Southwest Open Champions, 1935 to present.Two other players would have a similar hegemony over Texas title events: Thompson’s star pupil Ken Smith (11 Southwest Opens, 10 Texas Championships), and Joe Bradford (11 Southwest Opens, 12 Texas Championships). Master Emeritus and TCA founder John Charles Thompson died July 5, 1999.
#Region x chess series
The Texas State Championship series began after World War II, and Thompson won three consecutive titles in 1947-49. “J.C.” went on to win first place seven times, and second place another seven before his work took him abroad in 1952.
That was also the year of the first annual Southwest Open. The TCA was founded in 1935 by John Charles Thompson of Dallas. The Texas Chess Association is a 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Organization. The Texas Chess Association has served Texas chess players for over 80 years with tournaments, publications, chess club development, and as the designated Texas affiliate of the United States Chess Federation. Major Texas tournaments (State Championship, Scholastic Championship, Southwest Open, Texas Open, etc) are TCA sanctioned events. TCA members receive Texas Knights, widely considered one of the best chess magazines in the nation.