Gem City Open History

The Dayton Chess Club hosted the Gem City Open annually from 1959-2019. The Gem City Open earned the USCF designation "Heritage Event" by virtue of being held for at least 25 years. During most of that time, the Gem City Open and the annual Dayton Chess Club Championship were the two most important events on the Dayton chess calendar.

I was surprised to learn that famous/infamous International Master Norman Tweed Whitaker was co-champion of the inaugural Gem City Open in 1959.

Grandmaster Alex Goldin holds the record with six Gem City Open titles (1998, 2003-04, 2008-10). Goldin, who once ranked in the FIDE top 100 in the world, emigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union. He lived in Ohio for several years, and he frequently participated in Ohio chess tournaments. 

Four-time Gem City Open champions include two-time Ohio Chess Champion (1959, 1964) Richard Kause (1961, 1964-65, 1972), three-time Ohio Chess Champion (1971, 1974, 1978) Robert Burns, Jr. (1971-72, 1976, 1980), and Sergey Berchenko (1982, 1987, 2006-07).

International Master Ron Burnett, who is from Tennessee but has often participated in Ohio chess tournaments since the 1980s, won three Gem City Opens (1989, 1994, 2014). International Master Goran Vojinovic, who was a prominent chess coach in Ohio before he passed away in 2016 after suffering a heart attack at 53, won three Gem City Opens (2010, 2013, 2015).

Two-time Gem City Open champions include Richard Noel (1962, 1968), Tony Mantia (1972, 1978), Art Keske (1975-76), Hans Multhopp (1977, 1994), Dennis Gogel (1979, 1983),  Lester Van Meter (1985-86), Charles Schulien (1986-87), Ben Finegold (1987, 1993), Steve Wygle (1991, 2002), Boris Men (1993, 1997), Alex Wojtkiewicz (2000, 2003), and Will Sedlar (2014, 2018).

GEM CITY OPEN CHAMPIONS

I have never seen a complete list of the Gem City Open champions, so in the spirit of my articles about the Dayton Chess Club Championship and the Ohio Chess Congress I decided to compile the list.

1959: Jack O'Keefe/Norman T. Whitaker 5.5/6
1960: George Kellner 5/6
1961: Richard Kause/Jack Witeczek 5/5
1962: Richard Noel 5/5
1963: Thomas Wozney 5/5
1964: Richard Kause/William Martz 5/5
1965: George Berry/Richard Kause 4.5/5
1966: Isidore Yedlin (Argentina) 4.5/5
1967: Peter Webster 4.5/5
1968: Richard Noel 4.5/5
1969: Daniel Boyk 5/5
1970: Alan Kirshner 5/5 (98 players--most up to that time)
1971: Robert Burns, Jr. 5/5 (99 players--most up to that time)
1972: Robert Burns, Jr./Richard Kause/Ed Lawrence/Tony Mantia/George Sendeckyj/Charles Unruh 4.5/5 (93 players)
1973: Mark MacDonald/Andy Martin/Gregg Stark 4.5/5 (72 players)
1974: Randal Andrzejewski/Charles Kannal 5/5
1975: Art Keske 5/5
1976: Robert Burns, Jr./Art Keske 4.5/5
1977: Hans Multhopp 5/5
1978: Tony Mantia 5/5 (49 players)
1979: Dennis Gogel 5/5 (48 players)
1980: Brian Beard/Robert Burns, Jr./Milan Vukcevich 4.5/5 (75 players)
1981: David Glueck 5/5 (72 players)
1982: Sergey Berchenko 5/5 (99 players, tying the 1971 record)
1983: Dennis Gogel/Gregory Markzon 4.5/5 (68 players)
1984: Dan Meinking 4.5/5 (84 players)
1985: Charles Diebert/John Readey/Lester Van Meter 4.5/5 (90 players)
1986: Charles Schulien/John Vehre/Lester Van Meter 4.5/5 (88 players)
1987: Sergey Berchenko/Ben Finegold/Charles Schulien 4.5/5 (57 players)
1988: James Schroeder 4.5/5 (54 players)
1989: Ron Burnett 4.5/5 (51 players)
1990: Gary Terry 4.5/5 (37 players)
1991: Chris Dorr/William Harris, Jr./Bruce Steinfeld/Norris Weaver/Steve Wygle 4/5 (86 players in two sections; 46 players in Open section)
1992: Gregory Kaidanov 4.5/5 (68 players in two sections; 43 players in Open section)
1993: Ben Finegold/Boris Men 4.5/5 (63 players in two sections; 22 players in Open section)
1994: Ron Burnett/Hans Multhopp 4/5 (54 players in two sections; 16 players in Open section)
1995: Ram Dake 5/5 (62 players in two sections; 17 players in Open section)
1996: Greg Serper 4.5/5 (71 players in two sections; 20 players in Open section)
1997: Boris Men 4.5/5 (55 players in two sections; 28 players in Open section)
1998: Alex Goldin 4.5/5 (58 players in two sections; 20 players in Open section)
1999: Enrico Sevillano 4.5/5 (45 players in two sections; 13 players in Open section)
2000: Alex Wojtkiewicz 4.5/5 (47 players in three sections; 12 players in Open section)
2001: Alex Lewis 4.5/5 (52 players in three sections; 13 players in Open section)
2002: John Dowling/Steve Wygle/David Zimbeck 4/5 (66 players in three sections; 21 players in Open section)
2003: Alex Goldin/Alex Wojtkiewicz 4/5 (67 players in three sections; 25 players in Open section)
2004: Alex Goldin/Stanislav Kriventsov 4.5/5 (58 players in five sections; 17 players in Open section)
2005: Anna Zatonskih 4.5/5 (65 players in four sections; 13 players in Open section)
2006: Sergey Berchenko/Ananth Pappu/William Wright 3/4 (43 players in three sections; 16 players in Open section)
2007: Sergey Berchenko/Tim Holman/Andrew Kobalka 3/4 (40 players in three sections; 12 players in Open section)
2008: Xiaobo Dong/Alex Goldin/Emory Tate 4/5 (55 players in four sections; 17 players in Open section)
2009: Alex Goldin 4.5/5 (71 players in four sections; 20 players in Open section)
2010: Alex Goldin/Goran Vojinovic 4.5/5 (62 players in four sections; 17 players in Open section)
2011: Walker Griggs 4.5/5 (84 players in four sections; 22 players in Open section)
2012: Sergey Kudrin 5/5 (65 players in three sections; 21 players in Open section)
2013: Goran Vojinovic 4.5/5 (111 players in three sections, setting the all-time Gem City Open record; 40 players in Open section)
2014: Ron Burnett/James Mills/Will Sedlar 4/5 (80 players in three sections; 32 players in Open section)
2015: Goran Vojinovic 4.5/5 (91 players in three sections; 40 players in Open section)
2016: Fidal Corrales Jimenez/Priyadharshan Kannappan/Ruifeng Li/Chao Zhang 4/5 (72 players in two sections; 36 players in Open section)
2017: Vladimir Belous/Andrey Stukopin 4.5/5 (66 players in two sections; 41 players in Open section)
2018: Will Sedlar 4.5/5 (39 players in two sections; 20 players in Open section)
2019: Mika Brattain 4.5/5 (46 players in two sections; 29 players in Open section)

Sources: Various issues of the Ohio Chess Bulletin, U.S. Chess Federation crosstables, and the Dayton Chess Club Review.

Results from the 1959-1978 Gem City Opens are listed in the February 1979 issue of the Dayton Chess Club Review, which also mentioned that 1180 players participated in the first 20 Gem City Opens--but that issue lists only Kause as the 1972 champion, contradicting the April 1972 Dayton Chess Club Review issue that lists six winners. The April 1972 issue was published right after that year's Gem City Open, and is thus likely the more reliable source.

Special thank you to four-time Dayton Chess Club Champion (1976-77, 1992, 1994) and two-time Gem City Open Champion (1972, 1978) Tony Mantia for providing information about the 1981 and 1982 Gem City Opens.

1973 Gem City Open co-champions (photo from March/April 1973 Ohio Chess Bulletin)

Author's Personal Note:

I participated in 29 of the 33 Gem City Opens between 1987 and 2019, missing only 1998, 2015-2016, and 2018. I won a prize eight times.

In Journey to the National Master Title, Part 1, I summarized my chess career up to January 2023. My first USCF rated tournament was the 1987 Gem City Open. I was 15 years old. I scored 0/5, cried after my fifth round defeat, and earned a provisional rating of 1186.

