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 |