IN MEMORIAM – James E. Hurt, 1917 - 1999
James E. Hurt (1917-1999) was a four-time Washington State Chess Champion (1935, 1937, 1938 and 1941).
Left: James Hurt, 1938 Washington State Chess Champion.
Right: This photo was taken by the late Richard Shorman, who granted permission to use the photo. According to IM John Donalson, the photo may have been taken in Reno during the 1999 U.S. Open. His last US Chess rated event was played in January of that year.
John saw him in Reno that August. He likely died in Colorado, but John was unable to find his obituary online.
In the 1980s John played in several tournaments that Hurt organized and directed in Sunnyvale, Calif. He worked for Lockheed and his L.E.R.A. chess events were always well attended. Upon retiring he dedicated himself to teaching kids to play and introduced thousands of youngsters to the game. US Chess honored him for his service at the 1999 U.S. Open in Reno.
Left:
Article (Seattle Daily Times, October 9, 1938) on Hurt,
written after he won his third championship. Note it was not his third
consecutive victory but his third in four years (Sheets winning in 1936).
John Donaldson had this article for a long time and believes he got it from the late
Robert S. Moore who was interested in the Alaska connection mentioned in the article.
Also, the Seattle Daily Times (available at the Seattle Times archive) reports that on February 25, 1944, J.L. (Jacob Leonard) Sheets won the state title by defeating R.A. Dightman in a match. Our Washington State chess champions page has been updated to reflect this.
Right: Article (with game score) on Hurt vs. Sheets game from the 1938 state championship.
Also see related information on J.L. Sheets.
According to IM John Donaldson, "Almost all the Washington State Championships of the 1930s had booklets devoted to them. Awhile back I entered some games from 1934 from one of the pamphlets plus a few from 1933 I found in various sources (not a booklet) - see NWC games 2 (under "Articles / Games"). Now Andy Ansel has come through big time and entered all the games from 1934, 1935, 1937 and 1938 - all the ones that had a booklet devoted to them. Here are the 125 games from these four events (see below)."
"The first invitational Washington State Championship was held in 1932 and won by J.L. (Jacob Leonard) Sheets (1904-1980). Viktors Pupols played Sheets in the first Washington State Championship he competed in. Sheets won the event, the last Washington State Championship he played in and his record tenth title in the modern era (1932-2025). There is no other state that has a longer running state championship held as a round robin."
Interesting series of instructional articles by former Washington State Chess Champion James Hurt, republished from 1938: (PDF files)
The Martian System in Chess, Part 1