Winning the World Open

This Winning the World Open is an English-language chess book about one of the best-known open tournaments in the United States, bringing together tournament history, game analysis, tactics and player interviews across 736 pages.

About the book

The World Open began in 1973, when organiser Bill Goichberg built the event around a simple formula: a high entry fee, substantial prizes and no unnecessary extras. With only a few exceptions, Philadelphia has remained its traditional home, and the tournament has drawn generation after generation of players who treat it as a near-annual pilgrimage around 4 July.

Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott trace the tournament’s history, examine hundreds of games and speak with the players they present as the World Open’s heroes — the repeat winners who managed to keep returning to the top. The book is interested not only in who won, but in why some players were able to sustain such a high score in a strong and crowded field. The answer is not a single formula, but a shared fighting spirit.

What you’ll find inside

This is a book that combines tournament history, training material and enjoyable reading. It is not a dry record of results. The authors cover the successes, controversies and memorable moments from the World Open’s history, while also highlighting the most important and most exciting games played over the years. Tactical motifs are woven in throughout, giving the book clear value as a study resource as well.

That makes Winning the World Open a strong choice for readers interested in chess tournament history, as well as for players looking for instructive games to analyse. It will appeal to anyone who likes to learn from practical examples and wants to see how resilience, consistency and a willingness to play for the full point show up in real tournament chess.

Key details

• Product type: chess book
• Title: Winning the World Open
• Authors: Joel Benjamin and Harold Scott
• Language: English
• Page count: 736
• Subject: the World Open chess tournament
• Content: tournament history, game analysis, tactics and player interviews