There will be two eight player round robins in the 2011 U.S. Championship. The top two from each section qualify for the knockout stage. The semifinal and final matches will each consist of two games.
The games in rounds 1 to 7 will be everyday from 2pm to 8pm (local time).
There is a seven hour difference between St. Louis and Paris. So 2pm (St. Louis) =
8pm London
9pm Paris, Madrid
11pm Moscow
Live play:live
Round Robin 1:
| Seed | Name | Rating |
| 1 | Gata Kamsky | 2733 |
| 2 | Yury Shulman | 2622 |
| 3 | Varuzhan Akobian | 2611 |
| 4 | Jaan Ehlvest | 2586 |
| 5 | Alexander Stripunsky | 2578 |
| 6 | Alexander Ivanov | 2540 |
| 7 | Ray Robson | 2522 |
| 8 | Daniel Naroditsky | 2438 |
The average Rating of this pool is 2578.75.
Round Robin 2:
| Seed | Name | Rating |
| 1 | Alexander Onischuk | 2678 |
| 2 | Yasser Seirawan | 2636 |
| 3 | Alexander Shabalov | 2590 |
| 4 | Larry Christiansen | 2586 |
| 5 | Gregory Kaidanov | 2569 |
| 6 | Robert Hess | 2565 |
| 7 | Sam Shankland | 2512 |
| 8 | Ben Finegold | 2500 |
Here the average rating is 2579.5.
The time control will be 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game. The players have additionally a 30 second increment from move one.
The Prize Fund is an impressive $166,000.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $40,000 |
| 2nd | $30,000 |
| 3rd | $20,000 |
| 4th | $15,000 |
Plus $2,000 to the winner of each round robin.
Those who don't get to the Semi-finals won't go home empty handed either.
| Round Robin Rank | Prize |
| 3rd | $8,000 |
| 4th | $6,000 |
| 5th | $5,000 |
| 6th | $4,000 |
| 7th | $3,000 |
| 8th | $2,500 |
There will also be $5,000 for Best Game Prizes throughout both Championships.
Tiebreaks
There will be play-offs in the Semifinals and final. Two rapid games (25 mins + 5 second increment). If necessary the game will go to a rapid Armageddon game, where one player gets 45 minutes and the other less but a choice of colour.
The 2011 U.S. Women's Championship also has a new format. A preliminary round robin stage of eight players, with four qualifying for the knock-out stage. The semi-finals and finals will consist of two game matches.
It's amazing how the Americans are so adept at finding original ways of determining their champions!
| No | Title | Name | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total |
| 1 | IM | Irina Krush | 2472 | x | ||||||||
| 2 | WFM | Tatev Abrahamyan | 2326 | x | ||||||||
| 3 | IM | Rusudan Goletiani | 2367 | x | ||||||||
| 4 | IM | Anna Zatonskih | 2499 | x | ||||||||
| 5 | FM | Alisa Melekhina | 2304 | x | ||||||||
| 6 | WIM | Iryna Zenyuk | 2245 | x | ||||||||
| 7 | WGM | Camilla Baginskaite | 2342 | x | ||||||||
| 8 | WGM | Sabina Foisor | 2350 | x |
The Prize Fund.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $18,000 |
| 2nd | $12,000 |
| 3rd | $9,500 |
| 4th | $7,000 |
| 5th | $4,000 |
| 6th | $3,000 |
| 7th | $2,500 |
| 8th | $2,000 |
Plus $1,000 to the winner, $600 for second place and $400 for third place in the round robin.
Rate of play and tie-break identical to the Mixte championship.
