Chicago Open

The (now lost) CO traveling trophy, introduced in 2014, as held by Matt Bollinger.

Chicago Open (or CO) is a summer open tournament held annually in the Chicago metropolitan area, generally occurring in the last week of July or first week of August. Its most distinguishing features are its extremely high difficulty (often more difficult than the year's ICT or ACF Nationals) and its extremely competitive field, which usually make Chicago Open the most challenging all-subject set of the calendar year.

A true open tournament, Chicago Open attracts current college players, retired or graduated players, and, occasionally, ambitious high school (or middle school) players. Participants generally play on mixed teams not limited by school affiliation.

Because the CO field draws a field from across the continent (and sometimes the UK), it is typicaly not mirrored elsewhere. From 2005 to 2009, Berkeley hosted a small West Coast mirror called BASQUE. Mid-Atlantic mirrors existed at various points in the early to mid-2000s [1], with the largest being run for several years under the name "Presidential Open" at George Washington as part of well-attended weekends that also included a trash tournament and side events.

History

The first Chicago Open was held in 1999 as the successor to Virginia Open, a similar tournament held at Virginia in 1997 and 1998. After many years under the stewardship of first Andrew Yaphe and then Subash Maddipotti, its editorship has rotated based on the interest and availability of well-regarded editors and players, with each new editor or editing team approved by its predecessor. After some early house-written events, CO has established itself as a true packet-submission event, for which every participating team must write a packet.

From 1999 to 2017, every instance of CO was hosted at The University of Chicago. Due to changes in room reservation policy, the tournament moved to Northwestern University for the first time in 2018 and has been held there ever since. Jocular references to recent instances of the tournament as "Chicanston Open" or "Evanston Open" are largely discouraged.

In most years through 2015 (except 2009), the tournament was a full round-robin among all participating teams, which often lasted well into the evening. Since 2016, the event has run a shorter schedule using preliminary brackets and crossover games due to the demands of a growing field. (This did not, however, stop the 2018 iteration from going past 11 p.m., or the 2022 iteration from going slightly past midnight.)

Unusual prizes

In 2014, Andrew Hart introduced a traveling trophy, which the aim being that a member of the winning team would get to keep until the next year's CO is held. It disappeared quickly and its current whereabouts are uncertain.

Four stuffed Blåhaj awarded at CO 2023

In 2023, tournament director Em Gunter awarded a small stuffed Blåhaj shark to each member of the winning team.

Side events

Chicago Open typically occurs alongside several side events; these have included a roughly biennial trash tournament and subject tournaments in science, history, literature, and, more recently, a variety of arts events. Since 2011, the main tournament has stood alone on Saturday, with all side events occurring on Sunday.