Two-time Ohio Chess Champion (1950, 1985) James Schroeder won the 1988 Gem City Open in memorable fashion, upsetting Sergey Berchenko with Black in the fifth round. I scored 1.5/5 that year, and finished the tournament with a rating of 1470. I vividly remember watching the Berchenko-Schroeder game and trying to predict each player's next move--without much success, as I lacked the requisite chess knowledge to understand what was happening. Schroeder annotated this game for the 1988 "Special Gem City Open Issue!" of the Dayton Chess Club Review, and he began with this declaration: "In the first place (which this game is for) I consider any person who complains about receiving the Black pieces in any game to be a fool. I have never played an important game with Black where I could say: 'My opponent played a perfect game and I never had a chance to win.' You don't find perfect players in Amateur Chess, especially at a fast time control. Even Vukcevich gave me a chance at the Croatian Open a couple of years ago. I missed it, however, and he won." Here is that exciting Berchenko-Schroeder game from the 1988 Gem City Open, with selected annotations by Schroeder (and one note from Stockfish 16, which of course did not exist in 1988):

1988 Gem City Open

Sergey Berchenko vs. James Schroeder

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 Qb6 7. Nb3 a6 8. Be3 Qc7 9. f4 e6 10. O-O b5 11. Bd3 Bb7 12. a3 Be7 13. Qf3 Rd8 14. Qg3 O-O 15. Nd4 d5 16. e5 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 Bc5 18. Bxc5 Qxc5+ 19. Kh1 Ne4 20. Qh4 g6 21. Rf3 Rd7 22. Ne2 d4 23. Re1 f5 24. exf6 Nxf6 25. Rg3 Ne4 26. Rh3 Stockfish 16 highlights this as the decisive mistake. (26. Rg4 maintains equality.) 26...e5 27. Rf3 Rdf7 28. fxe5 Rxf3 29. gxf3 Nd2 30. Qxd4 Schroeder: "This surprised me and I took my time because I had plenty of it, trying to find some simple win. But it isn't there, so I was forced to play a 'Reinfeldian Brilliancy.' Nxf3 Schroeder: "I used five minutes making certain that the Queen 'sacrifice' led to mate." 31. Qd7 Schroeder: "Now I looked to see if White was threatening a mate in one." Nxe1+ 32. Qxb7 Rf1+ 0-1

I scored 2.5/5 in the 1989 Gem City Open to win the Class C prize, the first time that I won a prize in a rated two day open tournament. As I moved up the rating ladder, I continued to win Gem City Open prizes: I finished first U1900 (3.5/5) in 1991, first U2100 (2.5/5) in 1996, and tied for third-seventh overall (3/5) in 1999. After the Gem City Open format switched from one section to two sections in 1991 (and more than two sections in some of the years after that), I played in the Open section most years--but in 2004 my rating had dipped below 2000, and I followed the advice of my coach (Grandmaster Anatoly Lein) to not play "up" but rather learn to dominate my current rating class; I scored 5/5 to take first place in the U2000 section, a nice reversal of my 0/5 performance in the 1987 Gem City Open. In 2005, I regained Expert status, and I tied for third-sixth in the Gem City Open's Open section with 3/5. I tied for third-ninth in the Open section of the 2010 Gem City Open, also with 3/5. Thus, the closest I came to joining the list of Gem City Open champions were my three third place finishes in 1999, 2005, and 2010.

One of my favorite Gem City Open memories happened in 2000. I scored 2.5 in the first four rounds, and was happy to win my fourth round game to set up a last round matchup with the top seeded player, Grandmaster Alex Wojtkiewicz--but when the pairings were posted I was paired versus someone else. I could have just accepted the easier pairing--I was in contention to receive a prize if I won my last game--but I protested that the last round pairings were wrong. After much discussion, the tournament director admitted that I was right, and he paired me against Wojtkiewicz, who proceeded to grind me down in a long game. I did not notice that fellow player Boris Utkin had taken three pictures of me and Wojtkiewicz during the game, but the next time that I saw Utkin he presented the pictures to me--and he had written on the back of one of them, "We like to play with strong chess players."

 

Friedman versus Wojtkiewicz, 2000 Gem City Open (photo by Boris Utkin)

Chess is about more than rating points and it certainly is about more than money. Yes, I like to play with strong chess players, and I like for the pairings to be correct even if that means facing the strongest player with a prize on the line. Another memorable part of that situation is that Wojtkiewicz became upset with me during the game because he felt that I did not resign soon enough; during the game, he left the playing site to go to Spaghetti Warehouse for a drink (or two), and after the game he initially refused to analyze with me. Andre Jaworowski, a mutual friend, intervened and explained that I always fight to the bitter end and that I meant no disrespect (correct on both counts). Wojtkiewicz eventually relented and agreed to analyze with me. I mentioned to him that at my level it is not so trivial to win a game when up a pawn so I was interested to see how he shut down any possible counterplay. I am not sure that he completely accepted that explanation, but I appreciate that a professional chess player took some time to share his insights with a dedicated amateur.

The Gem City Open was always one of my favorite tournaments--it meant so much to me that I tried to make it to the event in 1998 despite having incapacitating pain from a ruptured disk in my back--and I miss it very much, but I will cherish the memories forever and I hope that this article will foster appreciation for this important part of Ohio chess history.

Journey to the National Master Title, Part 1

The title of this series of articles is not meant to be presumptuous; although I am confident that I will obtain the National Master title, I understand that it is not 100% certain that I will obtain the National Master title, and that is the reason that "journey" is included in the title: whether or not I make it to the desired destination, I intend to chronicle my experiences during the journey.

I am inspired in part by a series of Chess Life articles Larry Remlinger wrote over 30 years ago about his quest to obtain the International Master title. Remlinger returned to chess as an adult after a long hiatus following his success as a junior player, while I have been playing tournament chess continuously for over 35 years, but the larger concept of his series of articles and my planned series of articles is the same: discussing the challenges faced by an adult player attempting to attain a specific rating goal or title status.

The Journey Begins

I learned to play chess when I was around eight years old, but my game took its first significant leap at age 13 after meeting Earle Wikle and his mentor Dr. Harold Wright when they organized a chess club at my junior high school during the 1984-85 school year. Wikle was by far the best chess player I had met up to that time; learning from him and playing unrated training games against him elevated my skills and helped me understand what it would take to become an Expert.

I joined the Dayton Chess Club (DCC) and the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) in 1986. After playing in various unrated DCC events in 1986 and 1987, I played in the Greater Dayton High School Individual Championship in February 1987. I scored 2/4, but for some reason lost to history the event's results were never submitted to the USCF and thus the event was never rated. I played in the Greater Dayton High School Individual Championship each year from 1987-89, but never won a prize. Those were the only scholastic tournaments of my career (scholastic tournaments were much less common in the 1980s than they are now). After failing to reach the winner's circle as a junior, I take some consolation that I am two for two in senior (age 50+) tournaments, with third place finishes in the Ohio Senior Championship in 2021 and 2022.

Although the USCF's online records only go back to late 1991, my personal records (including printouts of old crosstables from my earliest tournaments) enable me to track my rating progress for all 3338 regular or dual rated games that I have played.

Officially, I played in my first USCF rated tournament in July 1987, scoring 0/5 in the Gem City Open to obtain a provisional rating of 1186. I won my first rated game on October 25, 1987, defeating Daniel Burns (1593) in round four of the Roosevelt Open.

At the end of 1987, my record in rated games was two wins, 12 losses, and one draw, and I had increased my rating to 1408. My first non-provisional rating was 1398.

By the end of 1988, my rating was 1533. Tien Chou held his first Miamisburg Tornado tournament in January 1988, and the timing was perfect for me, as there were not many local rated events at that time. Playing in the Miamisburg Tornado every month helped me to gain experience and rating points. Chou, a strong Expert who later achieved the National Master title as an "older" player (i.e., in his late 40s or early 50s), provided me with printouts of Sicilian Najdorf analysis, and he was always willing to analyze together after we played a rated game. I was very proud when I became strong enough to not only give him a good game but to even score an occasional draw or win against him. Chou won the 1988 Dayton Chess Club Championship.

I made tremendous progress in 1989, peaking at 1895 by the end of December. The monthly rating supplements issued by the USCF at that time listed the top 50 players in the country by various age categories. One of those categories was 17-18, and I narrowly missed qualifying for that list in 1989, which would have been quite a feat for someone who was almost 16 by the time he played his first rated game. 

After gaining over 800 points from June 1987 through December 1989, it seemed that I would make Expert (2000) soon--but then my rating dropped, and I spent two years in an up and down cycle before surpassing 1900 for the first time in January 1992. It took me longer to go from 1800 to 1900 than it took me to go from 1186 to 1800, and that foreshadowed the challenges I would face before surpassing the 2000 and 2100 rating levels.

Achieving the Expert Title

I finally made Expert on May 13, 1995, scoring 3/4 in the Springfield Tornado to tie for second through fourth while pushing my rating from 1981 to 2012. I first surpassed the 2100 level on June 10, 2000, scoring 2.5/4 in the OSU June Tornado to increase my rating from 2096 to 2114. In that tournament, I defeated Steve Wygle (2279) and drew with Chuck Diebert (2200), but I lost to Felikss Grankins (2224), who took clear first with 3.5/4. I did not maintain a 2100 rating for very long, and after I dropped below 2100 I did not break that barrier again for over a decade, though I did reach 2085 in December 2009, and I pushed past 2050 on multiple occasions only to then fall back below that mark.

I returned to 2100 in style, scoring 4/4 to tie for first place in the June 12, 2011 North Market Swiss, finishing with a rating of 2101. For the rest of 2011, my rating fluctuated right around 2100. After I dropped below 2100 on October 9, 2011, I did not cross the 2100 barrier again until August 11, 2013, when I scored 4/5 in the U2100 section of the Cleveland Open, tying for second-eighth, and finishing with a rating of 2112, just two points short of setting a new career-high. I fell below 2100 in my next tournament (the 2013 Indianapolis Open), and I did not surpass 2100 again until February 23, 2014, when I scored 4/4 to finish clear first in the North Market Swiss, increasing my rating from 2087 to 2129 (new career-high). I peaked at 2190 on May 2, 2015 after scoring 6/6 to win my record 10th Dayton Chess Club Championship. I maintained a 2100+ rating until March 13, 2016.

