The second day of team play for the WV Scholastic League has been changed from January 29 to February 19. The individual event will be rescheduled and should be held before the WV Scholastic Championship on April 2.

Dennis Gogel, 6-time Indiana State Champion, and member of the KY Chess Hall of Fame died November 21, 2021 at the age of 67.

I got to thinking about Siegried Werthammer’s 13 titles and wondered what are some other interesting facts about the state champions.

Most titles:
Siegfried Werthammer – 13
Donald Griffith – 12
John Roush – 11
Mark Hathaway – 7
Joe Barker – 5
Six players have 4 titles. 30 people in total have multiple titles, and 24 are one-time winners.

Consecutive titles:
Siegfried Werthammer – 6, 1948-1953. He had 12 titles between 1943 and 1958!
Donald Griffith, Donald Burdick, and Mark Hathaway have had runs of 4.

Longest time between titles:
Ed Garner – 1986-2014. Joe Barker used to brag that his 1st and 2nd was the longest gap for some reason, but that’s not even close at 13 years between them. My own 10 year gap felt like an eternity.

Longest time between first and latest title:
John Roush – 1978-2017! Next closest are Donald Griffith, 1975 to 2006; and Ed Garner, 1984 to 2014.

Youngest champions:
Alex Chang – 12, 1989
Alexandr Dementiev – 13, 2003

Most Co-Champions:
5 – 1955 and 1998

21 players competed in the 82nd WV State Championship, held in Clarksburg, WV. Benjamin Good and Lewis Sanders were the co-champions, who each had four wins apart from their last round draw.

A trio of youngsters from Pennsylvania kept the old timers on their toes, including Lydia Tang, who tied for 3rd with Robert Canary. Lydia had wins over former champions Sam Timmons and Ed Garner, before losing to Good in the third round. She bounced back with a win over Byron Funkhouser and a draw with John Roush. Well done!

In association business, Craig Timmons swapped places with Bob Greer, and is now the president while Greer is the scholastic coordinator. Elijah Schultz of Hurricane was elected Vice President. The 2022 Action and State titles will be held in Huntington. We also thank Markle Butcher who has announced he will be leaving a sizable donation to the association in his will, which we hope will not be executed for quite some time yet.

Crosstable

We are sad to announce that Sefus Ellis has passed away. He was 63 years old.

Obituary

The Elkins Chess Club is no longer meeting at the library. They are currently looking for a new site.

Starting August 19, the Beckley Club will return meeting again at Erma Byrd Center, Room 35, University Drive, Beaver WV from 4:00pm to 8pm.

The Scholastic Championships have been canceled:

May 12, 2021
Good Evening,

Covid has caused a lot of changes. Because of Covid, lack of registrations, and the time of year where families are celebrating graduations and other events, we are cancelling the tournament. I will refund any entry fees that are received. I apologize for the short notice.

In years past, the top-performing players in the section would be nominated to attend various invitational tournaments. This year, we will reach out to the top-rated players in each grade group to see if they would like to attend the invitational tournaments.

It is my hope that next school year, things will get back to normal and we able to host a league and play more tournaments.

Best Regards, Stay safe and healthy.

–Craig Timmons

Hello, all. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen or talked with any of you. I wanted to make sure everyone knows about some of the chess activity that is beginning to happen. The state scholastic events will be held over 2 Saturdays: May 15, and May 22. An unrated event is being held in Fayetteville on May 23. The Charleston Club is meeting at the Elkview Baptist Church on Tuesdays at 6pm. The Bridgeport Club is meeting on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 6pm at the Benedum Center. And while things are starting to return to normal, please continue to stay safe out there!

From Mike Baker:

I am happy to announce the Bridgeport Chess club will start back up again in April. We will start out slowly and meet the first and third Thursdays of each month from 6pm-8pm.

Masks, social distancing between the boards, and limited number of participants will be allowed in the room. It will be the same room on the 2nd floor.

I will be there in April, but May not so much due to work.

Thanks,
Mike