Wisconsin has been active on the national chess scene for longer than most other states in the union, but we seem to have come to the idea of formalizing the state champion later than our contemporaries. The earliest formal championship we've been able to find was a match that crowned Carl Eppert as the official state champion. We're still digging through archives looking to fill in the blanks, as there was active club play in the state going back to the days of Morphy and Paulsen. This list is the official list; if you have information about champions not on it, please contact us with the information.
Wisconsin State Chess Champions
| 1923 | Carl Eppert |
| 1924 | Carl Heden |
| 1929 | Carl Anderson |
| 1930-32 | Harold Knutson |
| 1933 | Robert Reel |
| 1934 | Walter Heyn |
| 1935 | Arpad Elo |
| 1936 | Mark Surgies |
| 1937-38 | Arpad Elo |
| 1939 | Enos Wicher |
| 1940 | Arpad Elo and Enos Wicher |
| 1941-42 | Arpad Elo |
| 1943 | Averill Powers |
| 1944 | Robert Reel |
| 1945 | Arpad Elo and Averill Powers |
| 1946 | Jerome Kraszewski |
| 1947-48-49 | Richard Kujoth |
| 1950 | Arpad Elo and Averill Powers |
| 1951 | Enos Wicher |
| 1952-53 | Richard Kujoth |
| 1954 | Averill Powers |
| 1955 | Hugh Meyers |
| 1956 | Jerome Kraszewski |
| 1957 | Marshall Rohland |
| 1958 | Richard Kujoth |
| 1959 | Charles Weldon |
| 1960 | Henry Meifert |
| 1961 | Arpad Elo |
| 1962 | Allen Reiter |
| 1963 | Charles Weldon |
| 1964 | William Martz and John Dedinski |
| 1965-66 | William Martz |
| 1967 | Martin Safer |
| 1968 | William Williams |
| 1969-70 | William Martz |
| 1971 | John Anderson |
| 1972 | Peter Dorman |
| 1973 | John Anderson |
| 1974-75 | William Martz |
| 1976 | Robert Jones |
| 1977 | Josef Friedman and Peter Dorman |
| 1978 | James Ellis |
| 1979 | Charles Weldon |
| 1980 | Louis Dina |
| 1981 | Thomas Moore |
| 1982 | William Williams and Ethan Allen |
| 1983 | William Williams and Leonid Bass |
| 1984 | Peter Webster |
| 1985 | Revi Schea |
| 1986 | Thomas Moore |
| 1987 | Steven Odendahl |
| 1988 | Thomas Moore |
| 1989 | Chris Dunworth |
| 1990 | Steven Odendahl |
| 1991 | Roman Levit and David Penkalski |
| 1992 | William Williams and Josh Manion |
| 1993 | William Williams and Jeff Cooper |
| 1994-95-96 | Roman Levit |
| 1997 | Aniruddha Deshpande |
| 1998 | Aniruddha Deshpande |
| 1999 | Bryan Lilly and Jeff Cooper |
| 2000 | Alex Betaneli |
| 2001 | William Williams and Alex Betaneli |
| 2002 | William Williams and Yuan Jia Xu |
| 2003 | Bryan Lilly and Larry Butler |
| 2004 | Bryan Lilly and Yuan Jia Xu |
| 2005 | Alex Betaneli |
| 2006 | Jeremy Kane and Kelly Borman |
| 2007 | Jeremy Kane |
| 2008 | Erik Santarius |
| 2009 | Erik Santarius and Jeremy Kane |
| 2010 | Erik Santarius |
| 2011 | David Jin |
| 2012 | Alex Betaneli |
| 2013 | Erik Santarius |
| 2014 | Ben Smail and Scott Haubrich |
| 2015 | Scott Haubrich |
| 2016 | Vijay Raghavan |
| 2017 | GM Josh Friedel |
| 2018 | Joziah Rudolph |
| 2019 | Erik Santarius |