On August 27, 2016, I scored 3/4 in the Cincinnati Tornado and pushed my rating to 2109. I maintained a 2100+ rating for two months, peaking at 2150. My rating has been below 2100 since October 29, 2016. After 2016, the highest rating that I have reached is 2080 when I scored 4/4 to take clear first in the October 15, 2022 Cincinnati Tornado.

USCF Titles/Wins Against Masters/FIDE Rating

The USCF awards titles based on attaining a minimum performance level in at least five tournaments. I earned the Class C and Class D titles simultaneously in December 1991, the Class B title in May 1992, the Class A title in September 1992, and the Candidate Master title in November 1997. I have obtained three of the five norms for a Master title, but in order to earn that title I not only need two more norms but I must surpass the 2200 rating level (regardless of how many norms you obtain, you cannot receive a title without also reaching the minimum rating level for that title). 

The USCF's online records credit me with 77 wins versus players rated at least 2200, but the correct total is 79; I won two games in the early 1990s against players whose official ratings were over 2200 at the time I played them, but whose live ratings were a bit below 2200 by the time those wins were rated (in those days, official ratings often lagged a bit behind live ratings, and tournaments were often not rated quickly or in sequential order). Both of those players who I beat subsequently maintained a 2200+ rating for at least 60 games (and one of them became a Life Master), so by any reasonable standard those wins should be tallied as wins against Masters because my opponents proved to be Master level players before and after I beat them. I wonder how many players who have yet to become a Master have won 79 games against Masters?

My peak FIDE rating is 1974, and my current FIDE rating is 1793. My current journey is focused on reaching 2200 USCF, but if/when I complete that journey I intend to then focus on a FIDE rating journey.

Lessons Learned Thus Far 

The formula for becoming an Expert is straightforward--not easy (which is why fewer than 5% of all chess players reach Expert level), but straightforward: improve your tactics, reduce the frequency of your major blunders, develop a basic opening repertoire (at least one primary opening move as White, at least one Black defense against e4, and at least one Black defense against d4/c4/Nf3), and cultivate the ability to play basic endgames competently on a consistent basis. It is a great idea to annotate your games and create notebooks of those annotated games, but I must admit that I did not do that consistently until I had already become an Expert.

Some very strong players (2500+) insist that a player should always play in Open sections and never play in lower rated sections, while other very strong players (2500+) insist that a player should demonstrate dominance at each Class level before playing in Open sections. I have concluded that either method is valid, provided that the player is studying the right way, and cultivating the right in-game habits. My advice would be that if psychologically you can deal with losing a lot of games then perhaps it may be better to just play Open sections, but if the inevitable losing is going to discourage you too much then stick to Class sections while making sure that you have a plan to advance out of whatever your current Class is. 

Statistically, a player who outrates you by 100 points scores 60% against you. That means, for example, that if you are rated 1700 and you can figure out how to score 50% against 1800s then you can become an 1800 (assuming that your winning percentages against other categories of players are not below par). I have found it most helpful--for myself, and for my students during the two decades that I taught private lessons--to focus on advancing 100 points at a time, because changing the margin from 4/10 to 5/10 against slightly stronger players is attainable in the short term, but trying to jump from 2/10 to 5/10 versus significantly stronger players is a bit much for a short term goal.

At the 1987 Gem City Open, I bought two important books from National Master James Schroeder: Modern Chess Openings, 12th Edition (MCO 12) and Reuben Fine's Basic Chess Endings. After every subsequent game that I played for many years, I looked up the opening in MCO 12, and if the game reached an endgame then I looked up that endgame in Basic Chess Endings. I know that there are many excellent online opening and endgame resources available now, but I still think that those books have value for players who are trying to advance from the Class ranks to Expert and beyond.

I honed my tactics by spending many fun hours playing five minute chess at the Dayton Chess Club, battling the strongest players who were willing to play me (some would only play me with time odds, and I took pride in becoming fast enough and good enough that they eventually stopped giving me odds). After every five minute game that I lost, I asked my opponent to briefly explain what I did wrong. Of course, today players can play chess at various time controls on their own schedule on the internet, and can then use an engine to find out what they did wrong.

FIDE Master Ken Smith once declared that until a player reaches at least Expert level his first name, middle name, and last name must be tactics! I agree with Smith that tactics are critically important for advancing through the Class player ranks to become an Expert, but I would emphasize the difference between tactical sharpness and tactical awareness. Tactical sharpness means being able to solve a tactic, while tactical awareness means noticing without prompting that a tactical opportunity exists; the difference between these two skills explains why there are some players who have very high online tactics ratings but much more modest ratings for game play: during a game, no one will tap you on the shoulder and say, "There is a tactical opportunity here"--but when you are solving tactics you have already been "told" this.

I reached an 1895 USCF rating mainly on the strength of tactics (and a decent knowledge of opening theory for a player below Expert level), but a major reason that my progress stalled at that stage was my lack of endgame understanding specifically, and positional understanding generally. Working on those weaknesses helped me to become an Expert, and further refinement of those skills resulted in me maintaining a 2100+ rating for an extended period.

I believe that the main reason I have yet to reach the 2200 level is that I blunder more frequently than Masters do (and I also make "worse" blunders: a Master does not play flawlessly, but rarely makes one move that is bad enough to lead to immediate defeat). Identifying the problem correctly is one thing, but solving the problem is quite another matter! 

Throughout my chess career, I have tended to blunder more often than a player of whatever level I was at that time, but I have also tended to be able to play "above" my rating (which explains those 79 wins against Masters). It is well documented that as players age they tend to blunder more frequently, so my challenge is not only to correct a decades-old weakness but to do so while fighting Father Time.  

Blundering is a problem for chess players of all levels; the general recommendations to address a blundering problem are to (1) slow down, (2) to look at all possible checks/captures before moving, (3) and to practice emotional regulation during the game (avoid overconfidence, but also avoid lack of confidence that could result in hesitation to enter tactical melees).

It is possible that I have yet to objectively identify why I have not reached the 2200 level, but I am pretty sure that I have figured out the issue even if I have yet to figure out (or at least successfully implement) the solution.

The Talent Question (also known as "The elephant in the room")

The subject of natural talent can be controversial, and can lead to very heated discussions. The funny thing about natural talent in chess is that my observation is that people tend to think that natural talent is necessary to reach whatever their level is, or perhaps one level above or below their level (depending on their rating, and how big of an ego they have). For example, many Grandmasters will insist that any motivated person of reasonable intelligence can reach at least 2400 USCF, if not International Master (2400 FIDE, which is typically equivalent to at least 2500 USCF). I can't prove it, but I seriously doubt that this is true. 

Statistically, it seems implausible that any person who works hard enough can attain a level of success that is only attained by far less than 1% of all people in that field. As a society we should strive to create equal opportunities for as many people as possible, but we should not be deluded to believe that equal outcomes are possible for everyone (unless the most talented are artificially held back, while the least talented are artificially boosted). 

Based on my chess journey, and my observations of many players of various strengths over the years (including students who I trained and whose development I witnessed firsthand), I think that a reasonably intelligent person who does not have any special chess talent can reach 1800 USCF without having to devote so much time to chess that one's life is not balanced. Beyond 1800, I think that you need some combination of natural chess talent and hard work over an extended period of time. I suppose that it is theoretically possible that a very hard working person with no special chess talent could become a Master, but I don't think that I have ever met such a person. The Masters who I have met seem to me to have more innate chess talent than most non-Masters; it is possible that what I am observing in Masters is not innate talent but rather skills developed through hard work, but my experiences as a teacher influenced my thinking on this topic: I showed the same tactics to many different students over the years, and I found that some students could discern the answer before I had even set up all of the pieces (they could tell that the remaining pieces were not integral to the solution) while other students could not solve the same tactics even after receiving guidance and hints. Obviously, higher rated players can solve tactics more easily than lower rated players, but what I noticed by tracking the progress of many different players over the years was that the players who ultimately attained the highest ratings (at least three of the players who I coached eventually became Masters) consistently solved tactics more quickly than other students. 

Put more concisely, you can tell early on which students are going to be really strong--or, at least, which students have a chance to become really strong if they keep playing chess.

When Dr. Wright first met me, I was not a strong player, but after observing me for a short time he predicted that I would reach at least Expert level and possibly become a Master. Dr. Wright explained to my Mom and me that he made that prediction based on my natural inclination to coordinate my pieces in attack and how quickly I learned and retained new information. My point is not to brag--it is obvious that there are many players who have much more natural chess talent than I do--but to point out that chess talent can be recognized quickly, based on how a player processes the game. Many beginners keep moving their Queen around until they lose their Queen, but for some reason it seemed natural to me to try to get all of my pieces out. It took practice to learn how to develop my pieces without losing material, but I grasped the basic concept intuitively. Players who have more talent than I have are able to grasp more sophisticated concepts in a similarly intuitive fashion, even though they need practice to refine those concepts. 

