Incomplete record. This archive holds 51 of the 153 games played; 102 are missing.
Arnold Denker had played the two previous US Championships without finishing higher than third. In 1944 he took the title with 15½ from 17 — fourteen wins, three draws, not a single loss — a point clear of Reuben Fine. Wikipedia records it as the best winning percentage in the championship's history until Bobby Fischer's 11–0 in 1963–64.
Who was there, and who was not
Graeme Cree's tournament page, drawn from Chess Review of March–May 1944, records how the field came together: nine players were seeded — Weaver Adams, Denker, Attilio Di Camillo, Fine, I. A. Horowitz, Lewis Isaacs, Albert Pinkus, George Shainswit and Herman Steiner — and nine more qualified through preliminary events.
Adams, Di Camillo and Shainswit were in the field only because three others were not. Samuel Reshevsky, the reigning champion, declined his invitation because he was sitting his CPA examinations that month; Isaac Kashdan withdrew at the last minute on doctor's orders; Anthony Santasiere could not get leave from his teaching job. Fine's entry was uncertain until he secured three weeks off from his government work in Washington. Reshevsky came anyway, as a spectator, and was photographed reading the wallboards during round 12. Last place went to Louis Persinger, the concert violinist, on ½/17.
Denker runs the table
Denker won his first nine games outright. He drew with Shainswit in round 10, then won five more in a row, and finished with draws against Steiner and Benjamin Altman — fourteen wins, three draws, no defeats. The decisive game came in round 7, when he beat Fine with the white pieces: Fine's only loss of the tournament, and the point that separated them at the end.
Behind him the top of the table was crowded: Fine 14½, Horowitz and Steiner 14, Pinkus 13½. Then a five-point gap to Shainswit in sixth on 10½. Cree notes that Denker's fourteen wins remain the largest number in a US Championship, matched only by Reshevsky in 1946.
The archive preserves 51 of the 153 games, including twelve of Denker's seventeen and thirteen of Fine's.
The title he carried into 1945
Denker held the championship through the end of the war, and it took him to the biggest stage available to an American player at the time. As US champion he played board one in the 1945 USA–USSR radio match, losing both his games to Mikhail Botvinnik. He defended the title successfully the following year in a challenge match against Herman Steiner, winning 6–4 in Los Angeles.
It was the only US Championship Denker won, and the manner of it — an unbeaten sweep through a field that included Fine, Horowitz, Steiner and Pinkus — kept it in the record books for two decades.
Final standings
The standings below are the historical final result. Only 51 of the 153 games played survive in our source; the remaining 102 are lost and appear as · in the cross table.
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denker, Arnold Sheldon | 15½/17 | +14 -0 =3 | games |
| 2 | Fine, Reuben | 14½/17 | +13 -1 =3 | games |
| =3 | Horowitz, Israel Albert | 14/17 | +13 -2 =2 | games |
| =3 | Steiner, Herman | 14/17 | +12 -1 =4 | games |
| 5 | Pinkus, Albert Sidney | 13½/17 | +11 -1 =5 | games |
| 6 | Shainswit, George | 10½/17 | +7 -3 =7 | games |
| 7 | Altman, Benjamin | 9/17 | +8 -7 =2 | games |
| =8 | Adams, Weaver Warren | 8/17 | +6 -7 =4 | games |
| =8 | Almgren, Sven | 8/17 | +8 -9 =0 | games |
| =10 | Di Camillo, Attilio | 7/17 | +5 -8 =4 | games |
| =10 | Weinstock, Solomon | 7/17 | +5 -8 =4 | games |
| =12 | Isaacs, Lewis Jl | 6½/17 | +5 -9 =3 | games |
| =12 | Neidich, L | 6½/17 | +4 -8 =5 | games |
| =12 | Rothman, Aaron | 6½/17 | +5 -9 =3 | games |
| 15 | Stromberg, B | 5/17 | +5 -12 =0 | games |
| 16 | Chernev, Irving | 4½/17 | +3 -11 =3 | games |
| 17 | Gladstone, David | 2½/17 | +2 -14 =1 | games |
| 18 | Persinger, Louis | ½/17 | +0 -16 =1 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denker, Arnold Sheldon | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | · | |
| 2 | Fine, Reuben | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | |
| 3 | Horowitz, Israel Albert | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 4 | Steiner, Herman | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | Pinkus, Albert Sidney | 0 | ½ | ½ | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 6 | Shainswit, George | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | ½ | · | · | |
| 7 | Altman, Benjamin | ½ | · | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 8 | Adams, Weaver Warren | 0 | 0 | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | 1 | 0 | 1 | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 9 | Almgren, Sven | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 10 | Di Camillo, Attilio | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 11 | Weinstock, Solomon | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | |
| 12 | Isaacs, Lewis Jl | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 13 | Neidich, L | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 14 | Rothman, Aaron | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 15 | Stromberg, B | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 16 | Chernev, Irving | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | ½ | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 17 | Gladstone, David | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | |
| 18 | Persinger, Louis | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player. · = game played but lost (not preserved in our source).