The 24th Mountaineer Open was held on February 15 at the Mountainlair. 31 players competed in the two rated sections. Swarom Kanitkar (pictured) won the Open with a 4-0 score, with several players tied for second at 3-1. Kaiden Hammer won the Collegiate/Scholastic section with a 4-0 score.
Lewis Sanders and Ed Garner are the 2024 WV Senior Champions. They each finished with 3 out of 4 at the WV Senior Championship, held on October 19 in Bridgeport. FM Karl Dehmelt of Pennsylvania took first place overall with 3.5 out of 4. Lewis Sanders will represent WV in the Irvin Tournament of State Senior Champions next year.
Ed Garner of Pennsboro has won the 2024 Thomas Bergquist Memorial WV State Championship. Ed scored 4 straight wins and a last-round draw with the 2023 champion, John Boylin IV. Ed was previously state champion in 1984, 1986, and 2014. John Boylin finished second, while Charles Adams and Tristan Johnston shared third place. 24 players competed in the event, held September 14-15 in Clarksburg.
Benjamin Good won the Clarksburg Open with a score of 3.5/4.
Hardy Gu, fresh off his second place finish at the K-3 National Championship, beat all comers to win the WV Action Championship with a perfect 6-0 score. Lewis Sanders was second at 4.5-1.5.
The WV Scholastic Championship was held March 16, 2024, in Clarksburg. 84 players competed in four sections: K-12, K-8, K-5, and K-3.
The winners were:
K-12 – Tristan Johnston (4/4)
K-8 – Lance Pitrolo (5/5)
K-5 – Hardy Gu (4/4)
K-3 – Julian Schmidt (4/4)
Congratulations to all and we are looking forward to seeing you represent West Virginia in the national events later this year!
The Team portion of the WV Scholastic Chess league is complete. Weberwood Kings took first over Kelsch Budwany on tiebreaks in the K-5 section. The Camden Crusaders dominated the MS/HS section (four of them scored a perfect 6-0!). The USCF crosstable can be found here.
Pictured is the MS/HS winning team, the Camden Crusaders.
Benjamin Good won the 23rd Mountaineer Open with a 4-0 score. Lewis Sanders and Christopher Easthom were 2nd with 3.5. More to come.
John Boylin, our resident championship collector, has added another to his list. John went 4-0 and is now the Junior Champion as well as the Action and overall State Champion. No one has ever held all of these at the same time before! If he could simultaneously be under 21 and over 50 I imagine he’d have all 4 titles.
Landon Leach and Ishaal Patel tied for the beginner section and Markle Butcher won the Friends and Family Section.
21 players competed in the 2023 WV Senior Championship, held in Bridgeport on November 4. Mark Eidemiller from PA won the tournament with a perfect 4/4. Lewis Sanders and David Hines tied for second with 3 points and are the 2023 WV Senior Co-Champions. Lewis will represent WV in the Irwin Tournament of Senior Champions.
