25th and Final Catfish Chess-2019

For 24 years James Kanne, has been running the Catfish Chess Tournament in tiny Franklin MN, as part of annual Catfish Derby Days event on the 4th weekend in July.

It is has been one of my favorite events to attend, and I am sure that all others who have attended will say the same.

The tournament frequently features surprisingly strong attendance - both in terms of total number of attendees and strength of the players. Due to various reasons, the tournament has not been held since 2015.

When I contacted James last yea,  he told me that he would no longer be able to hold the event. There were many reasons but the main one was funding.

This made me very sad. How could we let a great tournament like this die out without even chance to say good bye and thank you, especially since this would be 25th edition. Previous editions featured plaques for players who returned for their 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th years.

I have convinced James to run the event for one final time this year. 

Let's give a big thanks to James for his contributions to chess, by making the final Catfish Chess Tournament the biggest and best!

Please spread the word!

Thank you
-Ivan


History Year/Participants/Winner(s)
2019    ?
2015   20  NATHAN HOOVER
2014   31  ALEX RICHTER
2013   40  JUSTIN KLEIST
2012   57  MATTHEW DAHL, NOLAN HENDRICKSON, NATHAN HOOVER
2011  61  FRANK JOHNSON
2010  63  MATTHEW DAHL
2009  54  KEVIN WASILUK, FRANK JOHNSON
2008   65  VICTOR ADLER, NATHAN HOOVER
2007   61 JOHN DONAHUE
2006   48  JASON DRAKE, KEVIN WASILUK
2005   38  SHAWN MIZE
2004  37  VICTOR ADLER
2003  49  STANISLAU SMIATANKIN
2002 36  VICTOR ADLER, JASON DRAKE
2001  21  JESSE KOCH
2000  26  SHUMAN LEE
1999  25  JON HEYER
1998 10  JON HEYER
1997 14  LEONARD JOHNSON, DOUGLAS HARE, JON HEYER, CHAD SCHNEIDER
1996 18 JON HEYER
1995 18  EDWARD CONWAY
1994  22 MARK MILLER
1993 12 MARK MILLER
1992  10 MICHAEL K WANGEN, GLEN T CASKEY

Catfish stories:
Pete Karagianis
Corey Butler
Kingpatzer