Table of Champions

Tournament	Field size	Champion	Second Place	Stats	Editor or Writer
1997 Virginia Open	?	?	?	?	Andrew Yaphe (wrote tournament)
1998 Virginia Open	13	Eric Hillemann, Tom Waters	Dave Hamilton, John Nam, Julie Singer, Maureen Smith	Stats	Andrew Yaphe (wrote tournament)
1999 Chicago Open	14	Tom Waters, Albert Whited	Eric Hillemann, R. Hentzel	Stats	Andrew Yaphe (wrote tournament)
2000 Chicago Open	?	R. Hentzel, Eric Hillemann, Emily Pike	Ezequiel Berdichevsky, Dave Goodman, Dave Hamilton, John Nam	?	Andrew Yaphe & Subash Maddipoti (editors)
2001 Chicago Open	?	Andrew Yaphe, Ezequiel Berdichevsky, Dave Hamilton, Mike Angel	Adam Kemezis, Paul Litvak, Ben Heller, Noel Erinjeri	?	Subash Maddipoti (editor)
2002 Chicago Open	?	Eric Hillemann, R. Hentzel, Emily Pike	Ezequiel Berdichevsky, Paul Litvak, Ryan McClarren, Ed Cohn	?	Subash Maddipoti (wrote tournament)
2003 Chicago Open	?	Chris Borglum, Kelly McKenzie, Raj Dhuwalia, Seth Kendall	Paul Litvak, Ezequiel Berdichevsky, Andrew Yaphe, Ben Heller	?	Subash Maddipoti (wrote tournament)
2004 Chicago Open	11	Jeff Hoppes, Seth Teitler, Andrew Yaphe, Paul Litvak	Mike Sorice, Matt Weiner, Sudheer Potru, Andrew Ullsperger	Stats	Subash Maddipoti (head editor) with Ezequiel Berdichevsky
2005 Chicago Open	?	Mike Sorice, Andrew Ullsperger, Ezequiel Berdichevsky, Matt Weiner	Seth Teitler, Andrew Yaphe, Adam Kemezis, Wesley Matthews	Stats†	Subash Maddipoti (wrote tournament)
2006 Chicago Open	13	Dave Rappaport, Will Turner, Matt Lafer, Andrew Yaphe	Ryan Westbrook, Eric Kwartler, Jerry Vinokurov, Charles Meigs	Stats	Chris Romero & Ezequiel Berdichevsky (editors)
2007 Chicago Open	9	Sudheer Potru, Mike Sorice, Andrew Ullsperger, Matt Weiner	Matt Lafer, Ray Luo, Jerry Vinokurov, Ryan Westbrook	Stats	Seth Teitler (head editor) with Ezequiel Berdichevsky
2008 Chicago Open	17	Jonathan Magin, Eric Mukherjee, Jerry Vinokurov, Matt Weiner	Selene Koo, Mike Sorice, Seth Teitler, Andrew Yaphe	Stats	Ryan Westbrook (head editor), Matt Keller
2009 Chicago Open	14	Andrew Hart, Rob Carson, Brendan Byrne, Matt Weiner	Ted Gioia, Dallas Simons, Jerry Vinokurov, Eric Mukherjee	Stats	Eric Kwartler (head editor), Gautam Kandlikar, Trevor Davis, Wesley Matthews, Trygve Meade
2010 Chicago Open	15	Dallas Simons, Richard Mason, Kevin Koai, Matt Weiner	Bruce Arthur, Seth Teitler, Selene Koo, Jonathan Magin	Stats	Jerry Vinokurov (head editor), Shantanu Jha, Hannah Kirsch, Andy Watkins
2011 Chicago Open	15	Andrew Hart, Jeff Hoppes, Selene Koo, Seth Teitler	Matt Weiner, Matt Bollinger, John Lawrence, Gautam Kandlikar	Stats	Ryan Westbrook (head editor), Mia Nussbaum, SteveJon Guth, Eric Mukherjee (contributor)
2012 Chicago Open	17	Matt Bollinger, Eric Mukherjee, John Lawrence, Chris Ray	four-way tie; by PPG Jeff Hoppes, Gautam Kandlikar, Andrew Hart, Mike Sorice	Stats	Ryan Westbrook and Mike Bentley (head editors), Aaron Rosenberg, SteveJon Guth, Ted Gioia
2013 Chicago Open	17	John Lawrence, Jeff Hoppes, Seth Teitler, Selene Koo	four-way tie; by PPG Rob Carson, Auroni Gupta, Ike Jose, Jerry Vinokurov	Stats	Matt Bollinger (head editor), Kevin Koai, Sinan Ulusoy, Libo Zeng, Sriram Pendyala, Dennis Loo, Matt Jackson
2014 Chicago Open	17	Matt Bollinger, Evan Adams, Tommy Casalaspi, Eric Mukherjee	Matt Jackson, John Lawrence, Matt Weiner, Billy Busse	Stats	Andrew Hart (head editor), Ike Jose, Los Dos Kandlikars, Austin Brownlow, Jacob Reed
2015 Chicago Open	17	Matt Jackson, Matt Bollinger, Auroni Gupta, Tommy Casalaspi	Jordan Brownstein, John Lawrence, Seth Teitler, Selene Koo	Stats	Jerry Vinokurov (de facto head editor), Eric Mukherjee, Aaron Rosenberg, Zeke Berdichevsky, Jonathan Magin, and Rebecca Maxfield
2016 Chicago Open	20	Jordan Brownstein, Eric Mukherjee, Will Nediger, Jacob Reed	tie; by PPG Auroni Gupta, Ike Jose, Brian McPeak, Chris Ray	Stats	John Lawrence (de facto co-head editor), Matt Jackson (de facto co-head editor), Mike Cheyne, Aaron Rosenberg, Adam Silverman, Mike Bentley, Jake Sundberg, and Shan Kothari
2017 Chicago Open	18	Will Alston, Matt Bollinger, Auroni Gupta, Will Nediger	tie; by PPG Joey Goldman, Jonathan Magin, Matt Weiner, Jacob Reed	Stats	Ike Jose (head editor), Billy Busse, Ryan Westbrook, Jason Thompson
2018 Chicago Open*	22	Matt Bollinger, Shan Kothari, Adam Silverman, Matt Weiner	Ike Jose, John Lawrence, Jakob Myers, Andrew Wang	Stats	Auroni Gupta (head editor), Jacob Reed, Will Holub-Moorman, Jordan Brownstein, Seth Teitler, Eliza Grames, Joey Goldman
2019 Chicago Open*	20	Adam S. Fine, Auroni Gupta, Jakob Myers, and Clark Smith	Mike Bentley, Matt Bollinger, Mike Cheyne, and Shan Kothari	Stats	Chris Ray (co-head editor), Jacob Reed (co-head editor), Alston Boyd, Will Holub-Moorman, Wonyoung Jang, Michael Kearney, Jonathan Magin, and Sriram Pendyala
2021 Chicago Open*	18	Jordan Brownstein, Matt Bollinger, Ophir Lifshitz, and Andrew Wang	tie; by PPG Matt Weiner, Aseem Keyal, Taylor Harvey, Rahul Keyal	Stats	Will Alston (head editor), Ike Jose, Itamar Naveh-Benjamin, Eleanor Settle, Eric Mukherjee, and Brad Maclaine
2022 Chicago Open*	27	Jordan Brownstein, Nick Jensen, Taylor Harvey, Eleanor Settle	Matt Bollinger, Natan Holtzman, Aseem Keyal, Daniel Hothem (feat. Carsten Gehring)	Stats	Austin Brownlow (co-head editor), Kurtis Droge (co-head editor), Eddie Kim, Young Fenimore Lee, Sameer Apte, Shan Kothari, Vincent Du, Ashish Subramanian, and Alistair Gray
2023 Chicago Open*	20	Jordan Brownstein, Matt Jackson, Geoffrey Chen, Will Nediger	Nick Jensen, Aseem Keyal, Tracy Mirkin, Adam Fine	Stats	Alex Fregeau (co-head editor), Henry Atkins (co-head editor), Arya Karthik, David Bass, Itamar Naveh-Benjamin, Gerhardt Hinkle, Dan Ni, Alistair Gray, Davis Everson-Rose, Jacob Egol, Ganon Evans, Victor Pavao, Kevin Thomas, Ryan Rosenberg, Caleb Kendrick, various writers [2]
2024 Chicago Open*	30	Will Alston, Matt Jackson, Nick Jensen, Eric Mukherjee	Matt Bollinger, Billy Busse, John Lawrence, Tejas Raje	Stats	Jordan Brownstein (head editor), Delia Cropper, Jeremy Cummings, Joey Goldman, Ryan Humphrey, Ophir Lifshitz, Ani Perumalla, Dan Ni, Kevin Park, Eleanor Settle, various writers [3]
2025 Chicago Open*	24	Matt Bollinger, Billy Busse, Tim Morrison, Tejas Raje	Jordan Brownstein, Naveed Chowdhury, Ophir Lifshitz, Kevin Wang	Stats	Ryan Rosenberg (head editor), Delia Cropper, Vincent Du, Jacob Egol, Taylor Harvey, Caroline Mao, Grant Peet, Adam Silverman, Chris Sims, Kevin Thomas, Forrest Weintraub, various writers [4]

