The Sioux Falls Open has a long history, including some in the 1960s which also determined the SD Chess Championship. Its “modern era” began with 3-time SD Champion Gerald Mortimer as the TD in 1972. He would invite grandmasters and IMs, including Korchnoi, Browne, Dzindzihashvili, Benko, Tarjan and Martz, to do simuls in conjunction with the tournament, often flying to Lone Pine, California (where in that era a strong GM tournament was being sponsored every year by famous concert cellist and chess fan Gregor Piatagorsky, and later by his wife doing business as the Piatagorsky Foundation) to recruit a GM by offering a weekend poker game along with the tournament and simul. Only Browne disappointed by canceling at the last minute. Mortimer ran the tournament from 1972 until 1981, when it died for a few years. Emil Knapp's SDCA Bulletin announcement in 1980, when Roman Dzindzihashvili appeared, stated that “after a warm-up tournament in Lone Pine, California,” Dzindzi won the tournament 5-0. I remember that tournament, in which Roman chain-smoked Marlboros in the Gilbert Science Center at Augustana College.

Jeff Barth and Wes Schmidt resurrected the SFO in 1985, with Jeff organizing the event and occasionally directing until the 1990s, when Wes pretty much took it over and began billing it as the “Revival of the Sioux Falls Open” every year through 2009. In the 1980s, NMs from Iowa & Minnesota would come to play, but never got in the top money. Those masters included Mitch Weiss, Cary Utterberg, and Randy Bauer. That changed in the 1990s when ND master Mike Sailer and Vermillion resident master Mark Bohannon each picked up a clear first for a Sioux Falls Open title. The 2010 event will feature GM and 2-time US Champion Alex Yermolinsky as the tournament director. Here are a few games; we hope to see you all at the 2010 Sioux Falls Open!