The 2025 U.S. Championship: The St. Louis Chess Club is the Mecca of chess in the Americas. Its innovative approach is propelling the game to new heights. It just wrapped up its legendary Clutch Chess 960 Championship.
During Round 5 of the U.S. Championship, an opponent got a bad case of the yips when confronted with the dreaded Ugly Christmas Sweater Opening.
The yips? Yes. The yips are a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced performers, such as athletes. Symptoms include loss of fine motor skills and psychological issues that affect muscle memory and decision-making.
The players' names have not yet been released. Hockey has a penalty box - chess now has a confessional. The equialent penalty in Hockey would be roughing. The roughing penalty could be minor, a two minute penalty, or major, a 5 minute penalty. The hockey player would be confined to the penalty box for the appropriate pentaly duration.
Based on the uglyness of the sweater, the chief arbiter confined the offending player to the confessional for a full three minutes. She may also have been penalized a pawn and a move.
Inside the confessional, the player tried to use the diversion motif by talking about her skirt and shoes. She also claimed it was just a fall sweater, but this did not fool the bishops nor any of the strong GMs at the tournament. Clearly, it was a Christmas sweater - and an ugly one at that.