Here are the players who have been selected for this 24-player 9 round swiss.
•The defending U.S. Champion - GM Hikaru Nakamura
•The winner of the 2009 U.S. Senior Open Championship - GM Larry Christiansen
•The winner of the 2009 U.S. Junior Championship - GM Ray Robson
•The top five qualifiers from the 2009 U.S. Open Championship
GM Alex Lenderman
GMs Sergey Kudrin
Alex Yermolinsky
Dmitry Gurevich
and Jesse Kraai
•The winner of the 2010 ICC State Champion of Champions - IM Levon Altounian
•The top 11 U.S. players by rating of the United States Chess Federation:
◦GM Gata Kamsky
◦GM Alexander Onischuk
◦GM Varuzhan Akobian
◦GM Yury Shulman
◦GM Jaan Ehlvest
◦GM Alexander Shabalov
◦GM Gregory Kaidanov
◦GM Robert Hess
◦GM Melikset Khachiyan
◦GM Joel Benjamin
◦GM Ben Finegold
•Four wildcard spots:
◦GM Alexander Stripunsky
◦GM Vinay Bhat
◦IM Sam Shankland
◦IM Irina Krush
The prize fund is clearly far higher than in most national championships.
1st Place $35,000
2nd Place $20,000
3rd Place $15,000
4th Place $10,000
5th Place $10,000
6th Place $7,500
7th Place $6,600
8th Place $6,000
9th Place $5,400
10th Place $5,000
11th Place $4,800
12th Place $4,600
13th Place $4,400
14th Place $4,200
15th Place $4,000
16th Place $3,800
17th Place $3,700
18th Place $3,600
19th Place $3,500
20th Place $3,400
21st Place $3,300
22nd Place $3,200
23rd Place $3,100
24th Place $3,000
First round pairings:
| Bd | Names | rating | Results | Names | rating |
| 1 | GM Alexander Stripunsky | 2570 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | 2733 | |
| 2 | GM Gata Kamsky | 2702 | GM Ray Robson | 2569 | |
| 3 | GM Joel Benjamin | 2565 | GM Alexander Onischuk | 2699 | |
| 4 | GM Yury Shulman | 2613 | GM Vinay Bhat | 2547 | |
| 5 | GM Ben Finegold | 2539 | GM Varuzhan Akobian | 2599 | |
| 6 | GM Aleksandr Lenderman | 2598 | GM Melikset Khachiyan | 2539 | |
| 7 | GM Alex Yermolinsky | 2528 | GM Jaan Ehlvest | 2591 | |
| 8 | GM Robert Hess | 2590 | IM Samuel Shankland | 2507 | |
| 9 | GM Jesse Kraai | 2492 | GM Alexander Shabalov | 2585 | |
| 10 | GM Larry Christiansen | 2578 | GM Dmitry Gurevich | 2488 | |
| 11 | IM Irina Krush | 2455 | GM Gregory Kaidanov | 2577 | |
| 12 | GM Sergey Kudrin | 2571 | IM Levon Altounian | 2454 |
You can watch the games live (click on the 2010 championship logo on the right-hand side) and can find more information on the championship official tournament site.
