John Julian (Billings) won the state championship tournament this past weekend with a sizzling 5-0 on the hottest day in history in Billings (111 degrees) ! John is the 6th straight first time champion and the first champion since 2021 to be over the age of 21 (so there is still hope). Former champion Matt Guthrie finished second.

Thanks to the Billings and Missoula chess clubs for providing the DGT boards and special thanks to Dan Mattson for managing them and getting the games on chess.com as well as arranging the playing space.