The 4th Peter DuPuy memorial event was held June 3, 2017 at the Benedum Civic Center in Bridgeport.

Jim Anthony, a friend of Peter DuPuy, attended the event and told us a little bit about Peter. Jim and Peter had been friends for some time, and Peter would always tell Jim how he was in the middle of playing chess on the computer when Jim would call. Charles McCallister began working for Jim at a nuclear plant in Vermont several years ago. Jim found out that Charles played chess and introduced him to Peter. The three of them were good friends from then on.

Peter had heart trouble and died seven years ago with Jim and Chuck at his side. Chuck decided to hold a memorial tournament in Peter’s honor and has held the event four times now in West Virginia where Chuck resides.

21 players attended the event, including Grandmaster Alex Shabalov of Pittsburgh, who has played in all four. Alex won the event with a 4-0 score. The running joke of the event was to see who could last the longest against him.

Lawrence Iorio was up first and lasted 19 moves before impending checkmate. Michael Felton was next and faced the same fate in 9 moves. Markle Butcher castled into fire in an 6. h3 Najdorf and lasted 22 moves.

Your webmaster (Benjamin Good) was the only other 3-0 going into the last round. I made some early mistakes and was faced with a 2 pawn disadvantage and a weakened king position. However, I had a slight bit of counterplay with an active queen and rook and weakened dark squares near Shabalov’s king. Alex thought for a good twenty minutes about how to handle the situation. He gave up one pawn to trade off the pieces, and won a rook and pawn endgame. The game was the last game to finish in the tournament and went 46 moves.

Thanks to donations from Jim Anthony and Chuck McCallister, nearly everyone received a prize. The math was a bit difficult, though!

1st – GM Alex Shabalov 4
2nd – Ed Garner 3.5

USCF Crosstable

15 players competed in the 10th Bridgeport Library event on May 20, 2017. Sam Timmons won the event with a perfect 3/3. Dan Cady was second at 2.5.

Crosstable

The Inaugural event of the Checkmate Scholastic Chess Club was held on May 13, 2017. 5 players competed. Sam Timmons and Daniel Preece shared first place with 2 out of 3.

Crosstable

Ben Good won the 9th Bridgeport Library tournament with a 3-0 score. Ed Garner was second.

USCF Crosstable

The Exponent-Telegram stopped by the tournament and spoke to a few of us. Here is their story.

32 players (10 open, 22 scholastic) competed in the Harrison County Championship, held on February 25, 2017 at Lincoln High School in Shinnston. Ed Garner won the open section with 3 points, and half the field (!) tied for second with 2.5. Elias Garden swept the scholastic section with a perfect 4-0.

USCF Crosstable

The 17th Mountaineer Open was held Saturday, January 14, at the WVU Mountainlair. Proceeds after prizes ($220 plus canned goods) were donated to Empty Bowls of Monongalia County. 21 players competed in the Open Section, which was won by Josh Matti. 9 players competed in the rated scholastic section, won by Matthew Ellis. Special thanks to Viraat Das, a Morgantown High student, who organized the event.

Coverage from the Dominion Post:
https://youtu.be/uwIDPHhUZH4

USCF Crosstable

The 2016 edition of the WV Senior Championship was held December 17-18, 2016. 18 players competed from 4 states at the Comfort Suites in Bridgeport. The event was combined into one section, which was won by Peter Snow of Virginia and Sam Timmons of Saint Albans. The senior title went to John Roush, who was 1/2 point back from Snow and Timmons.

Crosstable

The 2016 WV Junior Championship was held November 12, 2016 in Clarksburg. 24 players competed in two sections. Preston Male won the overall championship with 3.5/4 and Cole McDougal won the lower section with 4/4. The full crosstable is here.

34 players attended the 2016 National Chess Day event in St. Albans. 14 players competed in the Open Section, won by John Roush with a score of 3.5/4. John Roush takes the early lead in the 2016-2017 Grand Prix, followed closely by Markle Butcher and David Bruner.

Crosstable

The Missing Pieces Charity Chess Tournament was a non-rated event held in Summersville on September 24, 2016. 6 adults and 2 children from the Nicholas County area competed to raise over $1,000 for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Jim Adkins of Mount Nebo won the single-elimination event.

3-time State Champion Benjamin Good attended the event and played a simultaneous exhibition, going 12-0. Ben tried his hand at a blindfold game with Chris Smallwood, runner-up of the main event, but forgot about one of the pieces, blundered his queen and lost.

Next year we plan on holding the event some time before the State Championship, with both rated and non-rated sections.

Event Photos