Hello All!!
I’m trying to gather information about the various state champions. How does the various states determine their champion?
I’m assuming most do it with a tournament (possibly a match), but what format are those tournaments? What are the requirements, prizes, and fees?
Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Nebraska has an invitational round robin tournament to determine its state champion, usually held in the spring.
The six qualifiers are
The defending state champion (decided by tiebreak if there are co-champions.)
The winner of the year-long Nebraska Player of the Year competition.
Qualifiers from three tournaments held during the year. The events designated as qualifier events have changed somewhat over the years, usually 2 come from the Cornhusker State Games (held in July), 1 from the Midwest Open (held in the fall) and I’m not sure what the third event currently is.
New York State runs its’ State Championship every year over Labor Day weekend. This will the 129th annual event. It’s a 6 round swiss with various schedules (4,3,2 day options), and 4 sections. Entry fees are around $90 and the prize fund of $12,000 is guaranteed.
The top scoring NY resident in the Open section is considered NY State Champion. Since non-residents are allowed to play it’s possible that the winner of the tournament is not the state champion. We have had GMs from other states win the open section, but not be eligible for the title.
Other state titles such as womens and seniors are done at separate events.
In Nevada they have two qualification events. One in the South, which is an open Swiss with the highest Southern Nevada resident qualifying and one in the North, which is run by the Reno Chess Club and is usually a round-robin.
The two finalists then meet at the annual North vs South team match in Tonopah, approximately half way between Las Vegas and Reno, and play two games followed by rapid and blitz tie-breaks if necessary to determine the Nevada State Champion. The winner also receives $120 and the loser $80 given by the state affiliate.
Chris Bird
In Illinois we crown our champ via the Labor Day Illinois Open.
Tim
In, Utah, the winner of the Utah Open in November is the official State Champ. However, there are several other “Championship” events throughout the year, so there are other titles such as Blitz Champ, etc.
If anyone is curious, Arizona does a 6-player Round-Robin which includes the previous year’s champion(s) and the highest rated active residents. The prize fund is generated by donation from the state affiliate and a couple of local affiliates. (~$1000)
Mike,
Are there any prizes (money) other than the title?
What happens if a qualifier does not participate in the tournament? Are there alternates?
Others,
Out of curiosity, what is the first place prize (money) for the Open that awards the title? (Chris, you already mentioned how much the winner gets.)
All,
Thank you for the information. I hope other states chime in so that I can get a better idea of options available. Thank
I believe Washington (state) uses an invitational tournament, with a round-robin format.
This is not a class tournament, there is just one group in the open brackett.
I haven’t been on the state board for nearly a decade, but I don’t think there are any cash prizes. (There are people who play chess for reasons other than money.)
If the top qualifier from an event doesn’t choose to play (or has already qualified from an earlier event), then the next person on the list from that event is invited, etc.
I think if the defending state champion doesn’t choose to play they use the year-long Player-of-the-Year standings to pick a replacement.
Southern California has an Open championship (6-round swiss over the Labor Day weekend) and an Invitational championship (8-player RR). The Invitational consists of the previous champion(s), up to three players invited on rating, and four from a “Candidates Tournament.” Details are too complicated to repeat here, but you can see the gist of it at rfeditor.tripod.com/qual1102.html. And yes, there are cash prizes.
Florida holds an open tournament for the State Championship every Labor Day weekend.
KY has a closed RR tournament (by invitation) for the state championship. Invitations are to the top KY finishers in the KY Open tournament and to the previous year’s champion.
Indiana has a 5 Round Swiss, 40/105 Game/45 over two days. This year’s TLA can be found at: uschess.org/tlas/611.tla
There is a link to our past champions on our website at: indianachess.org/
Northern California (CalChess) has an Open tournament on Labor Day weekend.
Massachusetts has a six round tournament Memorial Day weekend.
Alabama has it’s State in September,usually over Labor Day weekend unless the host city has a big football game and hotel rooms are not available.It is usually a 5 or 6 round 2 section event.Flyers is here: alabamachess.com/events/2007ALChampFlier.htm
Playing in Tonopah ?!? Gee, that is a mean thing to make chess players do!! The highway from Vegas to Reno has got to be one of the most God-forsaken roads that I’ve ever driven.
In West Virginia, the state champion is the best-placed resident in the open six-round (swiss) tournament held over Labor Day weekend. The time control is 35/90 + SD/60. There is talk of changing the format to 5-rounds in two days, to counter the dwindling participation seen over the past decade or so.
/Jens
Back when people still traveled on trains, the Nevada State Championship was an 8-14 player, invitational round robin and was held a couple of times all the way up in Winnemucca(!)
But at least God forsakes both sides equally.