IM Enrico Sevillano set to defend the 2009 U.S. Open

American based Filipino International Master Enrico Sevillano (2520), the co-champ from last year edition of the US Chess Championship is set to defend the title he won with three others, GM Alexander Shabalov and IMs Rade Milovanovi. The Championship will take place in Saint Louis, May 7-17, 2009. But with the participation of some of the biggest names in American chess today which includes GMs Gata Kamsky (2720), Hikaru Nakamura (2701), Alexander Onischuk (2684), Yuri Shulman (2632), Varuzhan Akobian (2612), Jaan Ehlvest (2606) the odds are obviously stacked against the Filipino-American. Sevillano became the second Philippine born players to win the annual tournament after another US based Filipino, FM Paulo del Mundo also wins the tournament with six others two years ago. The following are excerpt from last year interview after winning the tourney:

EV: You are Phillipino originally, right? Where are you living now?

ES: I moved to this country in ’95. I was in Vegas for a while, but moved to the mountains in California, about an hour and a half north of LA...

ES:...I play bullet on ICC a couple hours a day (laughs). When I was in the Phillipines I was on the national team, and we all used to study together very seriously: 25 of us including GM Eugenio Torre. I studied with them every day for two years.

Read the full interview at US Chess Federation Website

US Open Winners

No.	Year	Location	Champions
1	1900	Excelsior, Minnesota	Louis Uedemann
2	1901	Excelsior, Minnesota	Nicholas Menalaus MacLeod
3	1902	Excelsior, Minnesota	Louis Uedemann
4	1903	Chicago, Illinois	Max Judd
5	1904	St. Louis, Missouri	Stasch Mlotkowski
6	1905	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward F. Schrader
7	1906	Chicago, Illinois	George H. Wolbrecht
8	1907	Excelsior, Minnesota	Einar Michelsen
9	1908	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward P. Elliot
10	1909	Excelsior, Minnesota	Oscar Chajes
11	1910	Chicago, Illinois	George. H. Wolbrecht
12	1911	Excelsior, Minnesota	Charles Blacke
13	1912	Excelsior, Minnesota	Edward P. Elliot
14	1913	Chicago, Illinois	Bradford B. Jefferson
15	1914	Memphis, Tennessee	Bradford B. Jefferson
16	1915	Excelsior, Minnesota	Jackson Showalter
17	1916	Chicago, Illinois	Edward Lasker
18	1917	Lexington, Kentucky	Edward Lasker
19	1918	Chicago, Illinois	Bora Kostic
20	1919	Cincinnati, Ohio	Edward Lasker
21	1920	Memphis, Tennessee	Edward Lasker
22	1921	Cleveland, Ohio	Edward Lasker
23	1922	Louisville, Kentucky	Samuel Factor
24	1923	San Francisco, California	Stasch Mlotkowski, Norman Whitaker
25	1924	Detroit, Michigan	Carlos Torre
26	1925	Cedar Point, Ohio	Abraham Kupchik
27	1926	Chicago, Illinois	Leon Stolzenberg
28	1927	Kalamazoo, Michigan	Albert Charles Margolis
29	1928	South Bend, Indiana	Leon Stolzenberg
30	1929	St. Louis, Missouri	Herman H. Hahlbohm
31	1930	Chicago, Illinois	Samuel Factor, Norman Whitaker
32	1931	Tulsa, Oklahoma	Samuel Reshevsky
33	1932	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Reuben Fine
34	1933	Detroit, Michigan	Reuben Fine
35	1934	Chicago, Illinois	Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky
36	1935	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Reuben Fine
37	1936	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Israel A. Horowitz
38	1937	Chicago, Illinois	David Polland
39	1938	Boston, Massachusetts	Israel A. Horowitz, Isaac Kashdan
40	1939	New York, New York	Reuben Fine
41	1940	Dallas, Texas	Reuben Fine
42	1941	St. Louis, Missouri	Reuben Fine
43	1942	Dallas, Texas	Herman Steiner, Daniel Yanofsky
44	1943	Syracuse, New York	Israel A. Horowitz
45	1944	Boston, Massachusetts	Samuel Reshevsky
46	1945	Peoria, Illinois	Anthony Santasiere
47	1946	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Herman Steiner
