Open set a high standard – no tournament in U.S. history had been run with more attention to player comfort. It earned a reputation as a “chess vacation,” where competitors could enjoy the city’s entertainment after their games.

The cultural connection between Las Vegas and chess found fresh resonance through The Queen’s Gambit. In the series, Beth Harmon’s first high-stakes tournament takes place at the fictional Mariposa Hotel in Vegas – a setting that captures the scale, style, and sensory overload of the city in the 1960s. Though filmed in Berlin, the Mariposa evokes the grandeur of vintage Vegas: towering lobbies, gilded ornamentation, and the tension of ambition meeting spectacle. For Beth, the experience is formative – a first defeat to Benny Watts, but also a coming-of-age moment under the neon lights. It’s a reminder that Las Vegas has long been a place where where audacious characters and daring moves feel right at home.

In 1973, a Las Vegas hotel offered newly crowned World Champion Bobby Fischer an unprecedented $1 million (plus expenses) to play a single high-profile match. This ultimately fell flat when Fischer declined. But it signaled how Las Vegas was eager to “up the ante” in the chess world.

In 1976, the National Open became the first major tournament to ban smoking in the playing hall. The decision was controversial at the time and sparked debate among players – especially older participants accustomed to lighting up during tense moments. While some grumbled about losing what they saw as a traditional right at the board, the move marked a shift toward modernizing the tournament environment, prioritizing health and concentration – and set a precedent for future events.

Revival on the Strip in the 1980s

In the early 1980s, the National Open returned to Las Vegas for good. After its inaugural edition in 1965, the event had wandered between locations – but in 1983, Fred Gruenberg anchored it permanently on the Strip. It began drawing hundreds of players from casual amateurs to grandmasters. Alan Losoff helped turn the National Open into “The Chess Vacation of the Year.” Gruenberg, a local entrepreneur with a passion for both chess and Las Vegas showmanship, and Losoff, a detail-oriented organizer with deep connections in the U.S. chess scene, were a perfect fit. Together, they professionalized the event’s logistics and atmosphere, laying the foundation for decades of successful editions rotating through iconic venues.

World Championship on the Strip (1999)

Las Vegas reached new prominence as a chess city in 1999 when it hosted the FIDE World Chess Championship knockout tournament at Caesars Palace. It featured 100 players. Judit Polgár, the first woman to participate in a world championship open to both sexes, made it to the quarter final. There, she lost to Alexander Khalifman who went on to become the new FIDE World Champion. Meanwhile, Las Vegas had proven itself a world-class host.

Though reigning champion Anatoly Karpov‘s planned participation in the 1999 FIDE World Championship fell through – he withdrew in protest after not being seeded directly into the final – his Las Vegas legacy runs deeper. Despite rarely playing serious chess in the city, Karpov was a regular visitor since the 1970s.

Negotiations for a high-profile match in Vegas against Bobby Fischer never came to fruition, nor did a proposed match against Susan Polgar, which was to include games in what was then only called Fischer Random and is now known as Freestyle Chess. Still, the maestro kept returning. Karpov watched Mike Tyson fight in Vegas, heard Frank Sinatra sing, and seemed genuinely drawn to the city’s atmosphere.

Chess and Poker: A Shared Arena

Las Vegas is the global capital of poker, and it’s no surprise that several strong chess players have crossed over. Poker and chess reward patience, calculation, and psychological insight – and in Las Vegas, those skills can shine under the same bright lights.

Few illustrate the crossover better than Dan Harrington – a National Master who won the 1971 Massachusetts State Chess Championship before becoming a World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion in 1995. Harrington authored a landmark book series on poker tournament strategy and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, has also made her mark on the poker tables. As a PokerStars ambassador and commentator, she blends her expertise in both games to promote mind sports.

Eloi Relange, once a rising French grandmaster, transitioned into poker and founded Poker Académie – France’s largest online poker school. Today, he is the president of the French Chess Federation – another case of someone straddling both worlds at the highest levels.

Festivals, Scholastics, and the Amateur Scene

In the 2000s, Las Vegas fully embraced chess tourism. The Las Vegas International Chess Festival, built around the National Open, added the U.S. Women’s Open, scholastics, blitz and simuls. Casinos prove welcoming hosts. Raffle prizes, side contests, and deluxe ballrooms give amateurs the red-carpet treatment. In Vegas, chess players feel like stars. And, of course, chess festival poker tournaments complement the chess schedule.

“Upping the Ante” – Millionaire Chess in the 2010s

In 2014, Maurice Ashley and Amy Lee launched the Millionaire Chess Open at Planet Hollywood with a $1,000,000 prize fund – the biggest in chess open history. Nearly 600 players entered. Wesley So won the first edition. In 2015, Hikaru Nakamura won the second.

The event brought a poker-style buzz to chess with knockout playoffs on “Millionaire Monday.” The format dazzled fans, but the high production and prize fund costs proved unsustainable. According to co-founder Maurice Ashley, the financial burden eventually became too great, especially without long-term sponsorship. The series ended in 2016 – but it proved again that Vegas can host elite, spectacle-driven chess.

The 2020s – Freestyle Chess and Chesstival

Las Vegas continues to innovate with Freestyle Chess, launching its first U.S. Grand Slam leg in 2025 at Wynn Las Vegas. The event (July 16–20) features Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and others, with a $750,000 prize fund. Spectators will watch from ringside seats. The festival includes Chesstival, a celebrity event created by NBA MVP Derrick Rose, where basketball stars face off over the board.

Freestyle blends creative, skill-driven chess with high-end production to grow the game’s audience beyond its traditional core. 2025 marks the first major chess event in the Wynn. Players, organizers, and fans alike look forward to a week of unforgettable games and a front-row seat to the future of chess.