It is with sadness that I announce Tom Bergquist, Secretary-Treasurer of the WVCA for 53 years, passed away early last year. Tom was first elected President of the WVCA in 1959. He moved to the Secretary-Treasurer position in 1960, which he held until 2013. Tom was 90 years old.
Tom, fourth from left, at a reunion dinner in 1996.
Robert Canary won the 2020 Winter Open, held in St. Albans, on January 18, 2020. 25 players competed in the 4-round open event.
A record crowd was in attendance for the 15th Bridgeport Library tournament on an extremely warm day for January. 28 players competed in the open and under 1000 sections. Ben Good and Robert Canary tied for 1st in the open section with 2.5/3. Connon McCauley won the under 1000 with a perfect 3-0.
Markle Butcher and John Roush each finished with 3 points to take the WV Senior Championship title. The event was held Saturday, December 14, 2019 in Clarksburg.
USCF Crosstable
14 players competed in the 3rd Annual Concord Southern Open on November 16, 2019. Mike Baker and Markle Butcher shared first place with a score of 3.5/4.
The Ripley Chess Club has issued checks to the top 10 finishers in the 2018-2019 Grand Prix as mentioned at the 2018 WVCA Business Meeting. Thank you to the Ripley Chess Club and congratulations to the winners!
By the slimmest of margins, Mike Baker has won the 2018-2019 Grand Prix. Congratulations!
1. Joseph Michael Baker 61.00
2. Lewis Sanders 60.83
3. Sam Timmons 59.17
4. Edward Garner 59.00
5. Markle W Butcher 33.50
6. David Wayne Hundley 33.24
7. David Lee Bruner 27.67
8. Robert Canary 20.58
9. Brian Lucas 17.83
10. Benjamin Good 17.75
11. Michael Felton 16.75
Richard Keith Lilly 16.75
13. John Roush 14.50
14. Dan O'Hanlon 13.67
15. Jimmy Fuller 13.33
16. Marty Clevenger 11.17
17. James Reszler 9.25
18. Brian Lee Cox 9.00
19. Samuel Rhodes 8.17
20. Daniel Preece 6.67
21. Abram John Leyzorek 6.40
22. Aiden Hoeft 5.67
23. Stephen William Logan 3.50
24. Robert A Wells 3.25
25. Phillip W Setterlund Jr 3.00
26. Mike D Price 2.00
27. Craig Timmons 1.00
Levi Durfee 1.00
Rodney R Adkins 1.00
Events Included:
81st WV State Championship
Parkersburg Homecoming
Beckley Summer Open
WV Action Championship
Clarksburg Open
Concord Southern Open
19th Mountaineer Open
Sam Timmons won his third consecutive state championship, while Mike Baker joined him as co-champion (his first). Pratik Shriwas of Ohio was 1/2 point ahead of them and took the first place prize.
John Boylin IV won the 2019 WV Junior Championship with a perfect 4-0 score.
USCF Crosstable
The minutes from the 2019 WVCA Business Meeting can be found here: 2019 WVCA Business Meeting Minutes.
Of particular note is the change in membership dues from $10 to $20 (and $5 to $10 for junior). This is the first membership due change in at least 20 years and was decided based on a desire to increase the Grand Prix prize fund.
If you were paying your dues via PayPal, I have canceled the automatic payments due to the change in price. Anyone wishing to re-establish the automatic payments will need to subscribe again on the website. I apologize for the inconvenience. PayPal would not allow a modification of more than 20% to the existing subscriptions. I will attempt to notify all of the PayPal subscribers via email in the near future.