# Chess in Utah

Chess in Utah refers to competitive chess played within the state of Utah. As of January 2025, Utah has 646 active players registered with the United States Chess Federation. The current USCF Utah state affiliate is the Utah Chess Association.

## History

In December 2004, Varuzhan Akobian was invited to play and teach chess to schoolchildren at the McGillis School in Salt Lake City. The Mountain West Chess Association paid for his visit. Gregory Kaidanov was also invited to the same school the following month.
In 2005, Brigham Young University alumni Erik Allebest and Jay Severson launched Chess.com in the hopes that it would become the largest chess platform on the internet.
In 2009, 10 year-old Kayden Troff won the Utah Blitz Championship. He was the youngest player in Utah's Game/60 Chess Championship that year. In March, Troff had a 2125 USCF rapid rating, the highest of every active Utah chess player at the time. Troff was expected to reach the highest rapid chess rating for kids under 13 in the nation during that April's USCF rating supplement. Later, Troff would be sponsored by Garry Kasparov and receive coaching from Alexander Chernin. Eventually, he would eventually earn the Grandmaster title at the Saint Louis Invitational in May 2014.
One Utah school that heavily promotes the game is Ecker Hill Middle School. One player from the school, Sam Mason, won the Utah State Junior High Chess Championship in 2013 without any defeats. In 2019, Ecker Hill expanded its annual K-9 chess tournament to all ages with a "friends and family" section.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, online chess grew in popularity with Utah children. As the pandemic restrictions lifted, they would continue to play the game in classrooms. In response, some Utah school districts banned Chess.com. The Iron County School District was one such school district, blocking access to "non-educational" games. Regarding students playing chess, the school district's communications and foundation coordinator stated, “Chess.com would be one of many classified as games that are blocked to ensure students focus and are learning during the school day."
In December 2024, the city of Murray hosted the second U.S. Senior Women's Championship. The tournament had an $8,000 prize fund. There were 12 participants: WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia, WIM Beatriz Marinello, WFM Natalya Tsodikova, WFM Olga Sagalchik, WIM Alexey Root, WIM Shernaz Kennedy, WCM Natasha C Christiansen, Julia O’Neill, Carla Naylor, WCM Mary K Kuhner, Brenda Nardi, and Jayashree Sekar. The tournament sought the participation from women aged 50 or older.

## Competitors

As of January 2025, the following people are the top rated active USCF players from Utah:
| Position | Name | USCF Rating | USCF Titles |
| 1 | Kayden William Troff | 2571 | Original Life Master, National Master, Life Senior Master (norms-based) |
| 2 | Deepyaman Datta | 2270 | National Master, Candidate Master (norms-based) |
| 3 | David Forthoffer | 2252 | National Master |
| 4 | Akhil Kalghatgi | 2232 | National Master, Candidate Master (norms-based) |
| 5 | Bryan B Leano | 2152 | National Master, Candidate Master (norms-based) |
| 6 | Anil Cengiz | 2129 | 1st Category |
| 7 | Powell Walker | 2118 | Candidate Master (norms-based) |
| 8 | Kade Worthen | 2116 | |
| 9 | Richard G Connell | 2100 | National Master, Candidate Master (norms-based) |
| 10 | Bryon J Doyle | 2090 | National Master, Candidate Master (norms-based) |
Other top Utah chess players who aren't currently active USCF members include IM Zhe Quan (2503 Rating), Mark Rubery (2387 Rating), and Sergey Akhpatelov (2355 Rating).

## List of state champions (1991 - 2024)

The Utah Chess Association has kept a record of every Utah state champion from 1991 onward.
| № | Year | Winner(s) | Notes |
| 1 | 1991 | Igor Ivanov | |
| 2 | 1992 | Igor Ivanov (2) | |
| 3 | 1993 | Mark Rubery | |
| 4 | 1994 | Zillur Rahman | |
| 5 | 1995 | Doug Taffinder | |
| 6 | 1996 | Igor Ivanov (3) | |
| 7 | 1997 | Tegshsuren Enkhbat | |
| 8 | 1998 | Laszlo Bekefi and Jeff Phillips | Tie |
| 9 | 1999 | Tegshsuren Enkhbat (2) | |
| 10 | 2000 | Tegshsuren Enkhbat (3) | |
| 11 | 2001 | Igor Ivanov (4) | |
| 12 | 2002 | Laszlo Bekefi (2) | |
| 13 | 2003 | Igor Ivanov (5) | |
| 14 | 2004 | Igor Ivanov (6) | |
| 15 | 2005 | Igor Ivanov (7), JD Smith, and Damir Trtanj | Tie |
| 16 | 2006 | Doug Lee | |
| 17 | 2007 | Randy Zumbrunnen | |
| 18 | 2008 | Vanel Sanchez | |
| 19 | 2009 | Ivan Martynenko and Vinh Tran | Tie |
| 20 | 2010 | Damian Nash | |
| 21 | 2011 | Damian Nash (2) and David Vasquez | Tie |
| 22 | 2012 | Harold Stevens | |
| 23 | 2013 | Enrique Arce-Larreta | |
| 24 | 2014 | Scott Treiman | |
| 25 | 2015 | Eric Hon | |
| 26 | 2016 | Phil Humpherys | |
| 27 | 2017 | Bryan Leano | |
| 28 | 2018 | Bryan Leano (2) and Daniel Palacios | Tie |
| 29 | 2019 | Andrew Duren | |
| 30 | 2020 | Eric Hon (2) and Tinh Nguyen | Tie |
| 31 | 2021 | Michael Lu | |
| 32 | 2022 | Bryan Leano (3) | |
| 33 | 2023 | Anil Cengiz | |
| 34 | 2024 | Michael Lu (2) | |