The 1948 through 1950 tournaments were named the “Nebraska Open”. It was renamed the “Midwest Open” starting in 1951. The Nebraska/Midwest Open served as Nebraska’s championship through 1980. Afterward, a state closed was held to determine the Nebraska champion.
| Year, Location | Champion | Champion’s Residence |
| 1948 – North Platte | Lee Magee | Omaha |
| 1949 – Omaha | Al Ludwig | Omaha |
| 1950 – Hastings | Lee Magee | Omaha |
| 1951 – North Platte | Jack Spence | Omaha |
| 1952 – Omaha | Lee Magee | Omaha |
| 1953 – Lincoln | Lee Magee, John Penquite, Al Ludwig | Omaha, Des Moines, Omaha |
| 1954 – North Platte | Aleks Liepnieks | Lincoln |
| 1955 – Omaha | Lee Magee | Omaha |
| 1956 – Lincoln | Aleks Liepnieks | Lincoln |
| 1957 – Omaha | J. Ragan | Missouri |
| 1958 – Lincoln | T. Weinberger | New York |
| 1959 – Omaha | Jack Spence | Omaha |
| 1960 – Lincoln | E. Czapski, W. Grombacher, M. Masoon | Lincoln, Chicago, Lincoln |
| 1961 – Lincoln | Aleks Liepnieks | Lincoln |
| 1962 – Lincoln | Anton Sildmets | Lincoln |
| 1963 – Lincoln | Robert Walker | California |
| 1964 – Lincoln | Dennis Fritzinger | Lincoln |
| 1965 – Lincoln | George Gant | New York |
| 1966 – Omaha | Richard McLellan | Omaha |
| 1967 – Lincoln | Randy Mills | Lawrence, Kansas |
| 1968 – Lincoln | Randy Mills | Lawrence, Kansas |
| 1969 – Lincoln | Randy Mills | Lawrence, Kansas |
| 1970 – Lincoln | G. Nowak, John Tomas | Wisconsin, Omaha |
| 1971 – Lincoln | John Frankle | Des Moines |
| 1972 – Omaha | Ascher, Watson, McLellan, R. Anderson | Denver, Denver, Omaha, Omaha |
| 1973 – Lincoln | Elliott Winslow, Dan Reynolds | St. Louis, Omaha |
| 1974 – Lincoln | Dan Reynolds, Loren Schmidt, Rich Chess | Omaha, Lincoln, Omaha |
| 1975 – Lincoln | John Milton, Mike Blankenau | Omaha, Omaha |
| 1976 – Omaha | Rich Chess | Omaha |
| 1977 – Lincoln | Loren Schmidt, Rod Malpert | Lincoln, Lincoln |
| 1978 – Lincoln | Mike Matthews, Bob Holliman | Lincoln, Kansas City, MO |
| 1979 – Omaha | Rich Perry, Bob Grande, Tom Cook | Omaha, Omaha, Council Bluffs |
| 1980 – Omaha | Rich Perry | Omaha |
| 1981 – Omaha | Paul Waldowski | Bellevue |
| 1982 – Lincoln | Michael Brooks | Kansas City, Missouri |
| 1983 – Columbus | Allen Savage | Des Moines |
| 1984 – Lincoln | Paul Waldowski | Bellevue |
| 1985 – Omaha | Ionut Buzbuchi | New York |
| 1986 – Lincoln | John Drexel | Omaha |
| 1987 – Omaha | Rich Chess | Omaha |
| 1988 – Lincoln | Kevin Fleming | Lincoln |
| 1989 – Omaha | Michael Brooks | Kansas City, Missouri |
| 1990 – Omaha | Dimitri Gurevich | New York |
| 1991 – Council Bluffs | Paul Rohwer | Omaha |
| 1992 – Omaha | Maurice Dana, Mike Blankenau | Kansas, Omaha |
| 1993 – Omaha | Paul Rohwer | Omaha |
| 1994 – Omaha | Jim Ellis | Winsconsin |
| 1995 – Omaha | Bruce Draney, Michael Dreiger | Omaha, Omaha |
| 1996 – Omaha | Joe Kruml | Lincoln |
| 1997 – Lincoln | Ron Luther | Kansas City, Missouri |
| 1998 – Lincoln | Matt Cushing | Lincoln |
| 1999 – Omaha | Mike Blankenau, Tom Dorsch, Herman Chiu | Omaha, San Francisco, Oregon |
| 2000 – Lincoln | Roger Simond | Lincoln |
| 2001 – Lincoln | Matt Cushing | Lincoln |
| 2002 – Lincoln | Keaton Kiewra | Lincoln |
| 2003 – Omaha | David Ballash, Doug Grande | Washington DC, Omaha |
| 2004 – Lincoln | Alber Zhou, Doug Given | Omaha, Lincoln |
| 2005 – Columbus | Jason Mueller | Arizona |
| 2006 – Rising City | Gary Colvin, Kent Nelson, Carlos Cardenas | Lincoln, Lincoln, Grand Island |
| 2007 – Omaha | Collin Bleak | New York |
| 2008 – Lincoln | Mirko Zelko, Jiri Olejnicek | Omaha, Czech Republic |
| 2009 – Omaha | Douglas Taffinder | California |
| 2010 – Omaha | John Linscott | Lincoln |
| 2011 – Omaha | Ben Fabrikant, Joseph Cheng Yue-Wan | Lincoln, Lincoln |
| 2012 – Omaha | Joe Knapp | Omaha |
| 2013 – Omaha | Joe Knapp, John Linscott | Omaha, Lincoln |
| 2014 – Omaha | Nick Karlow | Missouri |
| 2015 – Omaha | Robert Keating | Iowa |
| 2016 – Omaha | Valeriy Kosokin | Iowa |
| 2017 – Omaha | Bob Holliman | Kansas City, Missouri |
| 2018 – Omaha | Joe Knapp | Omaha |
| 2019 – Omaha | Rich Perry | Texas |
| 2020-2022 No event, COVID | ||
| 2023 – Omaha | Gregory Revesz | Omaha |
| 2024 – Omaha | Justin Sarkar | New York |