Jacob Leonard Sheets (1904-1980) was a 10-time Washington State chess champion during the 1930s, 40s and 50s. See article/photo from the Seattle Daily Times, 8 September 1932. Also see related information on James E. Hurt.

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.

Left: Article (with game score) on Hurt vs. Sheets game from the 1938 state championship.

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."