I have spent enough time watching Grandmasters analyze to conclude that they think about the game in a fundamentally different way than most chess players. I don't think that this is just a matter of being highly trained; they are "seeing" the game differently. The analogy I often make is that most Grandmasters reached the Expert and Master levels when they were little kids; to them, playing Expert or Master level chess is as simple as the basic reading and math concepts that most of us learned when we were eight or nine years old. For most people, playing Expert or Master level chess is hard to do, but for that select group of people who become Grandmasters it is, quite literally, child's play. 

It may not be politically correct to speak about talent, but talent differences exist whether or not they are spoken about--and it is important for a student (and a coach) to understand what goals are reasonable. That being said, I never discouraged one of my students (or anyone else) from setting ambitious goals; if a student told me, "I want to be a Master," my consistent response was, "The first step to attaining that goal is reaching the next 100 point rating level. In addition to focusing on that short term goal, if you have an ambitious long term goal then you must develop the study habits and playing habits of players who reached that level. There is a difference between playing chess for fun, playing chess to reach 1800, playing chess to reach 2000, and playing chess to reach 2200, and your study habits and playing habits must align with your goal."

After reaching Expert in my early 20s and later attaining a rating just 10 points short of Master, I think that setting a goal of becoming a Master is reasonable for me. For other players, 1800 or 2400 may be reasonable goals. Each chess player has his or her own journey, and it is more productive to focus on your journey as opposed to comparing it to the journey of someone else whose talent, work ethic, and life experiences may be much different.

The Journey Continues

I entered 2023 with a 2012 rating.

On Saturday January 7, the Dayton Chess Club held its first rated tournament since COVID-19, and I scored 2-0 to win the top rated quad and gain eight rating points (I won my third game by forfeit because my opponent did not show up). 

On Sunday January 8, I scored 2.5/4 in the East Market Swiss, finishing out of the money and losing six rating points. My only loss happened in round two when I blundered against a much lower rated player, permitting him to play a winning Exchange sacrifice that I could have prevented had I correctly assessed the danger.

The first game after a loss--particularly a loss against a lower rated player--can be difficult psychologically. I know players who withdraw from a tournament rather than dealing with that psychological challenge. I rarely withdraw from a tournament, and I don't recall ever withdrawing after just one loss.

I finished the East Market Swiss with two very interesting games.

In round three, I blundered a piece for two pawns against Joshua Keegan (1821), but I fought back during my opponent's time pressure and managed to reach a position where I had King, Bishop, and Knight versus King. This was my 3337th regular or dual rated game, and this was just my second opportunity to execute this checkmate. The first time happened 18 years ago, and in that game I was in time pressure; I forced my opponent's King to one of the "right" corners (i.e., a corner the same color as the squares controlled by the Bishop), but then I stalemated him when I had mate in four! This time, I avenged that failure by checkmating my opponent--but not without some drama. My opponent stopped keeping score, as he only had two seconds left (plus the five second time delay), but he attempted to make a mark on his scoresheet for each move played after the last pawn was captured. When he thought that 50 moves had been played, he stopped the clock and summoned the tournament director, Lou Friscoe. By rule a player cannot make a 50 move draw claim without having a complete scoresheet including all of the game's moves. The TD made the correct ruling, and I asked, per USCF rules, to have two minutes added to my time because my opponent's incorrect claim stopped play. I could have also added two minutes earlier in the game when my opponent made an illegal move, but I deferred because neither of us knew how to reset his clock; this time, I substituted my clock for my opponent's clock, and after adding two minutes I had 8:28 left while my opponent still had two seconds (because he kept making his moves in five seconds or less). I spent about three minutes before making my next move. By that point I had trapped my opponent's King in one of the "right" corners, so I made sure that I neither stalemated him nor let him out of the corner. My opponent was understandably not pleased after I delivered checkmate, but a few minutes after the game ended he approached me and we had a brief, amicable conversation about the game.

Soon, round four began, and I faced Tom Britt (2200) in what turned out to be another very interesting game. I have known Britt for more than 30 years, and during that time he has not only taught me a lot but we have also contested some exciting games. This one was no exception. I sacrificed a Pawn as Black in an Old Indian Defense, but soon not only regained my Pawn but ended up a Pawn to the good. Britt skillfully steered the game to a drawish Rook and Pawn ending where my extra Pawn was not enough to win, and thus we split the point.

With a 2014 rating after that tournament, I need to gain 186 points to reach my goal. The first step, as noted above, is to reach the next 100 point level; after surpassing 2100, I can then focus on reaching 2200.

I don't have definite plans regarding how often I will write about my journey to the National Master title. If I do poorly in my next event, perhaps I will not write any more articles about this topic (just kidding--I think). My two goals for this chess journey journal are (1) focus my thoughts about chess development in a way that will help me attain my goal, and (2) provide some insights about chess that will hopefully be interesting and useful to other chess players.

Ross Sprague (1940-2018) Played Master Level Chess For More Than Five Decades

Ross Sprague, a dominant force in Midwest chess from the 1950s through the mid-2000s, recently passed away. Sprague achieved the National Master title during an era when there were only a few dozen Masters in the entire country and he later earned Senior Master status with a rating well over 2400.  He did not have the opportunity to play FIDE rated chess during his prime or he certainly would have attained FIDE Master status and he quite possibly could have become an International Master. National Master David Presser, the 1964 Ohio co-champion, told me years ago that he believes that Sprague is the most naturally talented native Ohio chess player of all-time. Sprague was a powerful attacker who knew a lot of opening theory and was blessed with a tremendous memory. If you survived the opening and middlegame against Sprague you then discovered that he seemed like a walking endgame tablebase. He had an incredible sense of how to optimally place his pieces and pawns during the latter stages of the game.

Sprague's chess career began in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950s. He often told stories about playing ping pong and speed chess against Bobby Fischer during one of the U.S. Junior Opens in the late 1950s. Sprague also formed a friendship with Grandmaster Pal Benko, who called him "Poopsie" and taught him a lot about endgame play. Sprague served as an airplane mechanic during the Vietnam War and later became a practicing attorney.

Sprague won or shared first place in the Ohio Chess Congress four times (1958, 1975-76, 2005). He holds the record for longest time span between OCC titles (47 years), breaking the record of 35 years set by James Schroeder. Based on my recollection of conversations with Sprague, I believe that he said that he won several other state championships, including (I think) Illinois, but I cannot find official confirmation of this. Sprague also won the Dayton Chess Club Championship twice (2005-06).

After Sprague first moved to Dayton in the mid-2000s, I received many endgame lessons at his hands as I drew seemingly winning positions and lost seemingly drawn positions. He was past his prime (his U.S. Chess Federation rating had dropped from 2400-plus to the mid-2200s) but he could punch above his weight, as former World Chess Championship Challenger Gata Kamsky found out when Sprague held him to a draw at the Kings Island Open. I will never forget Sprague's concise recap: he said that Kamsky grumbled after the game that he had five different ways to win, to which Sprague replied in typical Sprague fashion "But you chose number six, which draws."

Clearly, I am far from the strongest player who crossed swords with Sprague but since 1991 (when the USCF first began keeping such records) I faced him 52 times in regular rated games, making him my most frequent opponent during that time frame. I am also listed as Sprague's most frequent opponent, one game ahead of International Master Calvin Blocker, but of course those records omit nearly 40 years of Sprague's chess career. Sprague scored 25 wins, 11 draws and 16 losses in our regular rated games.

I am Sprague's most frequent Quick chess opponent by a larger margin of 132-73 over Daytonian Mark Kellie. Sprague scored 56 wins, 28 draws and 48 losses against me in Quick chess.

He kept playing tournament chess until he completely lost his sight. He was too proud or stubborn to use the special equipment that is available to assist blind players to participate in tournament chess.

I believe that competing against and analyzing with Sprague is one of the major factors that helped elevate my rating from fluctuating in the low 2000s to consistently being above 2100 for several years (and peaking at 2190 before various life events put tournament chess on the back-burner for me for a while).

We first faced each other in a John Carroll University Action Tournament held on June 5, 1992; the 2427 rated Sprague beat me (I was then rated 1980) en route to finishing tied for second behind International Master Calvin Blocker. Our last regular rated game took place 19 years later to the day as I beat him in the final round of the 2011 Gem City Open. Sprague's rating was floored at 2200, while I was rated 2087; Sprague had been battling severe vision loss and other health problems for quite some time, so I have no illusions about my peak playing strength compared to his.

Sprague was well-read and our conversations were always interesting. If you caught him in the wrong state of mind, he could be a bit blunt and abrasive but he always treated me with respect and I think he knew how much I respected his chess abilities. We were from different generations and had different life experiences but we connected because of our mutual love of chess.

