Tri-State Champions
The Tri-State Championship was founded in 1945 by Gene Collett, the WVCA Bulletin editor, Bill Byland, president of the Pennsylvania Chess Association and S. S. Keeney of the Ohio Chess Association. The idea was probably hatches by Byland and Collett. Even though Collett published the WVCA Chess Bulletin, he resided in Pittsburgh and played at the Pittsburgh Chess club along with Byland. It was determined that the top two finishers in each state's championship would be invited to play for the Tri-State Championship. If one of the invited players could not participate, the state could find a replacement. The site of the event rotated among the three states.
Originally, the side events consisted of state matches, but full participation by the three states was hard to achieve. In 1949, a Junior event was started and in 1951, an Open Tournament was initiated and became part of the Tri-State festivities which were usually held on Veterans Day weekend.
The Tri-State Junior Championship was a separate event until 1955. In 1955, there were not enough juniors to stage an event, so they were all entered in the Open Tournament. The highest finisher on the Open would then be declared the Junior Champion.
The Ohio Valley Open was an event added in 1951 to take the place of the team event which never caught fire. The OVO was a five round tournament that was usually quite strong.
| Year | Tri-State Champion(s) | Junior Champion(s) | Open Winner(s) |
| 1963 | Louis Szedlascek OH | Edgar Lawrence OH | Virgil Rizzo PA |
| 1962 | Roger Johnson PA | Ed Lisac PA | Tom Wozney OH |
| 1961 | Saul Wachs OH | George Berry OH | Dr. Val Berzzarins OH; James Harkins OH |
| 1960 | Andy Schoene OH | George Baylor PA | |
| 1959 | Richard Krause OH; Carl Johnson OH; Bill Byland PA; Roger Johnson PA | Thomas Wozney OH, David Presser OH | Andy Schoene PA |
| 1958 | Robert Bornholtz PA | Jerry Fink | Richard Kause OH |
| 1957 | Donald Burdick WV | Ross Sprague OH | Jerry Hanken KY |
| 1956 | Charles Heising OH; J. Glenn Waltz PA | Roger Johnson PA | |
| 1955 | Charles Kalme PA | Donald Burdick WV | Donald Burdick WV |
| 1954 | Frank Ferryman OH | Jud Webb OH | James Schroeder OH |
| 1953 | Walter Mann OH | Mahlon Cleaver PA | Larry Lipking OH |
| 1952 | Tony Archipoff OH; Dr. Siegfried Werthammer Huntington, WV | Harold White OH | Larry Lipking OH |
| 1951 | Saul Wachs PA | Robert Hickman Haverford, PA | Fred Sorenson Pittsburgh, PA |
| 1950 | Glen Hartleb PA | P. Dietz PA | |
| 1949 | William Byland PA | Stanley Amarnick Philadelphia, PA | |
| 1948 | Herman Hesse PA | ||
| 1947 | H. Landis Marks WV | ||
| 1945 | Milton Ellerby OH | ||
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