The 2024 Montana Chess Championship (Closed) took place in Helena the weekend of July 13-14. The field of 6 players were born in 4 different decades with a 50+ year age difference between the youngest and oldest players. Since defending champion Alex Karns had moved out of state, the tournament was guaranteed to produce a new champion.
Ben Curtis (Bozeman), the Grand Prix winner, won his first 4 games to clinch the title before dropping game 5 to former champion Ben Vogel (Bozeman) in a battle of the Bens. Ben (C) is the second player to win the state championship while under the age of 18 (Matt Guthrie 1981).
Former champion Wilton Strickland (Missoula) & Matteo Nero (Bozeman, and the youngest player in the field) finished tied for second.