* Tournament held at Northwestern
^† Broken stats link

Victories by Player

# of Wins	Players
1	Albert Whited (1999), Mike Angel (2001), Dave Hamilton (2001), Chris Borglum (2003), Raj Dhuwalia (2003), Seth Kendall (2003), Kelly McKenzie (2003), Paul Litvak (2004), Matt Lafer (2006), Dave Rappaport (2006), Will Turner (2006), Sudheer Potru (2007), Jonathan Magin (2008), Jerry Vinokurov (2008), Brendan Byrne (2009), Rob Carson (2009), Kevin Koai (2010), Richard Mason (2010), Dallas Simons (2010), Chris Ray (2012), Evan Adams (2014), Jacob Reed (2016), Shan Kothari (2018), Adam Silverman (2018), Adam S. Fine (2019), Jakob Myers (2019), Clark Smith (2019), Andrew Wang (2021), Ophir Lifshitz (2021), Taylor Harvey (2022), Eleanor Settle (2022), Geoffrey Chen (2023), Billy Busse (2025), Tim Morrison (2025), Tejas Raje (2025)
2	Tom Waters (1998–99), R. Hentzel (2000, 2002), Emily Pike (2000, 2002), Ezequiel Berdichevsky (2001, 2005), Mike Sorice (2005, 2007), Andrew Ullsperger (2005, 2007), Andrew Hart (2009, 2011), Selene Koo (2011, 2013), John Lawrence (2012–13), Tommy Casalaspi (2014–15), Will Alston (2017, 2024), Nick Jensen (2022, 2024)
3	Eric Hillemann (1998, 2000, 2002), Andrew Yaphe (2001, 2004, 2006), Jeff Hoppes (2004, 2011, 2013), Seth Teitler (2004, 2011, 2013), Auroni Gupta (2015, 2017, 2019), Will Nediger (2016-17, 2023), Matt Jackson (2015, 2023-24)
4	Jordan Brownstein (2016, 2021-23)
5	Eric Mukherjee (2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2024)
6	Matt Weiner (2005, 2007–10, 2018)
7	Matt Bollinger (2012, 2014–15, 2017–18, 2021, 2025)

Trivia

• To the dismay of editors who labored over finals packets, a team cleared the field at every Chicago Open from 2012 through 2017.
• Youngest-ever winning team members: Clark Smith (won in the summer after freshman year of college), Jakob Myers (won in the summer after sophomore year), at least five people who won after their junior year
• Oldest-ever winning team member: Eric Hillemann (was 44, give or take a year, when he last won in 2002). No one else has ever won past age 40, assuming Tom Waters and Albert Whited entered college around the traditional age.
• Played in 10 or more Chicago Opens: Matt Lafer (at least 21, possibly all 24 tournaments held since 2001?), Matt Weiner (17), Mike Bentley (17), Mike Cheyne (16), Rob Carson (16), Mike Sorice (at least 15), Chris Borglum (at least 15), Andrew Hart (15), Chris Ray (14), Matt Bollinger (13), John Lawrence (13), Jerry Vinokurov (at least 13), Will Alston (12), Billy Busse (12), Jonathan Magin (12), Charles Hang (11), Eric Mukherjee (11), Auroni Gupta (11), Tejas Raje (11), Ike Jose (10), Ryan Westbrook (10)