12 players competed in the 2018 WV Action Championship held in Mount Nebo, WV. The event was scheduled to run concurrently with the 3rd Annual Missing Pieces Charity Event. Unfortunately, no players showed up for the charity event, although a donation was still able to be made from the proceeds. The open section was won convincingly by Sam Timmons at 5.5/6. Three players tied for second a point and a half (!) back at 4/6.

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The 18th Mountaineer Open was held on April 28, 2018 at the WVU Mountainlair. Proceeds from the event went to Empty Bowls of Monongalia County and a WVU student food pantry.

Benjamin Good and Matthew Campbell won the open section with 2 wins and 2 draws each. Daniel Preece was first U1500 with 2.5/4. Dave Hines and Mike Baker were first U1900 at 2/4.

The Scholastic Section was won by Vinu Chandrasekar with a perfect 4/4.

The event was sponsored by the WVU Chess Club and directed by Robert Greer.

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74 players competed in the 49th Annual WV Scholastic Championship, held at the Bridgeport Conference Center.

Vishnu Kasireddy (Capital High) won the High School section with a perfect 4-0. 5 players were tied for second with 3 points. The Capital High School Blue team took first place team honors by 1½ points over George Washington.

Jack Morris (John Adams) won the Middle School section with a perfect 5-0. Ethan Burdette (John Adams) was second at 4.5. John Adams dominated the team scores with a 5.5 point lead over Horace Mann.

Ankit Patiblanda and Aiden Hoeft won the Elementary section with 3.5-0.5, having drawn each other in the final round. Weberwood Elementary took the team title.

Landon Jackson swept the Primary section with a 4-0 score. Mountaineer Montessori had the highest team total.

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Full Results: wvsca.com
Pictures by Connect-Bridgeport.com

The Harrison County Scholastic Championship was held March 10, 2018 at Notre Dame High School in Clarksburg. An Open section was held as well, but with only 5 players, a round robin was held. The winners were:

Open – Ed Garner, Markle Butcher 3.5/4
High School – Omkar Yadav 4/4
Middle School – Kishan Umeshkumar 4/4
Elementary – Ankit Patiblanda 4/4

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Ed Garner, Mike Baker, and Markle Butcher (2.5/3) tied for first at the 11th Bridgeport Library tournament. 24 players competed in the event, held on February 3.

18 players competed in the 2017 WV Senior Championship. Peter Snow of Virginia won the  tournament with 4.5/5. David Hines and Ed Garner, who scored 3.5/5, are the 2017 WV Senior Champions.

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30 players competed in the Fall Open and Scholastic at St. Francis of Assisi in Saint Albans. The Open Section was won by Sam Timmons with 2.5/3, while the Scholastic Section was won by Natasha Rousseau with 4/4.

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12 players competed in the Concord Southern Open on November 18, 2017 in Beaver. Mike Baker won the event with 3.5/4, with Sam Timmons and Dave Hundley just behind at 3.
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Nine youngsters competed in the 2017 WV Junior Championship on September 30 at Notre Dame High in Clarksburg. Omkar Yadav won all 3 games and is the 2017 WV Junior Champion. Four adults showed up to have an open event, with three of the four tied at 2/3.

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The 79th WV State Championship was held on September 9-10, 2017 at the Shall We Dance Ballroom in Mount Nebo, WV. 19 players from 3 states competed in the event. Ted Belanoff, a master with ties to WV, won the event with a 4.5/5 score. The WV championship race in the last round consisted of Ed Garner, John Roush, Ben Good, Sam Timmons, and Lewis Sanders. Ed Garner drew quickly and any non-draw on board 2 and 3 would result in a championship. John Roush outlasted Ben Good and Sam won over Lewis in a position where at one point he had 4 pawns for a bishop. John and Sam finished with 4 points to tie for 2nd-3rd. Ed finished with 3.5 just out of the prizes.

1st – Ted Belanoff 4.5
2nd-3rd – John Roush, Sam Timmons 4
U1900 1st – Sefus Ellis 3
U1900 2nd-4th – David Hundley, Joseph Craddock, Michael Felton 2
U1600 1st – Omkar Yadav 3
U1600 2nd – David Bruner 2.5
U1300 1st – Charles McCallister 3
U1300 2nd – Surya Perla 2.5

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Special thanks to Matt and Amanda Barber, owners of the Shall We Dance ballroom for supporting the event. They will also host the WV Action Championship in conjunction with their annual Missing Pieces charity tournament.

Special thanks also to Ted Belanoff for a $100 donation to the WVCA.

The Players

Playing Hall

2017 Champions Sam Timmons and John Roush

Ulf Andersson Award for Exceptional Endgame Play – Sam Timmons (versus Mike Felton)

Mikhail Tal Award for Courageous Actions and Questionable Soundness – Sefus Ellis (versus Daniel Preece)

Upset Prize – Craig Timmons (895 rating point upset versus David Hundley)