2022 WCA President's Report

2022 WCA President’s Report

April 1, 2022

Although not at full strength yet, I’m happy to report that over-the-board tournaments are slowly coming back! Proving the need for events, two recent one day events drew over 100 participants each. One problem that tournament organizers are experiencing are greatly increased site costs. Whether it be hotels trying to recoup lost revenue during the pandemic or an increase in the number of weddings that were delayed due to the pandemic now vying for space with us, hotels are getting more expensive for chess tournaments. And more expensive hotels mean higher entry fees, reduced prize funds or both. If you have any suggestions for venues, please contact a Board member.

With minimal activity in the past year, WCA’s financials remain on strong ground.

Likewise, US Chess is running national events and doing very well financially.

Guy Hoffman, James Coons and myself have terms as Board members expire in 2022. All three were re-nominated and accepted nomination. With only three nominees all are re-elected to the Board for three year terms. We thank two others who were nominated, both former WCA Presidents, but each declined nomination.

We have not had a reorganizational meeting to determine 2022 officers as of yet.

The WCA sponsors the Marshall Rohland Memorial/Wisconsin Closed Championship, the Arpad Elo Open, the William Martz Memorial/North Central Open, the Wisconsin Memorial, the Game/60 State Championship and the Wisconsin Junior Open and Veterans Tournaments. All are open for bids from state organizers and/or tournament directors. If you are interested in more details on how to bid for these events, please contact any board member.

I was able to hold the 2022 State Scholastic Championships in March in Oshkosh. Congratulations to Waupaca High School for winning their first state championship! University School of Milwaukee won the K-8 section and the Milwaukee German Immersion School won their first K-5 state championship.

Since the State Scholastic is a team Swiss event at the high school level, Wisconsin uses the Wisconsin Junior Open as its qualifier for national individual invitational events. Please plan to participate in the event November 5-6 at UW-Oshkosh to qualify for the 2023 GM Arnold Denker National Tournament of High School State Champions, the Dewain Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions, the John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions and the WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions which will be held in conjunction with the US Open in Grand Rapid, MI. In 2022 these events will be held in Rancho Mirage, CA. Our representatives will be Hersh Singh, Ethan Liang, Arie Sadnoor and Madeline Weber. Good luck team!

With the same format as the Denker, Barber, Rockefeller and Haring is the John T. Irwin National Tournament of Senior State Champions. We use the Veterans Tournament held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Junior Open in November to select our representative. Due to a tie for the spot from last November, a playoff is still needed to determine the 2022 Irwin rep.

When deciding on when to hold an event, tournament organizers need to contact the state tournament clearinghouse director Guy Hoffman to find open dates on the tournament calendar. Guy can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

With tournaments starting up again, the WCA is re-starting the Wisconsin Chess Tour. At this point we don’t have a full list of events for 2022. Organizers desiring to have their event considered for the 2022 Wisconsin Chess Tour need to contact a board member immediately. To ask for Tour status in 2023 contact Tour Committee Chair Guy Hoffman by November. Tour standings are listed on our website www.wischess.org.

Tournament organizers are able to add calendar entries to our website calendar and we encourage them to do so. It is free advertising for their events. After submission, you need to e-mail me so that I can approve the event. We have received only a couple of news stories this year and depend on the state players, organizers and TD’s to supply content. If you have an interesting game to share or wish to write up a chess tournament or event, please do so and send it to me. I may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

While not done yet, I’ve updated content on the Clubs page of our website at www.wischess.org/clubs. In some cases, I’ve delisted clubs that have not responded to my e-mails for updates. Please pass along any updates to me or if you are part of a new club and want to get listed, let me know that too with all the pertinent information. I get a large number of inquiries (e-mail and phone) every year for clubs I’m involved with and for which I have my contact information posted on the website. This is valuable free advertisement for your club.

Hope to see you across the board soon!

Respectfully submitted by WCA President, Mike Nietman