48	1947	Corpus Christi, Texas	Isaac Kashdan
49	1948	Baltimore, Maryland	Weaver W. Adams
50	1949	Omaha, Nebraska	Albert Sandrin Jr.
51	1950	Detroit, Michigan	Arthur Bisguier
52	1951	Fort Worth, Texas	Larry Evans
53	1952	Tampa, Florida	Larry Evans
54	1953	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Donald Byrne
55	1954	New Orleans, Louisiana	Larry Evans
56	1955	Long Beach, California	Nicolas Rossolimo
57	1956	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Arthur Bisguier
58	1957	Cleveland, Ohio	Bobby Fischer
59	1958	Rochester, Minnesota	E. Cobo Arteaga
60	1959	Omaha, Nebraska	Arthur Bisguier
61	1960	St. Louis, Missouri	Robert Byrne
62	1961	San Francisco, California	Pal Benko
63	1962	San Antonio, Texas	Antonio Medina Garcia
64	1963	Chicago, Illinois	William Lombardy
65	1964	Boston, Massachusetts	Pal Benko
66	1965	Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico	Pal Benko, William Lombardy
67	1966	Seattle, Washington	Pal Benko, Robert Byrne
68	1967	Atlanta, Georgia	Pal Benko
69	1968	Aspen, Colorado	Bent Larsen
70	1969	Lincoln, Nebraska	Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier, Milan Vukcevich
71	1970	Boston, Massachusetts	Bent Larsen
72	1971	Ventura, California	Walter Browne, Larry Evans
73	1972	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Walter Browne
74	1973	Chicago, Illinois	Norman Weinstein
75	1974	New York, New York	Pal Benko, Vlastimil Hort
76	1975	Lincoln, Nebraska	Pal Benko, William Lombardy
77	1976	Fairfax, Virginia	Anatoly Lein, Leonid Shamkovich
78	1977	Columbus, Ohio	Leonid Shamkovich, Andy Soltis, Timothy Taylor
79	1978	Phoenix, Arizona	Joseph Bradford
80	1979	Chicago, Illinois	Florin Gheorghiu
81	1980	Atlanta, Georgia	John Fedorowicz, Florin Gheorghiu
82	1981	Palo Alto, California	Florin Gheorghiu, Larry Christiansen, Jeremy Silman, Nick de Firmian, John Meyer
83	1982	St. Paul, Minnesota	Andrew Soltis, William Martz
84	1983	Pasadena, California	Larry Christiansen, Viktor Korchnoi
85	1984	Ft. Worth, Texas	Roman Dzindzichashvili, Sergey Kudrin
86	1985	Hollywood, Florida	Yasser Seirawan, Boris Spassky, Joel Benjamin
87	1986	Somerset, New Jersey	Larry Christiansen
88	1987	Portland, Oregon	Lev Alburt
89	1988	Boston, Massachusetts	Dmitry Gurevich
90	1989	Chicago, Illinois	Lev Alburt
91	1990	Jacksonville, Florida	Yasser Seirawan
92	1991	Los Angeles, California	Michael Rohde, Vladimir Akopian
93	1992	Dearborn, Michigan	Gregory Kaidanov
94	1993	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Alexander Shabalov
95	1994	Chicago, Illinois	Georgi Orlov, Dmitry Gurevich, Ben Finegold, Smbat Lputian, Leo Kaushansky, Albert Chow
96	1995	Concord, California	Alex Yermolinsky
97	1996	Alexandria, Virginia	Gabriel Schwartzman
98	1997	Orlando, Florida	Alex Yermolinsky
99	1998	Kailua-Kona, Hawaii	Judit Polgar, Boris Gulko
100	1999	Reno, Nevada	Alex Yermolinsky, Alexander Goldin, Eduardas Rozentalis, Alexander Shabalov, Gabriel Schwartzman, Michael Mulyar
101	2000	St. Paul, Minnesota	Alex Yermolinsky
102	2001	Framingham, Massachusetts	Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Joel Benjamin, Alexander Stripunsky, Fabian Doettling
103	2002	Cherry Hill, New Jersey	Gennady Zaitchik, Evgeniy Najer
104	2003	Los Angeles, California	Alexander Shabalov
105	2004	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida	Alexander Onischuk, Rodrigo Vasquez, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Ildar Ibragimov, Andranik Matikozyan, Renier Gonzalez, Marcel Martinez
106	2005	Phoenix, Arizona	Vadim Milov, Joel Benjamin
107	2006	Oak Brook, Illinois	Yury Shulman
108	2007	Cherry Hill, New Jersey	Boris Gulko, Sergey Kudrin, Benjamin Finegold, Alexander Shabalov, Michael A. Rohde, Michael A. Mulyar, Anton P. Del Mundo
109	2008	Dallas, Texas	Alexander Shabalov, Rade Milovanovic, Enrico Sevillano