    walter shawn browne (born 10 january 1949 in sydney, australia) is an american chess grandmaster and poker player. browne has won the u.s. chess championship six times. ==early years== browne was born to an american father and an australian mother. his family moved to the new york area when he was three. browne moved to california in 1973. thumb|left|190px|browne in 1972 browne won the u.s. junior championship in 1966. he represented his country of birth australia for a short time. he won the 1969 australian chess championship. he tied first with renato naranja while representing australia at the 1969 asian zonal tournament in singapore, earning the international master title, which immediately earned him an invitation to an international grandmaster tournament in san juan, puerto rico. there, he gained the grandmaster title by tying for second through fourth places, with bruno parma and arthur bisguier, behind reigning world champion boris spassky. he played first board for australia at the 1970 and 1972 chess olympiads, before switching to representing the united states in 1974. ==u.s. championships== thumb|right|210px|browne in 1974 he has won the u.s. chess championship six times. his victories were at chicago 1974 with 9Â½/13, oberlin 1975 with 8Â½/13, mentor 1977 with 9/13, greenville 1980 with 7Â½/12, south bend 1981 with 9/14, and 1983 with 9/13. his six titles have been exceeded only by the eight titles of bobby fischer, all won outright by at least a point, and samuel reshevsky. of these six titles, three were shared, with three-way ties in 1980 and 1983, and a two-way split in 1981. ==interzonals== browne qualified for three interzonal tournaments, but never came close to qualification for the candidates tournament. at the manila interzonal 1976, browne scored 8Â½/19 for 15th place. at the las palmas interzonal 1982, he placed last of 14 contestants with 3/13. finally, at the taxco interzonal 1985, he scored 6Â½/15 for a tied 9â13th place. ==olympiads== browne gen
1949_births American_chess_players American_poker_players Australian_chess_players Chess_grandmasters Living_people People_from_Sydney