Here is my loss with Black against Sprague from the April 2005 Gem City Open. Sprague was rated 2205, while I was rated 2012. After an innocuous opening, we traded into an equal ending, whereupon Sprague methodically outplayed me:

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Bg5 Qa5 5. Qd2 Nbd7 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. e5 dxe5 9. Nxe5 Be6 10. Bc4 Bxc4 11. Nxc4 Qb4 12. b3 Nd5 13. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 cxd5 15. Ne3 e6 16. Rhe1 Kd7?! 17. Kd3 Rc8 18. c4 dxc4+ 19. bxc4 Be7 20. Rab1 b6 21. f4 Rhd8 22. f5 exf5 23. Nxf5 Bf6 24. Ne3 Kc6 25. Nd5 Rxd5?! 26. cxd5+ Kxd5 27. Rbc1 Rxc1 28. Rxc1 Bxd4 29. Rc7 Be5 30. Rxf7 a5 31. h3 Bf6 32. Rc7 Kd6 33. Rc8 Kd5 34. a4 Ba1 35. Rc1 Bf6 36. Rb1 Bd8 37. Rb5+ Kc6 38. Kc4 Bf6 39. Rd5 Ba1 40. Rd1 Bf6 41. Re1 Bd8 42. Re6+ Kd7 43. Kd5 Kc7 44. Re8 Bf6 45. Rf8 b5 46. axb5 Kb6 47. Rb8+ Ka7 48. Re8 Kb6 49. Kc4 a4 50. Re6+ Kb7 51. Ra6 Be7 52. Rxa4 Kb6 53. Ra6+ Kb7 54. Kd5 Bg5 55. Rg6 Bf6 56. Rxf6 gxf6 57. Ke6 1-0.

I miss our nearly weekly friendly but fierce chess battles for Dayton Chess Club supremacy but I cherish the memories of competing against such a talented player who helped me to come closer to maximizing my potential. It is good to be challenged, to be pushed, to find out what you can do when you are tested. Thank you, Ross, and Rest in Peace.

Remembrances of Ohio Chess Champions John Stopa and Jim Harkins

This Labor Day Weekend, I will play in the Ohio Chess Congress for the 24th time; I have only missed the event five times since first participating in 1989. I am proud to have competed that often in the State Championship but it is also poignant to ponder the passage of time--and the passing of individual chess players who I have encountered over the years. Two-time Ohio Chess Champion (1950, 1985) James Schroeder passed away on July 8, 2017 and it has since come to my attention that two other Ohio Chess Champions recently passed away as well: John Stopa (July 7, 2017) and James Harkins (July 27, 2017). Stopa shared the Ohio title with Greg Serper and Boris Men in 1996, while Harkins won the championship three times (1964, 1968, 1973). Harkins tied for first in 1954 but lost the title on tiebreak points.

I played five USCF rated tournament games against John Stopa and two USCF rated tournament games against James Harkins. Ever since 2014--when I became a father and entered Law School--I have not been as involved with chess as I had been for the previous three decades. I feel out of the loop at times and I was stunned to hear of Stopa's passing, considering that he was just 64 years old and had seemed to be in good health the last time that I had seen him just a few months earlier. I did not have an immediate opportunity to write a proper tribute to him but I did post these remarks at his online memorial page:

"I had the privilege of playing five USCF rated games versus John. He was a strong player and a gentleman who always took time to analyze with me after our games. I recall him walking around tournaments recording the opening moves on the top boards. I got the sense that he was booking up on the competition, which is very smart. Rest in peace and my condolences to his family."

I wonder what happened to that pen and paper "database" that Stopa assembled over the years about Ohio's top players. Stopa literally wrote the book about Ohio's chess elite--or, at least he had the notes to write such a book--and it sure would be interesting to see the data that he collected over several decades.

Here is a hard fought draw that I earned against John Stopa five years ago. He and I each finished the tournament with 3.5/4 and shared first place with Charles Diebert.

North Market Swiss (Columbus, Ohio) January 5, 2012 (Round Three)
White:David Friedman (2083)
Black: John Stopa (2200)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. b4 Ba7 7. 0-0 d6 8. Bg5 h6 9. Be3 O-O 10. a4 Ne7 11. Nbd2 Ng6 12. Bxa7 Rxa7 13. d4 exd4 14. cxd4 d5 15. exd5 Nxd5 16. Qb3 Be6!? (...Nb6=)
17. Ne4 (White is slightly better) b6 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Nf4 20. Bxe6 Nxe6 21. Rad1 Qh4 22. Qe3 Raa8 23. f4 Rfd8 24. f5 Ng5 25. Nxg5 Qxg5 26. Qe4 Rac8 27.e6 Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Rd8?? (...Re8 offers much more resistance than the text) 29. Re1? (Rxd8+ followed by e7 and Qe5 leads to a decisive advantage) 30. Qc4 g6 31. fxg6 fxg6 32. Qg4!? (Qe4 is much stronger) Kh7 33. Rf1 Rf8 34. Rxf8 Qxf8 35. Qd4 Kg8 36. Qc4 Qe7 37. Qe4 Kh7 38. h4 h5 39. b5 axb5 40. axb5 Kg7 41. g3 Kf6 42. Qf4+ Kxe6 43. Qe4+ Kf6 44. Qf4+ Kg7 45. Qd4+ Kh7 46. Qd3 Qc5+ 47. Kg2 Qf5 48. Qc4 Qd7 49. Qe2 I offered a draw here and John immediately accepted. He had four seconds left on his clock plus the five second delay, while I had about six minutes remaining.

Like John Stopa, James Harkins was an attorney by profession. Harkins was a fixture on the Cleveland chess scene since at least the 1950s. I used to travel to Cleveland fairly often to visit family members and play in chess tournaments, so I saw him at many events. It was clear that he was a highly respected person and competitor within the Cleveland chess community. I was fortunate enough to beat him the first time we played, when I was a class A player and he outrated me by more than 200 points, but I think that I benefited from premature resignation on his part; I remember looking at the game later and realizing that he still had play in the position, though perhaps he was frustrated and did not want to continue the struggle.

He obtained his chess revenge against me nearly 20 years later in our next--and, as it turns out, final--encounter:

Friday Action Classic (Cleveland Ohio) November 26, 2010 (Round Four)
White: David Friedman (2068)
Black: James Harkins (2039)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Bg5 12. Nc2 Rb8 13. Qf3 0-0 14. h4 Bh6 15. g4 Bf4 16.Nxf4 exf4 17. Qxf4 b4 18. Be2 bxc3 19. bxc3 Rb2 20.Qd2 Ne5 21. f3 Qf6 22. Rh3? (0-0-0) Bd7 23. Qc1 Rfb8 24. Nb4 This move wins an Exchange but subjects my K to a withering attack. Unfortunately, I did not have any better options, so I grabbed the material and hoped for the best. Rxe2+!? (...R8xb4 followed by Ng6 wins) 25. Kxe2 Bb5+? (...Nxf3) 26. Ke3? (Kf2) Bc4 27. g5?? (Rb1) Qe6-+ 28. Rg3 a5 29. Nc2 Nd3 30. Qg1 Qe5 31. Kd2 Qf4+ 32. Ne3?? (This loses quickly but Kd1 would only delay the inevitable after Rb2) Rb2+ 33. Kd1 Nf2+ 34. Kc1 Qxe3+ 35. Kxb2 Qd2+ 36. Ka3 Qxc3+

It will be great to reconnect with old friends--and perhaps make some new friends--at this year's Ohio Chess Congress but I will also feel some sadness and sense of loss because of the passing of several chess players who made rich contributions to Ohio's chess community.

Reflections About James Schroeder, Chess Master/Writer/Prison Chess Advocate

I was saddened to learn that James Schroeder--chess master, prolific writer and long-time advocate for prison chess programs--passed away on July 8 at the age of 89. IM John Donaldson wrote an obituary of Schroeder at Chess Life Online and, as one would expect from such a knowledgeable and proficient writer/historian, this account is thorough and in depth while also speaking from the heart. I only met Schroeder once but he had a strong impact on my chess career, so I would like to share some personal reflections both about that one meeting and also about what I learned about Schroeder over the years.

My first USCF rated chess tournament was the 1987 Gem City Open, held in Dayton, Ohio (I had scored 2/4 in a local high school tournament earlier in the year that was supposed to be rated but never was). Before the first round, I encountered an older gentleman (he was 60 at the time but to teenage eyes that was elderly) who was selling chess books. At that point, my personal chess library was very small (and the internet did not exist), so I was thirsty for any chess knowledge. The man introduced himself as James Schroeder. I had no idea at the time that he was a chess master and a well known figure on the Ohio chess scene.

I selected Modern Chess Openings, 12th Edition (MCO 12, the most recent volume at the time) and Basic Chess Endings by Reuben Fine. I figured that if I knew how to start a game and how to finish a game then I would be in good stead. The MCO 12 was in excellent shape but the Basic Chess Endings was a little beat up, so I asked Schroeder if he would cut me a deal since I was buying more than one book. He was aghast. He told me in no uncertain terms that this book was a classic, that it contained essential knowledge and that his price was reasonable considering the book's value. I was taken aback by his vehemence but I took his words to heart and bought both books. I went 0-5 in that tournament but I developed a habit of consulting MCO and Basic Chess Endings after every serious game that I played (unless the game did not reach an endgame, of course) and I believe that this practice played a major role in my later chess accomplishments--including my first "big" chess prize ($100 for best score among Class C players in the 1989 Gem City Open), a 5-0 score in the U2000 section of the 2004 Gem City Open and a record 10 Dayton Chess Club Championships.

On April 9, 2017, I sent a letter to Schroeder (he did not have an email address) in which I thanked him for his positive influence on my chess career:

Dear Mr. Schroeder,

You sold me my first copy of MCO (12^th Edition) and my first copy of Reuben Fine’s Basic Chess Endings at the 1987 Gem City Open in Dayton, Ohio. That was my first rated tournament and I went 0-5 to post a provisional rating of 1186. You beat Sergey Berchenko in the last round with Black to win the tournament and you later analyzed the game for the Dayton Chess Club Review, declaring that anyone who complains about having Black is a “fool” because unless you are playing a super GM you will always have at least one chance.

