Scholastic chess in the United States has progressively grown in recent years, evidenced by the increasing membership numbers of school-aged children in the United States Chess Federation. The onset of scholastic chess in the United States began in the early 1970s due to the "Fischer Boom", the phenomenon of markedly increased interest in chess in the United States due to the ascendency of eventual world champion Bobby Fischer. The first large-scale open national scholastic chess tournament was the National High School Championship, which was started by Bill Goichberg in 1969; the winner of the inaugural event was John Watson.
Since the 1990s, the number of student participants in national scholastic chess tournaments has also been steadily climbing, as shown by the rapid growth of the major national championship, the National Scholastic Chess Championships. Of course, with the exception of the few students competing at the top level, most participants are there to make friends, learn new skills, and simply have a good time.
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