Benu Rellan has written an article about the Chess Camp with GM Swiercz for the September 2023 Chess Life. Well done!
Thomas Bergquist Memorial
22 players competed in the Thomas Bergquist Memorial WV State Championship, held September 9-10 in Huntington. John Boylin was guaranteed a share of the title after starting 4-0, and had mercy on the 2022 champion, Benjamin Good, with a final round draw.
John finished a point ahead of the field to win his first state title and $200. Ben Good, Sam Timmons, Lewis Sanders, and Suneil Avirneni of Oklahoma shared the 2nd, 3rd, and U1900 prize money. David Hundley won the U1600 prize. Matthew Phelps and Clay Thompson shared the U1300 prize.
The upset prize was won by Caden Eldridge (1007) for his victory over John Roush (2000).
WVCA Business Meeting Minutes
Here are the the minutes from the annual business meeting:
2023 WVCA Business Meeting Minutes
WV Italian Heritage Open and Scholastic
Benjamin Good won the WV Italian Heritage open section with a perfect 4-0 score. John Roush, Anatoly Boshkin, Sam Timmons, Elijah Schultz, and Hardy Gu tied for second with 3-1 scores. Aaron Ross won the scholastic section with a 4-0 score.
Chess FundamentalZ with GM DariusZ ŚwiercZ
Eighteen middle school and high school students from WV and KY attended the Huntington YMCA Chess Club’s Second Annual Chess Camp with GM Dariusz ŚwiercZ. The camp, June 26-29, included instruction on tactical as well as positional play, a simul, many, many puzzles, friendly matches and an end-of-camp four round tournament. We hope to do it again next year!
Group photo
Back row, left to right: Mark Hathaway, Zach Haden , Matt DeGroff, Clay Thompson, Oskar Meade, Matthew Phelps, Caden Eldridge, Dimitri Moore, Alex Peterson, Micah Barnette
Front row, left to right: Joe DeGroff, John Boylin, Jackson Denning, Alex Oliashirazi, Abram Hess, GM Swiercz, Duncan Bishop, Luke McCallister, Kaden Jeffers, Natasha Bradley
Photos by Seth Rutt
Clarksburg Open and Scholastic
41 players competed in the Clarksburg Open and Scholastic on June 3, 2023 in Clarksburg. Lewis Sanders and Elijah Tipton shared first place in the Open Section, each scoring 3.5-0.5. Larry Du won the Scholastic with a 4-0 score.
WV Action Championship
John Boylin swept the field (6-0) to win the 2023 WV Action Championship. Lewis Sanders was second at 4.5-1.5. The scholastic section was won by Tarunsai Bhumanapalli (4-0).
YMCA Spring Open
The YMCA Spring Open was held on April 8 at the Huntington YMCA. 33 players competed in total. The Open section was won by John Boylin (surprise, surprise) with a perfect 4-0 score. Lewis Sanders, Ryan Ward, Weston Robarts, and Steven Aguilar were tied for second with 3-1. The Scholastic had a tie for first between Joe DeGroff and Tarunsai Bhumanapalli, who drew each other in round 3 and won their other games for a 3.5-0.5 score.
This entry was posted in Results on .
As the January 14 event went so well, another Mountaineer Open was held on Sunday, April 2 at the Mountainlair. 35 players competed in the rated sections. In the Open section, Lewis Sanders had a perfect 4-0, while Elijah Tipton, Kevin Speray, Hardy Gu, and Pushkal Solanki were tied for second with 3-1. The Collegiate/Scholastic section was won by William Northey with a 4-0 score. Dan Nguyen and Aditya Jain were second with 3-0. 57 players (not including the unrated section) competed in the Mountaineer Open on January 14 at the WVU Mountainlair. John Boylin won the open section with 3.5/4, while seven players tied for second at 3. Christopher Easthom won the Collegiate/Scholastic section with a perfect 4/4.
Mountaineer Open Again!?
Mountaineer Open