Those books you sold me, the game that you won against Berchenko and your sharp annotations made a deep impression on me. I went on to break Richard Ling’s record by winning 10 Dayton Chess Club championships.

I remember trying to bargain with you about the price of Basic Chess Endings because the book was well worn and you indignantly replied that it was a classic. You were right and more than 30 years later I still have that copy!

Anyway, I never had the chance to thank you and when I recently found your website I decided to send you this letter.

If you are still sending out copies of your book Confidential Chess Lessons and a list of books that you are selling I would love to receive both. I will soon be teaching my young daughter to play chess and I am sure that she could benefit from your book and from any books that you may still have in stock.

Thank you again,

David Friedman 

He wrote his reply on April 14. Considering that he sold me my first copy of MCO, it is ironic that one piece of advice that he offered was, "Never read an opening book." He also wrote, "Winning the Dayton Chess Club Championship 10 (times) is a great accomplishment" and he put in bold letters "NEVER STOP STUDYING THE ENDGAME." He added that he no longer writes Confidential Chess Lessons but he sent me some photocopied pages from the book; one passage, from an article titled "The Genius," begins "The object of the game is to cross the center of the board with your pieces and attack the opponent's position. I want to play this game to the best of my ability within the amount of time available. I am playing Amateurs, not Grandmasters; do not be afraid of anything. I must be confident and expect to win every game."

Schroeder is perhaps best known for his writing, his teaching and his advocacy for prison chess programs but it should not be forgotten that he was a strong player as well. IM Donaldson's obituary provides details about Schroeder's playing career and cites some wonderful games--including a draw against GM Lubomir Ftacnik and a flashy win against NM Jim Harkins (a three-time Ohio Chess Champion).

Schroeder won the Ohio Chess Congress in 1950 (scoring 5.5/6) and 1985 (scoring 5/6 to tie with IM Calvin Blocker in the prime of Blocker's career; this was the fourth of Blocker's record 15 Ohio titles). That set a record for most years between a player's first and last OCC titles (35), since broken by Ross Sprague (who won the OCC title in 1958, 1975, 1976 and 2005, with an astonishing 47 year span between his first and last titles).

James Schroeder's career as a chess player/writer/teacher lasted more than 70 years and impacted countless lives, which is quite a legacy.

History of the Ohio Chess Congress

Dana Mackenzie, who was briefly a regular on the Ohio tournament scene and who earned the National Master title in the 1992 Ohio Chess Congress, notes that Ohio is one of just 13 states that does not publish a list of their official chess champions. Mackenzie's lament reinforces the notion that, in general, Ohio chess organizations do not have great respect for their tradition/history and their champions. The Dayton Chess Club repeatedly rebuffed my suggestions about including a history section on their website (or even just a bare bones listing of the winners of the Dayton Chess Club Championship, an event that dates back to 1959). In 2012, I posted a complete list of Dayton Chess Club Champions and the Chess section of this website includes several articles about Dayton Chess Club history and/or Ohio chess history, including The Dayton Chess Club Championship: Still Going Strong After Five Decades, Looking Back on Two Decades' Worth of Games Versus Clif Rowan, and Mike Anders is Gone Too Soon but His Joyful Spirit Will Never be Forgotten (11/7/24 note: I recently added articles about the Roosevelt Open and the Gem City Open).

Since it is doubtful that the Ohio Chess Association (or any other Ohio chess individual or group) is interested and/or able to produce a list of Ohio's Chess Champions, I decided to gather this information from official sources and publish it for posterity (11/7/24 note: the OCA used my list as a reference to update the Columbus Trophy and add the names of the 1994-2024 Ohio Chess Champions).

The list format is simple: year, site, Ohio Champion, score. I do not have full information for each year but I will continue to edit this list as my research uncovers more details. Each Ohio Chess Champion is listed in bold type; usually, the Ohio Chess Champion also finished first overall in the Ohio Chess Congress' Open section but for some years I was not able to determine the Ohio Champion's final score and/or whether or not the champion was also the overall tournament winner; any non-Ohio resident who finished with an equal or better score than the state champion(s) is listed in italic type in parentheses for the years in which such information is known.

OHIO CHESS CHAMPIONS

In the November/December 1990 Ohio Chess Bulletin, David Moeser described the formative years of the Ohio Chess Championship: "Early in the 1900s, and again from the late 1920s to 1944, the Ohio Championship was decided by a match between the Northern Ohio Champion (NOC), representing Cleveland, and the Southern Ohio Champion (SOC), representing Cincinnati." The modern Ohio Chess Association was founded in 1945.

????: Bluffton--C. Herman Bahnning 11/12 According to the September 1969 Chess Life, Bahnning scored 10 wins and two draws and he was one of the U.S. Chess Federation's "early state champions." That Chess Life article does not state the year that Bahnning won the Ohio Championship. Bahnning's name does not appear on Moeser's list, which includes the years 1910-11, 1928-1938 and 1944.

1945: Milton Ellenby 6/7
1946: Columbus--John Hoy 6/7
1947: Columbus--Thomas Ellison 6/7 Lawrence Jackson also scored 6/7 but, according to some 1947 Chess Life issues found by Mike Steve, Ellison won the title on tiebreak points. The Championship section included 27 players.
1948: Columbus--Elliott Stearns
1949: Walter Mann
1950: Akron--James Schroeder 5.5/6 The Championship section included 34 players.
1951: Columbus--Harald Miller 5.5/6
1952: Columbus--Tony Archipoff 6/7
1953: Columbus--Tony Archipoff 6/7
1954: Frank Ferryman 6/7 James Harkins also scored 6/7 but, according to the January/February 1991 Ohio Chess Bulletin, Ferryman won the title because he had 32.5 Solkoff tiebreak points compared to Harkins' 30.5.
1955: Charles Heising
1956: Robert McCready 6/7
1957: Robert Steinmeyer
1958: Ross Sprague 6/7 Charles Heising also scored 6/7 but, according to the January/February 1991 Ohio Chess Bulletin, Sprague won the title because he had 33.5 Solkoff tiebreak points compared to Heising's 29.5.
1959: Richard Kause 7/7
1960: Jack Witeczek 7/7
1961: Jerrold Fink/Saul Wachs/Thomas Lajcik 5.5/7
1962: George Miller/Richard Ling 6/7
1963: Rea Hayes 6.5/7
1964: Richard Kause/George Kellner/Thomas Wozney/James Harkins, Jr./David Presser 5.5/7 (Dave Reynolds 5.5). Per Parley Long's "OCA Yesterday" piece in the July-August 1989 Ohio Chess Bulletin, Richard Noel won the Speed Championship, Ann Jepson was the Women's Champion, and Edgar Lawrence was the Junior Champion. The tournament had 55 players.
1965: Richard Noel 7/7
1966: Saul Wachs 7/7
1967: Thomas Wozney 6.5/7
1968: Akron--James Harkins, Jr. 6.5/7 The September/October 1968 Ohio Chess Bulletin notes that Harkins became just the fourth two-time Ohio Champion, joining Archipoff, Kause and Wachs. It is not clear why Wozney was not also listed as a two-time Ohio Champion.
1969: Columbus--Thomas Wozney 6/7 Wozney won by five median tiebreak points over Robert Burns and Richard Garber. A then-record 122 players participated, though the September/October 1969 Ohio Chess Bulletin notes that figures for the event's early years are incomplete. Saul Wachs won the Speed Championship, scoring 6/6 in the final section (there were three separate preliminary sections, with the section winners facing each other in a round robin final section).
1970: Joseph Shaffer 6/7 Per the November 2015 Ohio Chess Bulletin obituary for Shaffer, Shaffer won on tiebreaks over Richard Kause, Tom Wozney, and David Lane. The obituary notes that Shaffer played in the OCC in 1967 (scoring a draw against eventual champion Wozney), 1969-71, 1973-76, 1979-81, and 1984. Shaffer earned the USCF Life Master title, and he also won state championships in Illinois and Pennsylvania.
1971: Columbus--Robert Burns, Jr. 6/7 Burns (rated 2211 at the time) won on tiebreaks over Thomas Wozney (2211) and Ross Sprague (2229). Burns and Wozney remained tied after the first tiebreaker but then Burns prevailed based on Sonnenborn-Berger points. Burns drew his individual encounters with both Wozney and Sprague. Carl Evans won the Problem Solving Contest, while Joseph Shaffer took second place over Dave Wolford in a playoff.
1972: Thomas Wozney 4.5/6 Wozney (2243) was awarded the title on tiebreaks over former champions Ross Sprague (2256), Richard Kause (2176) and Jerry Fink (2228). The event had a record 201 players. Art Keske won the Speed Championship, while Robert Burns and Paul Szilagyi tied for second place. Calvin Blocker won the Problem Solving Contest; future International Master Blocker, then rated 1865, scored 2.5/6 in the main event.
1973: Columbus--James Harkins, Jr. 5.5/6 Harkins prevailed on tiebreaks over Joseph Shaffer, Ross Sprague and Rea Hayes.
1974: Robert Burns, Jr. 5/6 Burns (2204) won on tiebreaks over Jerry Fink (2188), James Voelker (2090), Thomas Wozney (2294) and Arthur Keske (2192). Calvin Blocker (2169) scored 4/6, losing to Wozney in the last round.
1975: Dayton--Ross Sprague 5.5/6 Sprague's victory marked the "...first time in many years that the title has not been decided on tie-breaks" (Quote from the cover of the September/October 1975 Ohio Chess Bulletin). The tournament's top-rated player Milan Vukcevich (2489), fresh off of a third place finish in the U.S. Championship, lost in the second round to Perry Sill (1872) but bounced back to tie for second. Vukcevich also claimed first place honors in the Ohio Speed Championship with a 7/7 score. Future IM (and chess author) John Donaldson, then rated 1881, finished second (5.5), while Calvin Blocker, Alan Casden, Greg Fulkerson, Ed Diener, and Dean Hart tied for third (5/7 each) out of 30 players.
1976: Toledo--Ross Sprague 5.5/6 
1977: Cleveland--Danny Shapiro 5.5/6 Ross Sprague and Nachum Salman tied for second-third with 5/6. Richard Horvitz won the Ohio Speed Championship with a 6/6 score, followed by Calvin Blocker (5/6).
1978: Dayton--Robert Burns, Jr. 5/6 According to the September 1978 Dayton Chess Club Review, Calvin Blocker (2325) and Richard Noel (1865) also scored 5/6 but Burns (2232) won the championship on tiebreaks. Blocker defeated Errol Liebowitz (2159) in a 106 move, 10 hour, 10 minute game in the final round. Blocker won the Ohio Speed Championship with a 7/7 score, ahead of Richard Horvitz (6/7).
1979: Columbus--Errol Liebowitz 5.5/6 "He is the first champion since 1966 to come from the southern half of the state and first non-Cleveland resident to win since 1970. Three former state champions, Bob Burns, Joe Shaffer and Ross Sprague, along with Cincinnati expert Perry Sill, tied for second with 5-1" (Quote from December 1979 Chess Life & Review). A total of 170 players participated. Craig Roll and Ted Halstead each scored 5.5/6 to tie for first place in the 32 player Ohio Speed Chess Championship. The September-October 1979 Ohio Chess Bulletin notes that Roll and Halstead were declared co-champions after they drew a tiebreak game.
1980: Columbus--Alan Federl
1981: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 6/6
1982: Lima--Calvin Blocker 6/6
1983: Columbus--David Glueck 5/6 (Ed Formanek 5.5, Vince McCambridge 5)
1984: Calvin Blocker 5.5/6 Charles Diebert, Jim Weitthoff, Bruce Steinfeld, Randy Andrews and Dennis Gogel tied for first in the Ohio Speed Championship (4/5). A total of 127 players participated in two sections.
1985: Columbus--Calvin Blocker/James Schroeder 5/6 (Anatoly Lein 5; Lein would later become an Ohio resident and win the state title in 1999). The November-December 1985 Ohio Chess Bulletin states that 209 players participated, but does not indicate if this is a record number.
1986: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 5/6 (Igor Ivanov 6, Michael Rohde/Boris Gulko/Vivek Rao 5). The November-December 1986 Ohio Chess Bulletin states that 207 players participated.
1987: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 5/6 (Boris Gulko/David Norwood 5.5). The November-December 1987 Ohio Chess Bulletin states that the number of players (224) broke the event record set in 1973 (209), and further notes that TD Larry Paxton directed the OCC in both record-setting years.
1988: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 5/6 (Anatoly Lein/Andrew Karklins/Mike Blankenau 5). Ohio Expert Steve Seward and Indiana Champion James Mills shared first place in the 51 player Ohio Active Championship with a score of 4-0. The November-December 1988 Ohio Chess Bulletin describes the Active event's time control as "sudden death in 30."
1989: Cleveland--Calvin Blocker 5.5/6. According to the September-October 1989 Ohio Chess Bulletin, Andrew Zebrowski and Connecticut's Eric Godin tied for first place in the 46 player Ohio Action Championship. Bruce Steinfeld earned first place in the 32 player Ohio Speed Championship with a 6/6 score.
1990: Columbus--Steve Wygle/Nachum Salman 4.5/6 (Vivek Rao/Ron Burnett 5.5, Sohan Ramakrishnepillai 5). Per the September/October 1990 Ohio Chess Bulletin, Ed Formanek won the "3rd Annual Ohio Active Chess Championship" with a score of 4.5/5. The time control is not listed, but was likely G/30 or faster; during that era, the designations "Rapid" or "Quick" were not used widely (if at all), and games contested at time controls slower than blitz but faster than classical were called "active" or "action" games. James Mills, Nachum Salman, Andrew Zebrowski, Bruce Steinfeld, Tom Britt, and Craig Stauffer tied for second with 4/5. Andrew Zebrowski won the Speed Chess Championship with a score of 5/5, while Ron Burnett, Pappu Murthy, Steve Seward, and Bruce Steinfeld finished tied for second with 4/5.
1991: Dayton--Boris Men 5/6 (Sergey Kudrin 5.5). Per the September/October 1991 Ohio Chess Bulletin, "Chuck Diebert convincingly thrashed a field of 19 participants in the WBCA-rated state speed chess championship" with 5.5/6, while James Mills finished second with 5/6. That issue also notes that Andrew Zebrowski won the Action Championship without providing any other details.
1992: Cleveland--Boris Men 5/6 (Gregory Kaidanov 5.5, Sergey Kudrin 5). Per the September/October 1992 Ohio Chess Bulletin (published in one volume labeled July-December 1992), Chuck Diebert, Joseph Belfer, David Allen and Carl R. Boor shared first place in the Ohio Action Championship with 3.5/4, finishing atop a 42 player field. William Wright's recap of the weekend's events notes, "A chess congress, by definition, is a number of different events all held at the same site. This year's event set what I claim to be a record number of side events." Wright states that five action quads were held, plus the blitz championship and the "first ever 15 minute championship." Andrew Zebrowski won the eight player 15 minute championship with 3.5/4. Zebrowski also won three of the five quads that he entered, while Vincent Charlette won the other two quads. Zebrowski won the 16 player blitz tournament with 12/14, two points ahead of Chuck Diebert. Joe Heithaus won the Reserve section of the blitz tournament with 11.5/14, while David Friedman finished second with 10/14.
1993: Columbus--Boris Men 5/6 (Alex Shabalov 5.5)
1994: Columbus--Boris Men 5.5/6 Ed Formanek and Steve Seward shared first place in the Ohio Action Championship, each scoring 4.5/5 in a 48 player field. The USCF crosstable is captioned "6th Ohio Action Championship," but event titles are chosen by the organizer and so the numbering may not be accurate. Novia Milojic scored 4/5 to finish first among Class "A" players (=3rd-7th overall), and David Friedman scored 3/5 to finish in a three way tie for second among Class "A" players (=10th-20th overall).
1995: Columbus--Alex Yermolinsky/Dmitry Berkovich/Calvin Blocker 5/6 Ram Dake and Carl R. Boor shared first place in what was reported to be the third Ohio Quick (G/15) Championship, each scoring 3.5/4 in a 22 player field (if it is correct that the first G/15 Championship was held in 1992 and the third in 1995, it is not clear if the second event was held in 1993 or 1994; based on the above notes, it appears that G/15 was being classified as "Quick" and distinguished from G/30 events that were designated as "Action").
1996: Columbus--Greg Serper/Boris Men/John Stopa 5/6
1997: Columbus--Greg Serper/Calvin Blocker/Boris Men/George Umezinwa 4/5 (Ed Formanek 4)
1998: Columbus--Greg Serper 4.5/6 (Alex Goldin/Eric Torman 5)
1999: Columbus--Calvin Blocker/Anatoly Lein 5/6
2000: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 5/6 Blocker's 13th title, according to the July/August 2000 Ohio Chess Bulletin, but my research proves that this was Blocker's 12th OCC title. Tom Britt won the 26 player Ohio Quick Chess Championship with a score of 5/5.
2001: Columbus--Mark Geist/Russell Wilson 4.5/6 (Stanislav Kriventsov 5.5). Stanislav Kriventsov won the 14 player Ohio Quick Chess Championship with a score of 3.5/4.
2002: Dayton--Anna Zatonskih/Carl B. Boor 4.5/6 (Alex Goldin 5.5, Stanislav Kriventsov/Yevgeniy Gershov/Jim Dean 4.5). Ananth Pappu won the Ohio Quick Championship (G/10, unrated) with a score of 5/5. David Friedman and Will Surlow tied for second (4/5).
2003: Dayton--Ananth Pappu/Mike Joelson/Bob Basalla 4.5/6 (Ron Burnett 5)
2004: Cleveland--Oliver Koo/Andrew Zebrowski/Paul Nemeth/Kasun Waidyaratne 4.5/6 (Ed Formanek 4.5)
2005: Columbus--Calvin Blocker/William Wright/Allan Bennett/Ananth Pappu/Ross Sprague 4/6 (Jaan Ehlvest 5.0, Stanislav Kriventsov 4.5, Mark Heimann 4). Kyle Jones and Ananth Pappu shared first place in the 22 player Ohio Blitz Championship by scoring 6.5/8 each.
2006: Dayton--John Bidwell 5/6 (Mark Heimann 5)
2007: Dayton--Carl B. Boor 5/6 (Mark Heimann 5)
2008: Columbus--Calvin Blocker 5/6 (Mark Heimann 5.5). Garrett Smith won the 32 player Ohio Blitz Championship with a score of 7.5/8. Tom Britt, Kyle Jones, and Fred Allsbrook tied for second with 6/8. Britt and Jones were the top Ohio finishers. Luis Benitez, Adonis Turner, and Brandon Mason shared first place in the 10 player Ohio G/30 Championship with 4/5. Benitez and Mason were the top Ohio finishers.
2009: Dayton--Kris Meekins 5/6 (Matthew Marsh 5) Meekins also won the Ohio Quick Championship (G/25 w/5 sec. delay) by scoring 4/4 in a field of 14 players. Ross Sprague and David Friedman tied for second (3/4). Ananth Pappu won the Ohio Blitz Championship by scoring 10.5/12. Marsh took clear second (8.5/12).
2010: Dayton--John Lodger Hughes/David Friedman 4.5/6 (Alex Goldin 5.5/Siddharth Ravichandran 5) The father-son duo Carl R. Boor and Carl B. Boor shared the Ohio Quick (G/25) Championship title by scoring 3.5/4 each.
2011: Columbus--Carl B. Boor/Walker Griggs 5/6 (Alex Zelner 5) The official USCF crosstable incorrectly lists Boor with 4.5 but the Ohio Chess Bulletin correctly credits Boor with four wins, one draw and one bye.
2012: Cleveland--Goran Vojinovic/Walker Griggs 5/6
2013: Cleveland--Calvin Blocker/Oliver Koo/William Wright/John Lodger Hughes 4.5/6 (Bryan Smith 5)
2014: Dayton--Hans Multhopp 5/6. Yuri Barnakov, Will Sedlar, and John Bidwill each scored 4/5 to share first place in the 13 player Ohio Quick Championship. Will Sedlar scored 7.5/8 to take clear first in the eight player round robin Ohio Blitz Championship.
2015: Columbus--Goran Vojinovic 4.5/5
2016: Columbus--Mika Brattain 6/7 (Alex Shabalov 6) Yuri Barnakov won the Ohio Blitz Championship (G/5, no delay) by scoring 7/7 in a field of 20 players. Carl B. Boor finished second (6/7) and David Friedman finished third (5/7).
2017: Cleveland--David Allen/Arvind Jayaraman 4/5 (Grant Xu 4.5) No side events were held.
2018: Cincinnati--Mika Brattain 6/6 No side events were held.
2019: Cleveland--Elton Cao 5.5/6 No side events were held.
2020: ONLINE (COVID-19)--Eigen Wang/John Miller/Christian Thornton 3/5 (Alex Lenderman/Gadir Guseinov 4) No side events were held.
2021: Akron--Eigen Wang/Deshawn Kelley 4/5 (Eyal Grinberg 4.5, Alex Shabalov/Omer Reshef 4) No side events were held.
2022: Newark--Deshawn Kelley 4/5 (Ivan Schitco 4.5, David Brodsky/Rahul Srivatshav 4) For the first time since 2016, a side event was held. Evan Park won the Ohio Blitz Championship (G/5, no delay) by scoring 8/8 in a field of 12 players. Benjamin Lin finished second (6.5/8) and David Friedman finished third (5/8, top Ohio scorer).
2023: Akron--Justin Storn 4/5 (Alex Fishbein 4.5, Mitch Fishbein 4) Jesse Ren won the Ohio Blitz Championship (G/3 w/2 second increment) by scoring 7/8 in a field of 32 players. Braeden Hart finished second (6.5/8).
2024: Newark--Arjun Soni 4.5/5 Soni was born in 2010, and is one of the youngest OCC champions ever. Kasun Waidyaratne (born in 1992, won in 2004), and Elton Cao (born in 2004, won in 2019) are the only other champions aged 15 or younger that I know about. Two side events were held for the first time since 2014. Henry Lu won the Friday night quick tournament (a three player double round robin) with 3.5/4. Sharath Radhakrishnan and Arjun Soni won the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz by scoring 6/7 each in a field of 12 players.
2025: Newark--Dalton Perrine 4.5/5 (Alex Shabalov, Erick Zhao 4.5) Erick Zhao won the Ohio Chess Congress Blitz by scoring 6.5/7 in a field of 18 players.

NOTES:

This history project will be an ongoing labor of love until I am able to provide complete information about every Ohio Chess Congress. I will update this list each year as new winners are crowned and I will make any other relevant additions/changes as my research uncovers more data about previous champions.

It is widely known that International Master Calvin Blocker has won the most Ohio Chess Championships, but for some time there has been uncertainty regarding how many titles he has actually captured. The July/August 2000 Ohio Chess Bulletin states that Blocker's win in that year's event was his 13th title but my research proves that the 2000 championship was Blocker's 12th title (1981-82, 1984-1989, 1995, 1997, 1999-2000). Perhaps the source of confusion for the writer of the 2000 article comes from counting Blocker as the 1978 champion or co-champion; even though Blocker shared top honors with a 5/6 score in 1978, he lost the title on tiebreaks to Robert Burns (the OCA has not followed a consistent policy regarding the use of tiebreaks to determine the state champion and in this article I have simply followed the standards that were applied at the time that each tournament was held).

Blocker added titles in 2005, 2008 and 2013 to push his total to 15. It is likely that very few players have won more state championships--in any state, not just Ohio--than Calvin Blocker. It is unfortunate that the Ohio Chess Association has not done a better job of keeping widely available, accurate records about this remarkable accomplishment--and about a great event that has been held annually without interruption since 1945.

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Sources: Various issues of the Ohio Chess Bulletin, U.S. Chess Federation crosstables, Chess Life issues dating back to the late 1960s, and the Dayton Chess Club Review.

1/6/15 edit: I added some names to the list after receiving dozens of Ohio Chess Bulletins from Earle Wikle.

1/15/15 edit: Thanks to information provided by Robert Loggins and Mike Steve, I have been able to identify all of the pre-1969 Ohio Champions who did not appear on my original list.

4/15/15 edit: According to Mike Steve, Witeczek's perfect score in 1960 was reported in the local Lorain, Ohio newspaper. Steve notes that Witeczek later moved to Michigan and won the Michigan State Championship. Also, Steve found a 1981 OCC crosstable listing Blocker as the 6-0 winner, meaning that Blocker scored back to back perfect scores in 1981 and 1982. Blocker is the only player who can be confirmed with posting two perfect OCC scores.

9/5/22 edit: I not only added the information for the just-completed 2022 Ohio Chess Congress, but I also went through my Ohio Chess Bulletin archive and added details about the 1970 OCC, and about side events held in 1964, 1979, 1988-1992, 1995, 2000-2001, 2005, 2008, and 2014. Further, it should be noted that my consistent practice from when I first wrote this article is that if I can confirm that no side events were held in a given year then that is mentioned. If no note is provided, then I have no information about whether side events were held that year.

8/25/23 edit: I added information about the 1994 Ohio Action Championship, which is captioned "6th Ohio Action Championship" in the official USCF crosstable, and I expanded the notes about other Action and G/15 events held in the late 1980s/early to mid 1990s.

9/2/24 edit: I corrected the spelling of some champions' names to match the spelling displayed on "The Columbus Trophy," which used to be given to the Ohio Champion to keep for one year (it is now the property of the John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library). Here are three pictures of "The Columbus Trophy" from the 2024 Ohio Chess Congress (the first picture is from a Facebook post by 2024 OCC organizer Kathy Lin; I took the second and third pictures):

 

No names have been engraved on the trophy since 1994. Hopefully, the OCA will remedy this lapse as soon as possible.

11/7/24 edit: The Columbus Trophy has been updated to include the names of all of the post-1994 champions.

9/5/25 edit: Here are pictures of the updated Columbus Trophy plaques for 1976-2005 and for 2006-2025 (both pictures courtesy of 2025 OCC organizer Kathy Lin):

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Author's Personal Note (edited 11/7/24):

In 2010, John Lodger Hughes and I each scored 4.5/6. We were the highest scoring established Ohio residents but initially Siddharth Ravichandran--a strong Indian playing in his one and only Ohio event--was erroneously considered to be an Ohio resident and thus was crowned as the Ohio Champion with 5/6. When the OCA updated the Columbus Trophy in 2024, I presented documentation regarding this situation, and the OCA correctly determined that John Lodger Hughes and I should be listed as co-champions for 2010. In 2010, I defeated reigning Ohio Champion Kris Meekins in the first round with a Queen sacrifice leading to checkmate, and then in the sixth round I defeated two-time Ohio Champion (2003, 2005) Ananth Pappu.

On 11/6/24, Kathy Lin interviewed me about my chess career in general, and the 2010 Ohio Chess Congress in particular: 

In 2005, out of staters Jaan Ehlvest (5/6) and Stanislav Kriventsov (4.5/6) finished 1st-2nd, while five players shared the state title with 4/6. I finished with 3.5/6, though I was not truly in contention since it took a last round win for me just to pull within a half point of the Ohio co-Champions.

My strongest performance other than 2010 came in 2000, when I finished tied for 5th-9th overall with 4/6, one point behind tournament winner/Ohio Champion Calvin Blocker, who defeated me in round one.